Ok so here’s the thing. Instead of the usual “he led into the first corner, then fell off, this other guy went quicker and won” kinda thing, which can be a little dull and is certainly done better by others, here’s the weekend from our point of view…
….which is usually through a Canon 1D MkIII but we’ll try and spare you the techno babble about photography (Lord don’t get me started on that) and just give you all an idea what goes on.
So our weekend normally (Mike was moving flat this weekend while being here to shoot) starts with our arrival in the evening before Practice Day, so that’s usually a Thurs eve but with this weekend being compressed into two days (no need for Qualifying as it was done five weeks ago) it was late Friday night that I rolled up and parked the mobile home (well, battered scruffy Audi A6) and got the dinner on. I mean opened the Tupperware box and nashed cold chicken and watched American Gangster on the laptop. Like a curse from the big guy upstairs, the feeble laptop battery died 30mins from the end of the admittedly long film leaving literally in the dark about Denzel’s fate. So I put the seats down, rolled the bedding out and settled into my ‘warren’ for the night.
Oh, and wine was involved somewhere but I can’t remember where.
Saturday
Saturday was clearly going to be a belter and as I trudged down to the foot tunnel under the track dragging my suitcase of camera gear behind me I was glad I’d remembered shorts and sun cream. The Media Centre (MC) at Brands is great, plenty of space (there’s more expensive camera gear and laptops hanging about than you would believe) and air conditioned with coffee and cold drinks for us sweaty journos.
Once the regulars had arrived and we all got our kit set out Mike arrived in a flurry carrying his hired 500mm lens. This year Mike is hiring/borrowing huge lenses which allow us to catch shots that were impossible without cropping in previous years. Cropping means you guys don’t get such a big image when looking ‘Hi-Def’ so the less digital cutting of the image the better. And besides, it makes us feel like pros since they’ve all got big white posh lenses. Poor Mike was a little stressed, moving flat is a difficult enough job without having to spend your daytime marching around BH while your girlfriend is left to sort it out.
Then we went down to the Red Viper garage to meet the crew there and Ady Butterworth was in the middle of a scooter repair, so we hung around and then once the intros were over we set about stickering Aaron’s bike and taking photos of it. It was a real thrill and hopefully not the last. Then it was over to Sammo’s tent to see him and B before things got too busy.
That took about 45mins all in and so then it was back to the MC to download the images so we could rush them onto LB and to Jay so you guys could share the moment.
Then, once water bottles were filled and lenses changed we headed out trackside and crikey was it hot. And it was only 10 in the morning. Shooting the bikes involves a lot of walking (although we can cross the track which saves going the long way around, but does mean we can get ‘trapped’ if the track is closed before we get to a crossing point. So we have to plan where we want to be for which race and make sure we can get it in time. The position of the sun is vital, esp when it’s giving it Full Power as it was this weekend, as it should be behind us and therefore illuminating the side of the bike we are shooting, otherwise horrid black shadows and irratic exposures or worse can spoilt the image which just wastes time. Some parts of Brands can only be shot at certain times - the inside of Surtees is only good in the morning or midday, but as the afternoon grows the sun moves from inside the corner, to beaming down the exit to blasting from the outside of the corner. Druids is similar - the inside where people stand is rubbish in the morning, only really workable in the afternoon. Then there’s the decision about who takes which lens because not all corners are shoot-able with every lens we have between us (we both shoot Canon so the hired big lens and my 300mm can be swapped).
So the Saturday morning was really all the MRO classes so, while interesting to shoot and practice with the 500mm lens, it wasn’t what we were there for really so it was really a case of looking for different angles. Remember we’ve already shown you hundreds of shots from the abortive meeting five weeks ago and certainly I felt pressure to avoid producing galleries of the same angles again. Sadly I don’t feel I managed it whereas Mike certainly did. So hat’s off to him, boo-hiss to me :-s
My first event of note was the Relentless TAS Suzuki Supersport machine of Ian Lowry biting the dust after losing the front in Surtees as he passed me. Surtees is a great corner, a left hander for the riders, because I can get really close - five metres or less, and it’s uphill so the riders have to look virtually straight at the lens. For public viewing it rocks too as there is no real fence, just a waist hire three cord wire thing. So if you don’t get one of us standing where you want to shoot, you can get some serious images from there. And you are higher than we are, which can give a better shot.
