British GT Season Opener - Brands GP

The Image Team

The Image Team

Messages
285
Name
Nicholas
Edit My Images
No
Its been a long time since I got to play on the Grand Prix layout at Brands. Due to work I missed the GT round last year so its been almost two years since I could head out beyond Surtees and take a gander. I opted for the British GT side of the annual three way clash between BGT, WEC and the Taxis at Donington, loaded up with all of my nice new gear, which now includes a 300mm f2.8 L and a fireproof onesie, headed down to Kent and looked to raise my game.

My first thoughts: Bloody hell does the 300mm weigh a bit when you carry it for a full lap of the track!

Here are quite a few of my favorites from the weekend, including one Ginetta shot, (because who doesn't like a crash with no injuries) and a single shot of the F4s. (I do not like calling it F3, because it bloody well isn't!!!)

1) Thomas Randle in the assembly area ahead of a BRDC F4 race. I was shooting three championships for a website so I had a busy schedule. The important one was the GTs so I opted to do assembly and podium for the last F4 and Ginetta races, which let me deliver GT images faster.

Thomas Randle by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr

2) A rare shot of the Optimum Motorsport Audi R8 LMS on the tarmac rather than in the gravel. By my count there are eight gravel traps at Brands on the full layout. Will Moore put this machine into at least five of them over the course of the weekend.The other car is the TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 which carried Derek Johnston and Jonny Adam to victory.

Hillclimb by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr

3) Pirelli have dislodged Avon as sole tyre suppliers to the British GT Championship this year. I thought I should mark the occasion photographically.

Ridin' Zeros by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr

4) The University of Bolton Ginetta is now being run by Century Motorsport which put it on a good footing for success. Anna Walewska and Nathan Freke took pole in GT4 but could only take second in class during the race.

Bolton outta the Gate by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr

5) McLaren have had mixed success in GT racing. The MP4-12C didn't do very well but the 650S now holds the lap record at Bathurst. The next challenge for Woking is GT4, so this year they have given Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse the job of testing and developing the new 570S GT4 in race conditions. I loved the car, it looks great and sounds very impressive for a GT4.

New Toys by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr

6) I also love the detailing in the headlamps on the newest GT4:

New Light by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr

7) While we are looking at detail shots; I said in my Britcar set last month that I am falling in love with this angle but the shot I put up wasn't great. I did a bit of practicing this weekend and quite like this one of the defending champion in GT3, the Beechdean AMR Vantage GT3.

Birdseye View by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr

8) I promised you a crash shot, and a crash shot you shall have. Utter carnage was the order of both days of the meeting. I don't think we had a single session which didn't see a red flag. If we did manage that though, there were yellows all over the place as cars found kitty litter with alarming regularity.

Ginetta Crash Brands Hatch by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr
 
Part two of my epic odyssey through two days in Kent and before I go on I feel the need to offer apologies for the branding on the images. Recent rulings out of Europe have left me very concerned about hot linking images so everywhere but my own site and 500px who I trust will be getting branded piccies now. Sorry.

9) One of my newer toys is a Sigma 15-30 f3.5 I nabbed off a friend because it was selling cheap. I don't really know what I wanted the lens for, except as an emergency spare in case the 24-105 breaks during an event. I set about hunting out a use for it during warm up on Sunday morning and got this nice and wide pan of the formerly 888, now AmDTuning.com run BMW Z4 GT3.

Old Warhorse by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr

10) After qualifying all the cars go into Parc Ferme. Because of space restrictions mainly, but also to save on movement of big cars around the pit lane, this is done in the garages. That left the #1 car all lonely on Saturday, so I kept it company for a while.

Tucked Away by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr

11) After a year with no VW Group product in the British GT Championship at all, we now have the full set. This is another rare shot of the Audi without gravel, joined by the new Lamborghini Huracan GT3. The Bentley was further round the track, running rings around the Aston Martins.

VAG Products by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr

12) Talking of the Bentley, its a big machine. It does move rather well though, Team Parker Racing took pole position in qualifying.

Big Ole Bus by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr

13) There are two Lamborghinis in the championship this year, which given the noise they make is a very good thing. This was shot at the tail end of FP1, just as the red flags went out to recover a number of cars which had come to grief around the circuit.

Bull by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr

14) We don't have a Ferrari this year, but we still have a Ferrari V8. This is thanks to Ebor GT Motorsport and their lovely Maserati. A very rare GT4 car, it was hampered by an inexperienced driver pairing but was still fantastic to look at.

Eboring On by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr

15) The traditional champagne fight on the podium saw pole-sitter and second third place finisher Rick Parfitt getting an unwelcome soaking care of the winner, Derek Johnston.

Podium Shower by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr

16) I'm just guessing that you guys wont like this one. I was working to a very loose brief, as I always do when shooting for TCF at British GT meetings, I got everything I needed long before the red flag cut the GT race short so I started to play a lot. I've been looking for something a little abstract to go on a wall at home so I took some time to play. This was a 0.8 second exposure at f4.5 and ISO50, though an ND400 at 70mm. The whole idea was to produce a blurry mess with just enough clue to the fact there is a car in there somewhere. It didn't come out like I thought it would but I like the result none the less. I have eight of these "Abstract Automotive" shots as I have taken to calling them. All I need to do now is figure out what the hell I am going to do with 'em.

Ghost Car by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr
 
Really good set. I love the detail in 3 and 6.

Number 16 is an interesting take on motorsport, you get a feel for how quickly everything is passing you by, well done sir.
 
Nice varied set Nicholas love the P ZERO close up on the Aston liking the wide shot of the Z4 in 9 best sounding car there sounded a little to loud for a British Championship (not that I am complaining) surprised they did have a word as the other Z4s that run are a lot quieter.

Liking the headlamp shot in 6 and nice pan of the Bentley in 12 I take it you were wearing a bib to get these
 
Yeah, I shoot the full season for a website so I'm one of the lucky ones. As for the BMWs, they have always been loud in British GT, they sound strangled at Britcar with a 102dB noise limit.
 
Gary said:
shot number 2 isnt sharp. is that with the 300 f2.8?
Click to expand...

No it isn't sharp, yes it was when I kicked it out of lightroom though so I have buggered up somewhere down the line.

And yes, 300mm f2.8 L IS USM
 
I used to have a bib at Brands in the 90's covering the bikes and cars for a local rag down south. Good days.

Back then it was with a Canon t90 and FD lenses though. Slightly easier nowadays.

Got some great shots of the Formula Fords and Touring Cars back in the day.

I must dig some negs out.
 
A good selection, nice panning in 12, and well caught with the crash shot.
 
Last edited:
Thanks. I could have got an off shot from the Formula Palmer Tatuus cars too but I had the 300 on and he was going through the gravel near me. I decided to save the lens instead!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top