A few of mine from Britcar 24hr, C&C please

[Don Paulos]

Here are a few of mine from last weekends Britcar 24hr race at Silverstone. This is my second attempt at motorsport photography and my first at night so C&C please, any advice greatly appreciated. More pics on my Flickr at www.donpaulos.co.uk

I got quite few pics of the accident at the start but as Andy Neate (the TVR driver) is stil critical in intensive care (see following link) i've decided it's best not to post them. Wishing him a full and speedy recovery.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=147&t=586619&i=0

1.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y107/Schwarzpm/Pro/Britcar%2024hr%20-%20Silverstone%20-%20Sept%202008/Picture1.jpg
2.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y107/Schwarzpm/Pro/Britcar%2024hr%20-%20Silverstone%20-%20Sept%202008/Picture2.jpg
3.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y107/Schwarzpm/Pro/Britcar%2024hr%20-%20Silverstone%20-%20Sept%202008/Picture4.jpg
4.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y107/Schwarzpm/Pro/Britcar%2024hr%20-%20Silverstone%20-%20Sept%202008/Picture35.jpg
5.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y107/Schwarzpm/Pro/Britcar%2024hr%20-%20Silverstone%20-%20Sept%202008/Picture16.jpg
6.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y107/Schwarzpm/Pro/Britcar%2024hr%20-%20Silverstone%20-%20Sept%202008/Picture19.jpg
7.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y107/Schwarzpm/Pro/Britcar%2024hr%20-%20Silverstone%20-%20Sept%202008/Picture23.jpg
8.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y107/Schwarzpm/Pro/Britcar%2024hr%20-%20Silverstone%20-%20Sept%202008/Picture24.jpg

[Jamie Holladay]

Not a bad start.

Welcome to POTN

[Cadwell]

Same comment I made about another thread. Where is the motor racing? I see lots of single car shots but no motor racing.

[Don Paulos]

Hmm, a very good point. I took quite a few "action" shots but not very many came out well... and certainly not well enough for me to feel confident enough to post them for everyone to see. I think it might be a combination of my lack of practise/experience and the distance i was shooting at (I think alot of Silverstone may require a bigger lens than i have).

As usual in Silverstone's wisdom, nearly all the grandstands were closed so i spent alot of time looking for places where i wasn't having to shoot through the fences. I really need to get hold of a purple vest so i can get trackside!

I also thought at approx £30 per ticket (fortunately i have a friend who's a staff member so i got a free ticket), they could have at least had access to the stands and lights for the toilets, maybe even some other entertainment. After seeing over 50 000 people the weekend before at the Le mans race, Silverstone was like a ghost town, especially on Sunday.

I'm hopefully going to the Superbikes race next weekend, so might try to make more of an effort looking for actual racing rather than close-ups.

cheers

[andrewc]

When I'm at a normal race meeting I use the morning sessions for the tighter cropped pictures, then I can zoom out for the race. The practise sessions are all about the individual and there is nothing to be gained by 'racing' as its slower.

A media bib does give access, but with one comes a lot of responsibilities as well as greatly increased risk. However there are some angles which I've pinched from another forum

" Bridge, Copse, Club, Abbey, and the raised bit at the complex, just for starters. Plus the straight between Club and Abbey, Luffield head on through the fence, and the bank between Club and Stowe"

If Superbikes at Silverstone is anything like Superbikes at Snetterton then it will be mental - plus they're a lot smaller and accelerate a lot faster - and AF tracking starts to struggle, especially with the very narrow frontal area of a bike/rider head on.

[Cadwell]

I really need to get hold of a purple vest so i can get trackside!


It isn't difficult, Silverstone give them out with cornflake packets :lol:


I also thought at approx £30 per ticket (fortunately i have a friend who's a staff member so i got a free ticket), they could have at least had access to the stands and lights for the toilets, maybe even some other entertainment.

Ah... and the reason why not? "Because it's Silverstone" :p

Actually, there are many locations at Silverstone where you can get perfectly good racing photos from public areas with a 300mm lens, particularly on the GP circuit. Luffield, Vale, Club, Abbey... all are possible.

[andrewc]

For the smaller events (including Britcar), the issuing of media bibs at Silverstone is handled by the organising club, not the circuit. Other circuits normally retain control over this.

