Many of you have seen his work, so lets get to know the man behind the camera. With the ITR Expo themed interviews, I had to get a hold of Keith. He is the one behind the Expo coverage that you see in the Honda Tuning magazine. While at Expo, it is hard to find Keith during the day, he is everywhere while the track is hot. Either driving on track or around the track to shoot, he is busy all day. From my time around Keith, he is super laid back and mellow. He's easy to chat with, yet kind of the quiet type. But, he is very passionate about his craft, photography. Check his site out at www.meilinkvision.com, but for now lets ask Keith a few questions.
BA: What was your first car and what ever happened to it?
KM: Well the first car I ever drove was a ’92 Ford Taurus. After having it for two months everything started to go wrong on it, including problems with the transmission shifting. Apparently, it was a common problem with those models.
As for the first car I purchased myself, it was a ’99 Integra LS that I picked up about nine months later. I had it for four years and everything I did was mostly cosmetic; OEM lip kit, coilovers, Rota Slipstreams in white, JDM ITR SRS steering wheel, TSX retrofit, intake, and exhaust. I had plans to K-swap it back in 2007, but used the money to go on vacation instead. After that, I happened to stumble upon the ITR community, which swayed my decision to sell the LS and get an ITR instead. From there I sold it to my brother who had it for a few years, then he traded it for a turbo RSX. Just a couple of months ago my brother actually saw it parked in East New York,
BA: What got you into racing or into cars in general?
KM: I was born out of The Fast and the Furious generation. A friend of mine took me to see it on opening night back in ’01. We were freshmen in high school at the time. I knew of the "muscle world" and fixing up old Chevys and stuff. But, this showed me the possibilities of the import world and modern day cars. The two of us went and saw the movie another two times that week.
BA: What has been your favorite car to drive on track?
KM: Well, I have only really tracked my ITR. I did take my S2000 out at Mid-Ohio, but I really didn’t get on it too hard. I was still running shitty brakes and hadn’t expected to go out in it. I know S2000s are supposed to be great track cars too, but at the moment I have so much more experience and confidence with the ITR.
BA: What is your favorite track that you have driven?
KM: VIR. It just has a great mix of everything and the weekend I went it was a blast. The only thing with that compared to other tracks I’ve been to is the long back straight. So many cars would pull away from me, but I don’t think that’ll be a problem anymore.
BA: What do you enjoy most about racing or the car community in general?
KM: The people and all of the friends that I’ve made. There’s a totally different atmosphere between drag and HPDE/track days. Being in NY, drag racing is still the more popular sport and it’s like die hard competition all the time. Everyone is shady as shit and forget getting a helping hand. Look at someone the wrong way and don’t be surprised if words get tossed around.
Now compare that to the HPDE world and wow, what a difference. Everyone is willing to help you out, talk, and become friends. Just look when I bent a shit load of valves at CMP. Each person was ready to throw down and pull the head off that instant. #RyanConley even offered to take like a three hour round trip just to pick up the parts from his house that I needed. I was too depressed to work on the car because of what happened and had the car towed to Hondaworks. And, again, just help everywhere. Patrick met me on a Sunday, his day off, at the shop to open up and roll the car in. He then took me to Andy’s house. Andy was gracious enough to hang out with me that night and then drive me to the airport to fly home. When one person goes down, all the others are there to lift you back up.
BA: ITR Expo9 was your first event. That is kind of a hike for you, so what got you to sign up for Expo in the first place?
KM: Fourteen plus hours of driving, yup, I’d say a hike. Lol. But, you’re also talking to someone who has been to CMP more than any other track and that’s about an eleven hour drive for me. So what’s another three?
Anyways, I had just bought my ITR ten months prior and knew ITR Expo was the "IT" event to go to. I remember watching the old videos from Expo 3 and 4 and just being in awe at the amount of ITRs. Once I bought my own, there was no doubt if I’d go or not, no matter where it was.
BA: The NorthEast caravan rolls in deep. How many cars do you guys normally get together?
KM: Well they used to be big, then died down, but are back up again. Hell for Expo 11, I rolled down from NY by myself and on the way home it was just Edwin and I. Expo 12 saw a pick up in cars and 13 even topped that. I think we had about fifteen cars.
BA: You've made the switch from B series to K series. Was that in preparation for the long straights at Road
KM: Well if my Forza times are any indication of the K vs everyone else in B, I should be about ten seconds faster, so yeah I guess so. Lol.
But, for those that don’t know, the switch was due to the B blowing up. After doing a cost comparison of going bigger with the B and building it to a 2.0 or selling all of my B stuff and going bolt on K. It came out to be just a little more for the K. I figured the extra couple of bucks would be worth the reliability and longevity of a stock motor. That’s assuming I don’t start building it like I did the B. Lol.
BA: You normally shoot the event and drive, is that hard to juggle both tasks?
KM: Extremely difficult. I have to give up track time to make sure I get the best pictures. I’m also walking miles upon miles around the track all day in the hot sun. Then trying to get back to the paddock in time for the sessions that I’ve chosen to drive. Add in the rigors of tracking too and I’m exhausted by the last session. I really don’t get much social time at the event so once we’re back to the hotel or at the banquet, you really won’t see me with a camera. I know people like getting the after scene photos and viewing the social aspect of the event, but every one needs some down time and that’s when I take it.
BA: Have you ever thought about driving and shooting at the same time? Or does that have #RyanConley written all over it?
KM: Lol. Well actually this year I’m thinking about trying some stuff out with GoPros and using them for stills instead of video to get shots like that. We’ll see what happens.
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