Mallory Park Pickups
Photographing Pickups on the Oval

Mallory Park 

A Report by David Harbey

So, there’s a British Bank Holiday coming up. The weather forecast is good (nay, unprecedentedly good), there’s motor racing to see at Oulton Park Brands Hatch or Castle Combe – each one a couple of hours drive and the risk of traffic jams. Then what pops up on social media - Mallory Park promoting their race meeting for Pickups and Super Silhouettes.
The Pickups were running the oval – I recall it was promoted as the Mallory Mile when we last saw Eurocars there in the last century. A nice drive up the A5 in the MX5 with the roof down – a day watching club racing for – all of £13 – and a large 99 in a waffle cone as a mid-afternoon treat ! It wasn’t quite California …
You can drive pretty much all the way round the outside of the track and park up and watch the action plus there is also the inside of the Esses. I arrived mid-morning in time for Pickup qualifying. 

I headed to the point where the drivers cut out the run to the Hairpin and return to the start / finish straight. There’s a small crest here at the edge of the usual track which can unsettle the cars.
Pickups are similar to the Trucks that sit below NASCAR in the US oval racing hierarchy. 2 litre racing engines with 230 bhp, rear wheel drive, Ford or Vauxhall grill to your taste, sir. 

They are painted in bright colours with big numbers on the doors – they look and sound good – and make for super photos – especially on a lovely sunny day.
Qualifying set the grid for the two races with an element of reverse grid for the second race to add to the fun. With a short one mile oval, they are back around in short order. I used the 70-200mm zoom for the qualifying session.
For race one, I headed to the inside of the Esses. Time to break out the 24-120mm zoom – you can stand that close. It was interesting to note that there are now some restrictions with how far you can walk at the fence line back to the Stebbe Straight, but this is for car racing only.
Walking to the right (in the direction of the cars) takes you to the pit lane entrance. This area provides a neat shot with the crowd above Devil’s Elbow in the background.
Post-race parc ferme is easy to view !
For race two, I jumped in the car (the chill of the air con was welcome for a few moments !) and drove to the exit of Gerrards. Time to break out the 200-500mm zoom and monopod.
Not everyone got the corner right ! Must get quicker on that zoom.
Mallory has a more pleasant background than some tracks we could mention and slowing the shutter speed down can only emphasise the sense of movement.
The view of the cars heading away up the Stebbe Straight also shows the terracing for parking and viewing from which you can see 80% of the circuit.
Lovely weather and sunshine; decent racing including Junior Saloons, MGs and Silhouette Saloons (essentially short oval hot-rods) – all for a reasonable price. 

A good bank holiday in my book and a reminder that I still need to go and see some BriSCA and hot-rods on a short oval some time …
There will be photos of the other races on Flickr in due course.
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