BARC Race Meeting Mallory Park 2018
BARC Race Meeting Mallory Park 2018
So it's Mallory Park on a bank holiday Monday for some Classic Touring Car action. The event is run by the Classic Saloon and Historic Touring Car Club which was originally formed in 1974 to get 50s and 60s touring cars back where they belong, on the track.
The last 42 years the Club has expanded to include eight championships, four-seater saloon cars manufactured before 1st January 1966, 1983,1993,2003,2005 and the Boss and Thunder championships.
The cars manufactured before 66, 83 and so one are self-explanatory but what the hell is Boss and Thunder?
Boss stands for the Blue Oval Saloon Series, worked it out yet? From the CTCRC website it's for competitors participating in Saloon, Coupe, Hatchback or Estate cars manufactured by the Ford Motor Company that are designed to carry at least four people, based on the standard fibreglass or steel production shell, which were marketed before 1st January 2013.
Thunder is modern classics made before 2011, 2WD & 4WD Saloon, Coupe, Hatchbacks and Estate cars based on a standard steel production shell which was marketed before 2011 and Historic Thunder Saloon Cars marketed before 1st January 1983.
So let's look at the photographic opportunities Mallory has to offer. Previously we have visited Mallory for a photographic training day and produced a circuit guide which will give us a good starting point if you are going to shoot from inside the circuit, check it out here.
Mallory is a small circuit with a lake in the middle and not much catch fencing so you will be able to capture the cars from just about anywhere.
Access to Mallory is via a small road from the town of Kirby Mallory. Go under the Mallory arch into a small car park - there are two green gates with the Mallory crest. You need the left gate unless you are going to the paddock, then you will need the right hand gate which takes you onto the circuit.
Be warned if you go to the paddock you are not leaving until the racing is done as the only access is via the track for vehicles.
Once you have paid you can now drive down to the edge of the track and park where you like within reason. There is a dirt road round Mallory so you can sit in your car and watch the action if you wish but that’s not for us.
The paddock is accessed by a foot bridge from the carpark and is in the middle of the circuit on a tarmacked area to the rear of the start / finish line. Also located here is the circuit café so you can grab some basic hearty reasonably priced man fuel and paddock pics.
The infield is broken down in detail on the circuit guide, however this was written more for the media pass guys so for us lesser photographers there are some restrictions in place for your safety. Always remember when visiting a circuit that motorsport is dangerous and always consider where you are standing and be ready to react if something were to go Pete Tong on the track.
All of the photographs I took were between Shaw's hairpin and Gerrard's Bend using a 80-200mm f2.8 Nikon D. An old lens but excellent quality and it has no vibration reduction so you need to be nice and stable when panning. A longer lens will be required if you were to go past Garrard's.
Shaw's hairpin is as you enter the circuit behind some hoardings and accessed via a small flight of steps.
The view from here is excellent with a bank overlooking the hairpin and a few benches to take the weight off in-between races. As Mallory is a short track the cars come round quickly so if you don’t capture that picture first time they will be around soon enough.
The hairpin is a very tight corner so the cars are going slowly. No need for fast shutter speeds here - a 100th of a second and lower if you are brave will get you good results. Remember a fast car will need a faster shutter speed to get the same blur as a slow car. Watch for a line of cars entering the hairpin. As you capture the lead car you will get a pleasing blur on the cars in the background as they are moving in the opposite direction to your pan.
When going for a very slow shutter speed you will need to wait for the cars to line up perpendicular to you so you can get a clean in focus shot. The reason for this is different parts of the vehicle will be moving at different speeds coming out of the hairpin so they will never all be in focus. That’s why we have differentials on cars - the outside will be moving faster than the inside of the car.
On big saloon cars this is not to much of a problem but for open topped cars and motorcycles the head and body of the driver can be moving in a different direction to your pan, so will be out of focus no matter what you do. To mitigate this think of your focus points and if there is an area you really want sharp, move the focus point to that area. For motorbike and open topped cars I put mine top dead centre to focus on the helmet. If you want to freeze the action just up the shutter speed, simples.
Moving round from the hairpin the track viewing area is raised so you can see a lot of the track action and look slightly down on the cars as they go past.
Looking on to the start/finish straight gives you a good vantage point for some slow shutter speed panning. However the background is a little uninteresting, so move down the hill to give yourself a better angle and look for interesting colours in the paddock.
For the start of the races you can move down towards Gerrard's where you will be able to capture the start and the first bend mayhem.
For a different view move up the banking and pan the cars as they pass the lake and you should get some nice images.
During lunch I always walk the pits and paddock as there are always a few good pictures to pick up here, and then I review my work whilst having lunch. It always amazes me that people queue up to get a burger when every circuit I've been to has a good well priced café where you can sit down and enjoy a meal for only a few pounds more.
Once I've reviewed my images it's back out on to the track to see where I can improve on the morning's work.
I hope you have enjoyed this write up and photographs of the Classic Saloon and Historic Touring Car Club meeting at Mallory Park 2018. As always I don’t claim to be an expert on this subject, it's just my observations of a day out on my own this time carrying a camera. Hopefully I will inspire some of you to get out there and take some great images.
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