My #1 aim for 2009 has been achieved! I managed to get two of my images published in Autosport magazine.
The images the chose out of the selection I sent them were a side on pan of Tom Roche, winner of both Ma5da Races taken at Barn (a very similar shot to the one of Scott Kirlew in my post reviewing the race) and a shot of Steve Twist’s Uno leading a gaggle of Fiats through Hall Bends.
Sorry for the rubbish iPhone shot, I will edit the post with a proper shot or a scan later.
Unlike at Silverstone, Ma5da Racing were part of the BRSCC programme, as the lead series! The other series there are the Alfa Romeo Championship, Motor Lawyers Fiat Challenge, Mighty Minis, Super Mighty Minis and the Dunlop TVR Challenge.
In the Alfa Championship, Tim Lewis was back with his bright Alfasud, although it was having gearbox trouble during the race.
Tim Lewis - Alfasud
Adie Hawkins won both races in his 33 and even though it isn’t technically perfect I really like this shot taken from the banking of him breaking for the Hairpin.
Adie Hawkins - Alfa 33
This was the first time that I’d seen Minis racing and I was treated to 2 great races. The Mighty Minis were up first, I shot this race from the inside of Hall Bends and managed was able to get some frames with the top 4 cars all in the same frame, Minis are great! The pink car of Chris Morgan won the race.
Mighty Minis
The racing was just as tight in the Super Mighty Minis race, which I shot from the same position as the second Ma5da Race, Nev Fitzpatrick won this race.
Super Mighty Minis
Having the driver’s name on the front grille of the Minis is great, much more fun than just numbers, the Ma5da Speed team have a similar thing going on with numberplates, I think other series/teams should follow, after all it is about having fun at this level of motorsport!
Like Ma5da Racing there were two Fiat races, both were close, with the usual suspects from last season not at the head of the the pack. The first race was won by Steve Twist who managed to pull out a 6s lead on the last few laps.
Steve Twist - Fiat Uno
The second race wasn’t to be for the number 11 Fiat, it was involved in a fairly hefty shunt which caused the race to be red flagged. The restarted race was won by Mark Smith, in another Uno, proving that the newer Puntos, including the HGTs aren’t as good as their older cousins.
Mark Smith - Fiat Uno
Lastly the TVRs, they were meant to have 2 races, but after the first got red flagged twice, they ended up with one, which was won by the bright green Tuscan of Danny Winstanley, it was good to see some of the older “wedge” TVRs racing and as ever the TVRs all sounded great!
Danny Winstanley - TVR Tuscan
As I have blogged before, Cadwell Park is probably my favourite circuit in the UK from a photography point of view, even if the marshalls seems to think that photographers are trouble makers. Although, this time, I did manage to convince the marshalls at the Hairpin that I don’t attract crashes and they asked me to stay at their post for a bit to ward off crashes!
The Ma5das were out on track first, so I started the day down at Barn and through the session worked my way back towards the Hall Bends. This section of the track is in the woods, providing some different backgrounds to Silverstone last month. Barn is the best in this respect, as it is in an area with no spectators. Dragging the shutter slightly and panning produced this shot of Scott Kirlew, probably my favourite of the season so far:
Scott Kirlew
Also from Barn:
Andrew Clarkson at Barn corner
Kevin Middlton at Barn corner
Moving up to the Hairpin, opens up an angle where you are almost at the same level as the cars, which is hard to replicate anywhere else, even with spectators in the background I like these shots.
Graham Grove at the Hairpin
Jonathan Blake at the Hairpin
At the Hall Bends low viewpoints are also achievable, especially with the cars coming over a slight rise and clipping the apex.
Paul Sheard at Hall Bends
Jonathan Greensmith at Hall Bends
The Ma5das were the first race before the lunch break, I headed down to the marshalls post between the start/finish straight and the bottom of the Mountain. The start was close, with the cars side by side up to the first corner.
Race 1 start
After the start I moved round to focus on the left/right at the Mountain which saw some action, including spins and resulting near misses. I also had chance to experiment with rear shots, I’ve always found front/side shots more dynamic and wanted to get some dynamic rear shots, rather than shots of cars going out of the frame, as you tend to see a lot.
Rear shot
Near miss
For the second Ma5da race of the day I was almost opposite my position from race 1, at the end of the paddock lane, with Mountain going up to my left and the left/right corner infront of me. The second race was much closer, it seemed like the lead 3, Tom Roche, Rob Boston and Jonathan Greensmith, shuffled positions each lap, with all 3 taking the lead at one point. Eventually it was Tom Roche who crossed the line first, it was another great Ma5da race.
Rob Boston leading
Jonathan Greensmith leading
Tom Roche leading
Outside of the top 3 there was plenty of action at Mountain, with more spins and some interesting lines.
Another near miss
Simon McAlpine - interesting line
Tom Roche - Interesting line, note the flying bollard
Earlier today I was going through some pictures from last season, mainly the ones that I shot for myself and came across this picture (and quite a few others like it):
It reminded me of a great day at Cadwell Park last September…
I’d had a very early start from Rugby to get to Cadwell Park in time, somehow I managed to get there early so had plenty of time to get signed on and scout the back of the track (where the public aren’t allowed). Cadwell is split into to parts, from the start it is a large open loop round to the mountain, after which the track becomes very twisty through the woods, very Nurburgring-esque.
It was the non publicly accessible wooded area that gave be the angle for this photo and quite a few more like it. At this part of the circuit you are slightly lower down than the cars, giving a great viewpoint and the backgrounds are largely uncluttered, this combined with the proximity to the cars allows for some great photos to be taken, certainly some of my favourite from 2008.
This TR5 was in immaculate condition and the baby blue paint job sets it off nicely. Not only was it one of the best looking cars there, it won the Swinging Sixties race, which is why I went for this shot over a few of the others I found.
That day I shot many images I was happy with, met up with some people I’d been meaning to see for a while and also got the chance to try out some new techniques. A bonus for the day was that I managed not to get sunburnt, frozen or rained on, the only race meeting where I didn’t suffer from at least one of those!
I can’t wait for my next trip to Cadwell on the 18th April!