On Wednesday, March 25th, I made the trip up to Croft Circuit, where the British Touring Car Championship grid was deep into two days of testing. There’s something about early-season test days that always feels a bit raw, no race-day crowds, no pressure. Just cars, time, and space to experiment both for the teams and for me.
50mm, f1.4, 1/4000th, ISO400
I wasn’t working so I used the day to practice a few things while recovering from a broken radius, having only had the cast off for 6 days. Motorsport photography can be physical and I wanted to see how I would cope carrying my kit, shooting different styles of photos and when I would need to take a break to rest my arm.
388mm, f20, 1/4th, ISO50
Croft Circuit is great for spectator access with much of the areas not having catch fencing to obscure the view, when there is catch fencing you can stand right up to it so its really easy to shoot through it. The first spot I went to was on the straight after the chicane, this gave me a couple of clean panning opportunities, the first angle stretched across toward the exit of Tower Bend as the cars built up speed with the farmer fields in the background.
388mm, f18, 1/13th, ISO50
560mm, f10, 1/20th, ISO50
The second shot was taken across the infield to the cars on the start straight.
388mm, f13, 1/25th, ISO50
The third shot is the cars on the straight closest to me.
388mm, f13, 1/13th, ISO50
388mm, f13, 1/25th, ISO50
From there I moved back down to the chicane, capturing a couple of angles of the cars coming out of Hawthorn.
200mm, f4, 1/125th, ISO50
400mm, f4, 1/80th, ISO50
The entry shots to Hawthorn were some of the best of the day, a few variations can be found here, all keeping as low as possible behind the banking that many spectators used for viewing. Moving a couple of metres either side created different photos as the cars wrapped around the tyre stack, clipping the kerb and launching through the corner on two wheels.
250mm, f4, 1/1600th, ISO320
560mm, f5.6, 1/1250th, ISO1000
560mm, f9, 1/25th, ISO50
300mm, f2.8, 1/400th, ISO50
Further around there were possible panning shots with the cars backlit, there were tricky as I had to use higher f-stops that I would normally like to get the shot but being pressed up against the fence I could still blur it enough to not see it in the final photos.
300mm, f5, 1/80th, ISO50
300mm, f5.6, 1/100th, ISO50
The last shot from this area looked straight up the start straight with he pits in the background, again its backlit so it creates an interesting shot. I would love to redo this with the whole grid on track.
280mm, f5.6, 1/250th, ISO50
After the lunch break I headed over to Sunny In & Sunny Out, getting a couple of different angles here before a lengthy red flag.
217mm, f4, 1/125th, ISO50
200mm, f8, 1/100th, ISO50
200mm, f10, 1/20th, ISO50
I used the time to head over to the pits with my Sigma 50mm f1.4 to get some shots around the paddock, access was limited but I still managed to get some photos that I was happy with.
50mm, f7.1, 1/320th, ISO400
50mm, f1.4, 1/6400th, ISO400
Days like this give me opportunities like no other days. Without the pressure of shooting for a client I can just enjoy photography, explore circuits and find new angles that I can use next time I’m working. Its a time to learn, experiment and improve.
50mm, f1.4, 1/2500th, ISO50
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