Silverstone Classic
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Classic racing at Silverstone
Silverstone, the home of British motor racing, and for three days in June, the home of classic racing, from Le Mans and historic F1 cars through the touring cars to the early racers of the late 50’s and 60’s. With 15 grids, each one running into 30 plus cars, there is plenty to see and follow over the weekend.
Testing
Thursday is a day for testing, a chance to shake down the car, check the setup, and familiarise the driver(s). A calmer day without the public. The place to be is the garages as the teams set up and prepare their racers for the weekend. Crews in different stages of preparation from all out repairs, to a quick wipe down and done.
Qualifying
Final checks done, it is time to secure a grid place. With short stints there is not much time to qualify, especially with a driver change. Best times are laid down, cars checked and adjusted for racing. In between there is the waiting, lots of waiting. Cars sitting idle in garages, with the promise of more.
Racing
The anticipation builds with the wait in the prestart, with 21 races there is almost constant on-track action. Cars are continually marshalling as they head for the track, pre-start, out to race, and scrutineering.
Anniversary Parades
The chance to drive the Silverstone circuit is always special, especially as part of an anniversary display. Given the keys to the Porsche Club GB 356, we followed F1 winner, John Watson out of the pits. He quickly took chase of the GT40’s ahead of him, we followed, and so did the rest of the ‘display’. ‘This must be how you drive a 356’ we thought as we screamed along the straights, quickly followed by, ‘I didn’t know they went this fast’. Less of a parade, more of a racing lap following John’s line. One to remember.
It is all in the details
Whether it is a helmet placed gently on the roof of the racecar, or the invite of a cockpit waiting for a driver, it is the details that often catch my eye.
Sneaking a Ride
Sitting in a race car is every enthusiast dream, and one that does not go away when you become a racing driver yourself. Young(ish) driver Tom Bradshaw, co-driver in the '65 Porsche 911 couldn't resist the chance to hop into the '71 Lola T70 Mk3B to be driven by Paul Gibson in the Yokohama trophy
What did I learn?
Expose for the highlights
With the mirror finish on the garage floor and the sharp contrast of the (very) bright sun in the background, it was tough to balance the two. The Zeiss Otus 28mm is an F1.4 which lets plenty of light in. I did not have the bravery to shoot for the highlights and trust that there was enough data in the shadows to recover. Next time.
On the odd occasion that I did expose the highlights correctly (below), it took a few attempts to get the balance right in Lightroom
From Left: As it came from the camera in RAW | Overall Exposure +2.6, the highlights are 'blown' out | Attempt to 'brush' back in the highlights, which looks 'cartoony' | Exposure set with a graduated, inverted radial filter to preserve the highlights, then lighten the rest of the image.
Catch the moment
One of my favourite shots is this '82 Porsche 911 SC. It was on its own, lit from both sides, and only in that position for about two minutes.
I had wandered into the scrutineering bay, who (rightly) wanted their space back. The driver, John Williams, hopped in the car to move it back to its garage and the shot was gone.
I caught up with John during qualifying. He owned this car many years ago, stripped her out, converted her to a race car and raced her. One thing led to another and she was sold. A decade or so later (as I remember) he has bought her back, and was happy to be back on the track.
Random stuff
Steps wallked over 4 days: 66,661
Distance walked: 46.27 km (30.8 miles)
Hours spent 'marshalling', and smiling: 14
Pictures taken: c.2000 in total
Pictures kept: 600 (30%)
Kit
Nikon D800, Nikkor 70-200, 1.4 teleconverter and a Zeiss Otus 28mm F1.4 prime (I love this lens)
More Galleries
As you can imagine, three days at an event like this generates a lot of images. For all the full event gallery, click the link below.
