It also depends on what camera the other person is using, some nicer cameras have lower noise and high ISOs so that could allow someone to go on happily shooting with a tripod. That was one reason I switched from a D80 to a D90 because of the differences in the noise at higher ISOs. You definately want to try to stay away from on board flash when it comes to night car photog because it will reflect the light off of the reflectors. Off camera lighting is preferred You might also want to get a RAW editing program like lightroom to help with the post processing. It helps a bunch and saves a lot of time with the sliders