As I said earlier the qualifying sessions from the original meet were carried over to this meet which meant that the grid positions were already established, and this took the pressure off the riders. I imagine that unless some set-up issues or new parts needed sorting out, they would be only giving 75% at best. Why risk binning it or injury for little reason? And several of the riders were due to ship out to N.Ireland for the North West 200 road race, practice for which started Tuesday.
But none-the-less, a full field turned out in most classes (as best I could tell) and put on a show for the viewers. I spent a little time with some friends who’d come down in the afternoon while the MRO classes were doing their thing and then shoot the afternoon sessions of 600's and the Superbikes. And I must of hummed a little as it was just damn hot. Quite the contrast from Oulton Park a week ago, although not one I really enjoyed really. So it was with some relief that I went back to the MC and dumped the gear, set the memory cards to download and grabbed a cold drink. Everyone in the MC looked the same, too hot and moaning quietly about the bright light and dark shadows. We’re a hard lot to please, but I think wet conditions make the bikes look like they’re moving faster and thus make for better pics.
At 6'ish it was back to Red Viper Racing to interview Aaron Zanotti, their Superbike pilot, and Tom Clegg who has recently joined them to ride a Supersport machine after a planned ride fell through. The inside of the big glossy flash looking race trailers rarely lives up to the expectations but it was cool and comfortable. Looking at the pics Mike has in gallery four, I realise quite what a scruffy tyke I am, but Aaron and Tom at least look their parts.
We spent an hour with the lads and then Mike had to boogie back home to help out in the moving, so I retired back to the MC to spend a couple of hours processing before leaving at about 8pm with my mate Dave who parks with me and is part of the overnight-sleeping-in-cars gang. Fortunately most circuits have shower blocks in the paddock so once clean and presentable, it was back to the cars to break out the catering equipment. Since keeping food in a hot car for two or three days limits our menu somewhat (think lots of tins), we have a fairly predictable diet of boil in the bag rice, tinned curry/chile/stew or similar. Between us we can muster pans, camping stoves and cutlery, and I must say it made a change to be able to cook outdoors instead of in the rear footwells of my car (it’s the biggest of the gang’s cars) so we tucked in. Tammy joined us as we were finishing a large chile, Tammy is the BSB reporter for Bike Sport News and is new to the ‘game’ this year, and since Dave and I haven’t really been accepted by the mainstream it was a case of all the outsiders can form their own gang.
It’s funny, perhaps like many other ‘clubs’, there are groups of snappers who’ve been doing it for years and they all talk and joke together. And I think disappear to hotels together too. Double Red (the official BSB Snappers and most well known photography crew) are an acception, Tim is their full time bike shooter and is the friendliest guy in the room - always happy to talk and joke on.
So we have a little gang - me, Dave, Tammy and of course Mike who can’t be left for a minute without wandering off all agog and lost in the moment hehe. And we stick together, help each other out and generally buddy up.
After dinner and washing up (yes I take fairy liquid and a brush) it’s off to the pub (Kentagon) for a few more lagers (oh yes, and I carry a box of lager in the boot), cold ones this time hehe, before climbing into our respective cars to try and get a night’s sleep.
Sunday
Race day is always exciting, and this was no exception. The day started at 9am with the pit walk (where you guys get to stand outside the garages and meet some of the riders - those who have been allocated garages at least. All the other riders are in the paddock which is usually open to the public all weekend anyway. Pitwalk is fun, I get to shoot the PR girls and the riders interacting with the fans, and it’s an important part of the weekend for everyone. You can forget that the riders are people if you only ever see them in helmets, dark visors and leathers. Now I can recognise most of the grid I get a buzz when I’m looking at them through a long lens while they are cornering, and I get a glimpse of their eyes - I can then imagine their face and suddenly they become (mostly) young guys thrashing ridiculously fast and expensive bikes around at crazy speeds. And when one falls off, no matter how badly, its like it’s happening to a mate, to someone you know even though they aren’t and most of ‘em I don’t know at all.
Still, it can be unsettling.
