Plum Pudding Races - Mallory Park.

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Nicholas
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I've been out for the last time in 2016 today doing the Plum Pudding Races at Mallory Park. Good racing, good circuit, crap organisation!

A couple of the challenges I faced are:

1) I've never been to Mallory before; but we work around this one all the time so its minor.
2) Despite the fact I was the fourth tog of the day to sign on, they had already run out of tabards. I was told my press card would get me track side so planned my shooting accordingly then got told halfway through the day I wouldn't be allowed trackside without a tabard and they couldn't supply. So no access to the inside of the hairpin or the infield sections of the circuit at all. Having planned to do these later in the day when the sun had moved, I'd already done much of the good afternoon shooting so there was little left for me to do.
3) I've never shot bikes on a circuit in my life and half the racing involved vehicles missing at least one wheel.

Given the shoddyness of the organisation I decided to say sod it and bog off to the driving range at lunchtime.

Still I got a few I am happy with so here they are.

1) Just to prove it was Mallory Park:

PlumPudding_MalloryPark-21264 by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr

2) First out where the Saloon Cars. Basically the event is a run what you brung split into four categories so these two clios were up against a DC2 Integra and a Silhouette Audi TT.

PlumPudding_MalloryPark-10027 by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr

3) Three of the cars on the grid in Saloon Cars were obviously Volkswagen Racing Cup entries. This golf was properly shifting but still couldn't keep up with the Clio, driven by one of the circuits pros.

PlumPudding_MalloryPark-29893 by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr

4) I spent a lot of time deliberately trying things I have always been told not to do. Shooting into direct sun, etc. I did spend quite a while playing with the natural shadows. This is an old Triumph racing in the Sportscars race.

PlumPudding_MalloryPark-21296 by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr

5) Only at Mallory would that Triumph above be put up against this Radical with no class structure to give it a fighting chance.

PlumPudding_MalloryPark-21270 by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr

6) Phil House, the reigning Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup took his toy out to play while the full season Scirocco is in the workshop getting some love.

PlumPudding_MalloryPark-21236 by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr
 
Time for those weird things that race while missing wheels, and roofs and windows....

7) One good thing about Mallory's public areas are the fact the circuit is stuck in the 1950s. That means no catch fencing so you can get a decent shot. Also the viewing areas are almost on the track. You just have to fight the rest of the public to get to the barrier.

PlumPudding_MalloryPark-10141 by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr

8) A race broke out in practice!

PlumPudding_MalloryPark-21364 by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr

9) Some crazy people were playing passenger too. I did enjoy the sidecar racing but I really don't want a passenger ride on these.

PlumPudding_MalloryPark-29579 by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr

10) In the Pack.

PlumPudding_MalloryPark-21309 by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr

11) The bikes got up a lot of speed down the front straight. It took me a while to get anything in focus trying to pan just before the braking zone.

PlumPudding_MalloryPark-10322 by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr

12) More playing with Light and Dark.

PlumPudding_MalloryPark-21348 by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr

13) Running out of things to say now...

PlumPudding_MalloryPark-29659 by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr

14) Then there is the shot that makes all the crap worthwhile. I love this one.

PlumPudding_MalloryPark-21385 by Nicholas Smith, on Flickr

Please take pitty on my bike shots. As I say, im new to this two wheeled lark. Otherwise, feel free to criticise. Before its mentioned, I know my WB is all over the place but that really was a function of the light and shadows around the circuit.
 
Like #5 - and strangely all of the bike shots - but then I'm a bike person ;)

Shame the experience wasn't good today. Wonder if the regular organisers are away and it's volunteers helping out maybe. I was going to try and get there but life got in the way and the idea was quashed several days ago.

If there's any circuit in the UK that you don't need a press card then Mallory must be high on the list. One of the few you can get almost arms reached from the circuit without a high fence in the way.
 
b_1_rd said:
If there's any circuit in the UK that you don't need a press card then Mallory must be high on the list. One of the few you can get almost arms reached from the circuit without a high fence in the way.
Click to expand...

Thats true, but if I had been told at the start of the day I wouldn't be able to go into restricted areas I would have planned my shooting differently to account more for the sun. I went playtime early having been told I could get the 'boring' shots in the afternoon but the sun wasn't playing ball when I couldn't go over the fence. Its poor communication and poor planning that did today in.

And thank you for the kind comments.
 
You've got to understand that people have given up their Boxing Day to be there! I know that running out of tabards isn't the greatest organisation but the plum pudding is only a friendly "run what you brung" kind of thing. There's no championships so it's expected to have mixed grids. Mallory is one of the best circuits in the U.K for viewing and general enjoyment. Hats off to them for organising it!
 
Alistair Wells said:
You've got to understand that people have given up their Boxing Day to be there!
Click to expand...
Marshalls give up their day to be there, stewards and officials give up their day to be there, spectators give up their day to be there and the media give up their day to be there. Mallory Park run the event to make a profit. Mallory's media staff are paid to do their jobs and they failed.

Yes it is a good event. Yes it was good racing. Yes it is nice to have a bit of off-season action. No, I'm not going to give people who don't do what they are paid for a break.
 
So you were using a press pass( a press pass is no guarantee to give you photographic rights at an event) can I ask who you were shooting for.
 
However do the mere public manage without specialized access??? Yeah it's a bit of an oversight on their part but you should possess the skills to make the shot from the other side of the fence. You should be able to overcome an issue like this surely? Seems like you want it handed to you on a plate. It was hardly the F1 at Silverstone.

Do you have to pay as a 'pro' or do you get free entry?
 
munch said:
So you were using a press pass( a press pass is no guarantee to give you photographic rights at an event) can I ask who you were shooting for.
Click to expand...
Media accreditation as a photographer is a guarantee of photographic rights to supply to the publication listed in the application. And as the watermark on the images says, I was shooting for The Checkered Flag.

minnnt said:
However do the mere public manage without specialized access??? Yeah it's a bit of an oversight on their part but you should possess the skills to make the shot from the other side of the fence. You should be able to overcome an issue like this surely? Seems like you want it handed to you on a plate. It was hardly the F1 at Silverstone.

Do you have to pay as a 'pro' or do you get free entry?
Click to expand...

There are several areas at Mallory Park that are not accessible to the public. The inside of turns 1-2-3 for example, or the inside of the hairpin. On the outside of the hairpin the viewing is tiered which means that a tabarded tog can get a lower angle at the chicane than a paying punter. On the start finish straight someone shooting from public areas would need a 600mm ish lens to get a full framed shot of the grid without the bridge in the way where a tabard wearer can get a good 4-5 meters closer to the track surface and can lean out over the armco so the same shot can be achieved on a 100-400mm instead.

So some shots were completely in-accessible, others were much harder and some required equipment to which I did not have access. The major difference between accredited media and Joe Public is that JP is likely shooting for themselves where as I was shooting for a client who had certain expectations.

And while I did receive a ticket to the event without charge, nothing in motorsport photography is free. There is equipment, which tends to be at a higher standard than Joe Public. I have to pay for insurances which Joe Public does not need. If my client wants me to cover an event several hundred miles from home, there are costs involved in that too. Some of these costs are factored into the pricing charged to the client but others are just accepted as the price of doing business.
 
I raised it there and they all they did was apologise.
 
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