JWB Photography

Britcar 500, Silverstone

2009-10-15T21:47:00.000+01:00

Possible my favorite event of the year especially when they run the full 24hours, this year though apparently the recession meant they could only do 6 hours which I suppose is better than nothing. At least half of it was run in the dark which really is the point. Odd really how great it is just watching headlights hurtling past in the dark but there you go.

GT Polonia Light

2009-10-02T00:08:00.000+01:00

I've had enormous fun this past month with a bit of a roadtrip to Poland in order to shoot the GT Polonia Light trackday at Tor Poznan. This was my first visit to a Polish racetrack so I didn't really know what to expect but was pleasantly surprised. The circuit is actually very nice although I'd hate to be a spectator there and they really need to build some garages in the pitlane.

The event was excellent, held over 2 days there was a fine selection of vehicles from Poland, Sweden and The Ukraine. These included several Ferrari F430's, Porsche GT3 RS's, a couple of Audi R8's and a few Nissans including the GTR.

All in all it was a great couple of days with some very interesting people.

Here are the pics, enjoy.

BTRA Truck Racing, Donington Park

2009-09-06T13:23:00.001+01:00

My final visit to Donington this year before the place is dug up was for the truck racing. The spectacle of huge trucks hooning around a race track is really something that has to be seen to be believed.

Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture: f/11.0
Focal Length: 313 mm

Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture: f/9.0
Focal Length: 500 mm

Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/11.0
Focal Length: 266 mm

Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 313 mm

Exposure: 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture: f/9.0
Focal Length: 116 mm

Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/9.0
Focal Length: 500 mm

Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 500 mm

Exposure: 0.05 sec (1/20)
Aperture: f/22.0
Focal Length: 10 mm

All images © JWB Photography 2009

Super League Formula, Donington Park.

2009-08-29T14:55:00.003+01:00

At the beginning of August I found myself at Donington Park for the third round of the Super League Formula. This is an absolutely brilliant series which deserves to be way better supported then it actually is. Despite Liverpool FC giving away free tickets on their website the turnout was very poor which is a real shame. The V12's in these cars make possibly the best noise outside of F1 and really need to be heard to be fully appreciated.

I'm already looking forward to next year.

All images © JWB Photography 2009

Oulton Park Photoshoot

2009-08-27T00:19:00.007+01:00

I did an interesting shoot recently for Nick Sanderson Racing who compete in the Competition Car Insurance Ford Fiesta Championship with three Ford Fiesta ST's. The shoot was to be held at Oulton Park as the team were there for a days testing. To make the pictures that little bit more interesting and unusual the very nice people at Oulton Park allowed us to use the start/finish straight for the shoot which gave us just under an hour to get some shots. Fortunately the weather decided to play along as well so everything was in place for a really good shoot.

We also hoped to do some rolling shots but Oulton Park weren't too keen on that so instead I had to break out my rig and try to do a rig shot at midday in bright sunshine, thank God for ND filters is all I can say on that score. The shots came out pretty well regardless.

Here are a few from the test session itself.

All images © JWB Photography 2009

A bit more from the Grand Prix

2009-08-26T15:58:00.005+01:00

Here are a few more shots from the British Grand Prix, apologies for the delay but I've been trying to configure the blog to be a bit more photo friendly and ultimately failing! Therefore prepare for a flurry of posts as I've been quite busy the past couple of months.

Anyway, here's a another shot from Copse showing how well a pan works at this spot.

This was shot at f6.3 and 1/500th which is a bit much for a regular pan but about right for an F1 car travelling at 200mph.

After I got enough at Copse (I really don't understand those photographers who stay in the same place shooting a thousand frames of the same thing!) I moved down to Maggots/Becketts which is fairly limited for photography due to the speed of the cars and the proximity of the track. However I was sure I could get something and decided to go for some rear end shots which would show the forces working on the car as it cornered.

This is a difficuly place to shoot from simply because you are very close to the track so you can't follow the cars through the viewfinder so it was just a case of prefocusing on a section of the track and making sure I hit the shutter just at the right moment, which was usually just as the car entered the frame, any later and the car would have been long gone.

Not a bad effort in the end and the sparks give it a little bit more interest. This was shot at 1/1250th which was just enough to capture the car.

Becketts also has a few opportunites for panning such as this:

1/320th at f8.

Another good spot is the exit of Club which if you are prepared to sit in the mud you can push your lens right up to the fence and get shots like this:

1/500th, f10.

Failing that you can stand on the banking and shoot over the fence for stuff like this:

1/500th, f10.

Further along the track you get to Abbey Chicane which offers more opportunities for pans.

1/160th, f9.

A great opportunity here is on the exit of the chicane but unfortunately does need a fast lens as you are shooting through the fence which is several metres in front of you. This was shot at f2.8 and 1/1250th.

All images © JWB Photography 2009

Toro Rosso at Copse

2009-08-20T21:41:00.004+01:00

I decided to go along to the British Grand Prix this year but only for the Friday practise session because the crowds are smaller so it's easier to get about. It doesn't cost a fortune to get in either and you get a total of 3 hours of F1 time meaning it's possible to shoot from all around the circuit.

This shot was of the first car out on circuit and it was taken at Copse. I really like it because I wanted to get the crowd in the shot as well because you can be sure that everyone will be looking at the first car to enter Copse at race speed. That's exactly what happened so I have a shot of an F1 car and every face in the crowd turned towards it which I believe makes for an interesting shot.