British GT, Donington

G-Slev · 21 Sep 2018

Anyone going this weekend? Forecast looks grim, and I am camping which is probably a mistake in late September.

I've not been to Donington in over a year - are things any better since JP's lot took the circuit over?

RichardC27 · 21 Sep 2018

I had planned to go but looking at the forecast for Sunday I think I'll be staying at home and watching the live stream. Donington is loads better now. Much tidier, new toilets everywhere and new grandstands. The new paddock cafe / restaurant is much nicer too

MFlip · 21 Sep 2018

Well I've got weekend ticket but not sure when I'll be up at this point. Saturday looked ok the last time I looked, Sunday might be a short day looking at the weather. I can feel a trip to Go Outdoors for some waterproofs coming on.

Glad I live close enough to drive each day, wouldn't fancy camping!

G-Slev · 21 Sep 2018

Saturday doesn't look too bad - light rain most of the day, but that makes for good motorsport shots. Sunday is looking like heavy rain from 08:00 to 15:00. I have resolved to brave the weather!

RichardC27 · 24 Sep 2018

I made a last minute decision to go on Sunday morning when the weather forecast changed. Drove down and watched the GT race and nothing else, but came away with some good shots that I'll post in a couple of days. I wasn't accredited media for this because of MSV's rules (despite having a season media pass...) so I was on the public side of the fence. I forgot how great Donington is to shoot at without media access.

MFlip · 24 Sep 2018

Donington is my closest track timewise but I've not been for around 20 years and have avoided it since I gained an interest in motorsport photography because of fairly consistent negative comments. Have to say I was quite impressed. I'd actually put it up there with Oulton Park although for different reasons. Access to the straights wasn't great but there were plenty of angles from most of the Infield, the Esses and Melbourne hairpin areas. The varying elevation makes for some good opertunities.

As for the weather, bought some over trousers on Friday, left them in the car on Saturday and got soaked, stuck them in the bag on Sunday and didn't see a spot of rain after I got there at about 10:30. Think i'll just ignore the forecasts in future.

G-Slev · 26 Sep 2018

RichardC27 said:
I made a last minute decision to go on Sunday morning when the weather forecast changed. Drove down and watched the GT race and nothing else, but came away with some good shots that I'll post in a couple of days. I wasn't accredited media for this because of MSV's rules (despite having a season media pass...) so I was on the public side of the fence. I forgot how great Donington is to shoot at without media access.

How did you get accredited for a season media pass but not for the BGT???

RichardC27 · 26 Sep 2018

PhotoBoris said:
How did you get accredited for a season media pass but not for the BGT???

MSV Season media passes don't count for British GT, BTCC and BSB at their circuits. So I can get into the circuit but I can't sign on and go trackside at big events without applying for single event accreditation. MSV don't recognise SRO season media accreditation either, so even if I'd been accredited from the championship organisers, I'd have to apply again to each MSV circuit holding a round. And they tend not to give accreditation to smaller websites, which is what I shoot for. Just the way MSV do things.