[Cadwell]

I think "control" is over-stating it a bit... you just needed to wander up to the media office and ask for one at the weekend. Actually, Silverstone is often like that. I would say the place is a joke... only it isn't funny. One day they are going to get some idiot, who doesn't know what he's doing, cause a major incident track-side.

[andrewc]

When I went to collect mine media bib for (applied for properly 3 weeks before hand, with copy of accreditation letter from my Sports Editor and some copies of previously published work) I was told they'd run out of bibs and I'd have to manage with a green wristband (which said Silverstone Testing on it.)

Eventually I was told to come back in an hour and they would have one for me, and to their credit they did.

I agree - someone will get hurt. I'm told there were togs on the pit wall right where the start line accident took place.

[Don Paulos]

indeed there were, i got a few photos of the accident as it happened and you can clearly see a couple of people leaning out of the pit lane (pit side) fence, into the track, mid-accident. could have been an even nastier accident!

Great info above as well, thanks very much.

[andrewc]

I was at Copse with about 8 others. I could see one in a gantry ahead of me just in front of the pits, but my wife was watching from the main grandstand and saw some togs on the pitwall - she was so worried one may have been me that she phoned me just after the accident.

[Don Paulos]

btw cadwell, I was on the terrace at Luffield on Sunday at about 11am and noticed someone with the biggest lens i think i've ever seen... wasn't you by any chance?

[Cadwell]

btw cadwell, I was on the terrace at Luffield on Sunday at about 11am and noticed someone with the biggest lens i think i've ever seen... wasn't you by any chance?

Might have been me but according to my camera's EXIF I didn't arrive at Luffield until 12:07pm. I was waving a 600mm with snow-camo lens coat around.

[andrewc]

I saw someone with a big L around Luffield at 10ish. Brownish baseball cap, blue jacket, rucksack. Thought it may be you Glenn but I wasn't feeling particularly sociable (headache, aching body, head full of snot, sore throat) - so sorry about not saying Hi.

[Cadwell]

Nope I was wearing ye olde (infamous) green BRSCC cap as modelled by my handsome avatar <=== (although I confess it is fading nicely and so is a little less vivid than in that photo). I started off at Farm, then headed down to Vale, shot the exit of Club and then ended up at Luffield just after midday.

[Don Paulos]

definately you, must have been a bit later than i thought. That lens looks fantastic!

[Don Paulos]

I think "control" is over-stating it a bit... you just needed to wander up to the media office and ask for one at the weekend.

The Silverstone website makes it look like you need proper media accreditation (which i obviously don't have) so I didn't even think about going and asking at the office... is it really that easy? Is it the same for large events like the Le mans series or just for the smaller club meets like Britcar, etc?

[andrewc]

The more prestigious the series, the harder it is it get in.

[Cadwell]

The Silverstone website makes it look like you need proper media accreditation (which i obviously don't have) so I didn't even think about going and asking at the office... is it really that easy? Is it the same for large events like the Le mans series or just for the smaller club meets like Britcar, etc?

No it isn't always that easy nor should it be. Unless you're shooting for a publication or a team, in other words unless you have a serious reason for being there, then you shouldn't be trackside. Hobbyists wanting a "better angle" really have no place being there; race tracks are dangerous places.

I've seen people trackside at race meetings who obviously have no clue what they are doing and are a danger to themselves and other people. They get in the way of marshals doing their job with potentially serious consequences for driver safety and they put their own lives at risk. This weekend at Silverstone I saw one "signed-on" photographer sitting down by the side of the track in order to get a better angle; sheer lunacy. Race cars go where you don't expect them to and bits fly off of them at high speed. You need to be able to move quickly to get yourself out of danger and the time it takes to scramble out of a sitting position is enough to get yourself killed.

The argument of course is "so what if I get myself hurt, I know the risks and I am willing to take them." Yeah, right; the problem with that argument is if one signed on photographer gets himself/herself hurt or killed then the "health and safety" brigade are all over the circuit and before you know it access is buggered up for everyone else, even the people who have a legitimate reason for being there and whose livelihoods depend on being able to get the photos. The response, "Ah, Mr. Health and Safety officer, it's OK; he only got hurt because he was an idiot" doesn't help in this wrap-everything-in-cotton-wool world.

By all means get yourself trackside but do it for a legitimate reason. Get your photography up to a standard where a recognised publication wants you to be there and cover the event for them professionally.