Masters Festival - Brands Hatch

Postcard from the Grand Prix loop part One - Qualifying

29 Aug 2020

Our run down to Brands Hatch last weekend was our second visit to the classic racing spectacle that is the Masters Historic Festival.

Donington was the last time we had the opportunity to capture these classic cars in action and it was also the first event that the Pistonclick team were able to get out to photograph after the lockdown. 

This time the novelty factor of visiting a track during a pandemic had worn off and wasn’t the main topic of conversation for us or the other visitors, thank goodness .

At Donington it was the only topic of conversation but this time not so, and were able to concentrate on the racers and the great cars that were not holding back around the sweeping Kent track.

The Masters Historic Festival is a celebration of historic racing with the main focus on Grand Prix Racing of yester-year. Starting off with the Masters F1, this event is open to GP cars that raced from 1966 to 1985. 

As they were originally bespoke vehicles, running these today can be difficult due to the availability of spares. However, as long as the parts are period correct and within the spirit of the concept they are allowed, so there should be no problem watching these great looking vehicles for some time.

 Due to the advance of the safety fence and the risk averse nature of the track owners we, the spectators, have been pushed back from the edge of the track to the point now that you are some distance from the action. This means that for a lot of the time you don’t need to wear any form of ear defence.

This is not the case with the Masters F1. These cars are loud, very loud, to the point of pain when they are in wide open throttle screaming down the Hawthorn Hill. Top tip, always keep a few sets of foam ear plugs in your camera bag.

Thinking about it, a face mask is probably now a good idea as well and is required if you are going to get closer than two metres to your fellow spectators.

The Masters race series covers nearly 20 years of F1 which means there are a lot of different classes out racing. F1 is, and always has been, the pinnacle of automotive design. This translates to a lot of different looking cars out on track as the automotive engineers of the time pushed the design boundaries. 

The 1976/1977 Tyrrell P34 certainly pushed the race car design in a different direction and is arguably the most distinctive F1 car by a big margin. 

The six wheel design was seen as revolutionary at the time but wasn’t as radical as you think. Some of the other teams at the time also had six wheel designs they were developing.



Back in the 1930s six wheel race cars made a brief appearance, but all of these were two pairs of wheels at the rear unlike the Tyrrell that had four at the front.

This particular P34 has been built by the Warrington based CGA Race Engineering for Jonathan Holtzman. CGA had access to the original engineering drawings, building the car from the ground up, putting 7000 hours into the build.

Undaunted by the cost and huge amount of work involved in getting this P34 F1 ready, Holtzman now races the car regularly much to my delight as this is an amazing car to see out where it belongs, on the track. 

It wasn’t just “modern” F1 cars that were out on track, the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association (HGPCA) were also reliving past glories. Eight classes all run together from 1925 to pre 1961 cars.

It was about this time that F1 cars moved the engine to the more recognisable rear engine configuration, which the HGPGC run separately but at the same time with another six classes.

This results in a large number of great looking and sounding historic race cars out on the track at the same time.

To capture these iconic cars there are loads of locations at Brands Hatch that will guarantee you a great picture, if you have the basic photography skills.

Druids is the obvious choice for most spectator photographers visiting Brands Hatch and with good reason. There are so many angles that you could spend all day here and have a load of very different images to review when you get home.

Top tip, get there in the morning that’s when the light is best.

There is no safety fence on the inside of Druids and you are close to the action so a short telephoto will work here. But pull that long lens out of the bag and head off down the right hand side of the track as you look up the hill.

Here the older cars on skinny tyres can slide out of the corner giving you something a little different to the norm in your pictures. 

As the rain started to fall Rob took the outside of Druids I took the inside knowing full well there would be a some of the afore mentioned skinny tyre action. We were not wrong. 

Druids can usually guarantee plenty of automotive action. David Jones in #122 the Volvo Amazon had been putting in some hot laps, however he put a stop to the snapping fun when he went past on probably the hottest lap he has ever done in the Masters Pre-66 Touring Cars qualifying session on Saturday morning.



Yes, he is on fire! He coasted to the side of the track at he start of Graham Hill bend in a cloud of smoke. The marshals were all over his car in quick time but it needed the fire truck to bring it under control, one of a few red flags on the day. 

For me, the other good action corner is Clearways. You have to shoot through the rather thick fence but as you can see it’s not to much of a problem.

And the slightly soft images are outweighed by the great action shots you will capture as the racers drive hard for the finish line.

Pistonclick had three spectator photographers out over the two day meeting, and all of us agreed that the Masters is a great motoring spectacle.



The Gentleman Racers in GT cars, the Pre-66 touring cars and the mad minis only add to the riot of entertainment for the petrol head fan. 

As myself and Rob are more two wheel aficionados, I will leave the final words to our resident four wheel expert David Harbey who captured the action on Sunday's race day.

Postcard from the Grand Prix loop part two - Race Day

Report by David Harbey



A second chance to see racing on the Grand Prix loop at Brands Hatch was not to be missed – especially as it was the Masters Historic meeting including sports cars and Formula One from two different eras.



The Historic Grand Prix Cars Association (HGPCA) caters for cars from the 50s and early 60s. The earlier front-engined cars included the sublime Maserati 250F – seen here with a Cooper T45 – an early example of the rear-engined revolution that swept through grand prix racing.

I’d walked round to Hawthorns for this race to get a panning shot looking down on the cars. A trio of my favoured marque, Lotus, reflects the changes in the cars between the Lotus 18 #49, the Lotus 18/21 #32 and the Lotus 25 #29 in just a few years.

There’s also a good rear three quarter shot here which provides a view of the driver’s hands on the wheel. Sometimes a little black and white can be effective.

I wanted to shoot looking back at Stirlings for the Historic Sports Cars but reflections from the bright sunshine created some horrible reflections on the windscreens of the closed cars, especially the fabulous sounding Lola T70s.

Hence, the choice of subjects here!

A short walk towards Clearways gives us a view of the business end of two Lola T70s as they brake for that corner. Looking backwards from the side of the bridge there gives a shot of the cars through the trees.

There were famous names present – Alex Brundle (son of Martin) was driving one of the Lola T70s above and also shared an E-Type in an earlier race, whilst Tiff Needell drove a couple of cars on Sunday including the McLaren M1B.

The highlight for many though was the later F1 cars including a recently recreated (to original specification) six wheeled Tyrrell P34 and Johnny Herbert racing at Brands Hatch again – the scene of his accident which very nearly ended his career.

There’s a spot between Sheene Curve and Stirlings where the fence ends but angles for shooting the cars are difficult with no spectator bank. However, there is a rear three quarter shot which can be framed by the trees.

Walking back towards Westfield, there is a tiny fence-free opportunity for a shot as the cars plunge into Dingle Dell – the double height step was required here to get the McLaren MP4/1 below (and Tyrrell above).

A return to Hawthorns offers a front or rear panning shot.

In my report from the HSCC Super Prix, I mentioned the window in the fence at Hawthorn Hill, grabbing a shot of the cars as they start to slow for Hawthorns corner. I’m not blown away by the results but it was worth trying out.

More photos of these and other races are available on my Flickr account.