Then Mel and her friend + plus daughter arrived and so I spent a lot of the morning, while the warmups took place, shooting near them and having a great Gourmet sausage roll with them for lunch. I love seeing people at the races, to share the excitement and what I do, but always feel guilty that they have to be a second priority on the day. And I am usually tired, dishevelled and preoccupied anyway, which I hope is not the normal hehe. Shauna - want to comment? LoL
Anyway race day involves us deciding who does what, and shooting the grid is important to us but since we can’t go on the grid (our passes are not of a high enough level yet) it has to be shot from the spectator side which then limits where we can go. At Brands it means the outside of Paddock Hill, down to Druids or the other way to Clearways. And that decision depends on the sun and which lens that person takes. Mike took the 300mm, shot the first race grid and went along Paddock to Druids for the action. I took the 500mm and went further around to the exit of Druids with the option to move down to Graham Hill bend.
After the race we met in the middle and thought about what to do. Mike wanted to play with some wide angle shots so I went half way along Coopers to shoot the Supersport (tuned 600's) with the 500mm again. I was pleased to catch Fitzpatrick’s near high-side as he accelerated out of Graham Hill bend on lap one on tyres with cold left hand sides. The sun was directly behind me and I could feel my neck heating up, so turned to shoot the riders from the outside of Surtees which was nice - the sun was perfect and the silver Armco gives a good simple and easily blurred background. By shooting across the pitlane entrance I could catch the burnouts with the sun behind them which I was also pleased with but the 500mm still wasn’t quite big enough to fill the frame, so some cropping was necessary.
Mike was pretty much on his own for the afternoon, I knew he was getting creative as he had gone pretty quiet so I kept the 500 for the second race. I shot the grid and then went to Clearways which is great with the late afternoon sun coming low across the track but really there is only a couple of angles so creative boredom wasn’t far away. Fortunately I knew I’d be meeting Johnny-Zero and Karen (grid girl) nearby, so once Crutchlow had stuffed the Ducatis into a cocked hat (or beanie knowing him) I tracked JZ down and had a great half hour with them before heading back trackside for Sammo in the Superstock 600's. Sammo didn’t have a great race, but all the LB’ers there saw you mate, and let’s look forward to Donington Park now anyway. I saw him touring into the pitlane and presumed something was amiss. Then the safety car came around and it was clear something had happened.
After the Superstock 600's had finished it was back to the MC and the weekend’s shooting was a wrap. I’d wanted to spend more time with the Embassy Triumph guys as Paul was feeling a little low after his jump start at Oulton, and Glen’s victory followed by AJ’s second in the SS600 class must have only rubbed the salt in. But the whole Red Viper gig and seeing mates had used up my spare time so it will wait until Donington, where we should be working more with the Embassy Team so watch this space.
The Calm
Once the track falls quiet it is then a question of processing photographs for the next 48 hours. I shoot about 2000-2500 images a day and that’s a lot of photos to look through, given that we must check them at full size (which takes the laptop a few seconds to show) to make sure they are sharp. Looking on the back of the camera, or even at full screen mode, doesn’t tell us what we need to know.
I left Brands at about 8.30pm and got home about 9.45. So a full weekend, which is how it’s meant to be no?
Donington promises much. In the Superbikes we have Byrne leading comfortably on 140 points with Cal Crutchlow in pursuit. Cal must get out of this “win it or bin it” cycle because a 44 point deficit to Byrne is too much at this early stage so he cannot afford any more DNFs. Camier is 13 points behind Cal while the rest of the pack languish 20 odd points behind these three.
In the Supersport 600's Glen Richard’s Embassy 675 is still leading the Championship by the seven points advantage Thruxton gave him over Hudson Kennaugh. Otherwise they’ve a win and a second place each. So another close race next weekend? You betcha.
So pack a tent, come up early Sat morning and join the LB packrats for some close racing, pretty girls, guys in leather, petrol fumes and bad burgers. Why do anything else?
Oh, and wine will probably be involved somewhere, but I can’t predict exactly where ;-)
Photo Galleries (645 Shots)
British Superbikes - R1 Rescheduled, Brands Hatch #1
British Superbikes - R1 Rescheduled, Brands Hatch #2
British Superbikes - R1 Rescheduled, Brands Hatch #3
British Superbikes - R1 Rescheduled, Brands Hatch #4
