Vintage cars at Brooklands...

[Cadwell]

Welcome to the bizarre but undoubtedly charming world of the Vintage Sports Car Club’s “Driving Tests” day at the historic Brooklands race track. Brooklands was Britain’s first purpose built race track (1907) and was used up until the Second World War. It is now a museum and scheduled ancient monument. The circuit lap record for the terrifying banked oval (100ft wide and up to 30ft high) was set in 1935 and stands at 143mph.

All shots were taken level… any tilt is due to the Brooklands banking.

Two of these shots were taken using the EOS 10D and Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8, the others using the EOS 1D MkII and the Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8. It was a very dull and dark day so fast glass was needed.

#1
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/valaraukar/VSCC/CRW_1075.jpg
#2
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/valaraukar/VSCC/CRW_1088.jpg
#3
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/valaraukar/VSCC/LJ8J3091.jpg
#4
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/valaraukar/VSCC/LJ8J3134.jpg
#5
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/valaraukar/VSCC/LJ8J3407.jpg
#6
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/valaraukar/VSCC/LJ8J3458.jpg

Further shots can be found here VSCC at Brooklands (http://2004.ukmotorsportpics.com/c402738.html)

Thanks for looking ;)

[Ian_H]

Great shots Cadwell, I would much rather see older cars doing something like this than stuck in a museum. The circuit look a bit rough though.



Cheers
Ian

[sGu]

how fast were they going???? Seems it was rather easy to freeze wheel spin completely.

Lovely series, Cadwell!

[Cadwell]

Thanks Ian. Yes, the circuit has seen better days with the surface of the banking starting to pot-hole and covered with moss and grass. "Faded glory" is about the best description I can come up with. There's only about a mile of the circuit itself left. The rest has fallen to supermarkets and office buildings. It is Surrey after all - inside the M25 and the land must be worth an absolute mint. Thankfully what's left is safe.

sGu: They weren't going quickly at all. The idea was more manouverability and car control than outright speed. Some of the guys were chucking the cars about a bit, but to be honest that wasn't really the quickest way round. I was running at 1/320th on each camera.

[KennyG]

Looks like you had a different sort of day. Very nice shots. Love the look and DOF of the last one (MK-II and almost wide open Sigma) . Clone out the cones and frame it.

[Littlenose]

Excellent pics Cadwell... Like Ken, I like the last one best :D

I was further down the road [Boxhill] on Sunday taking bike pics, but couldn't help shoot this guy coming by...
not really for critique... just thought it was on topic :)

[Cadwell]

Ken: Yup, the 1D Mark II and the big Sigma seem to work really well together. It’s great having a 300mm f/2.8 zoom that is so sharp wide open and having the confidence that the camera will nail the focus nearly every time. I can see me shooting a lot with that combination over the season.

Cones? Yeah… the place was full of ‘em. Pesky things. I took the decision not to worry too much about them in most shots – after all, it’s part of the event as they mark the course out. You are right though, in that they serve no purpose in that shot and should probably go.

Littlenose: mmm… a Bugatti in traditional French Racing Blue. I’ll have a look in my unpublished pictures tonight and see if I can spot it at Brooklands.

[EdViesturs]

Excellent shots, I particularly like this one http://homepage.ntlworld.com/valaraukar/VSCC/LJ8J3407.jpg

The driver's expression and the mud capture the action in a nice, subtle manner.

[Cadwell]

My pictures are not displaying at the moment. According to my cable company this is because my web space no longer exists due to my broadband service being disconnected.

When asked the piercing question "Why has my broadband service been disconnected?"

their response is "We don't know. There is no reason for it to be disconnected but it has been. We will reconnect it as soon as possible. We are sorry".

I am not a happy camper about this... :evil: