A PistonClick Postcard from the BGT Silverstone 500

Report by David Harbey

10 May 2023

A few weeks back, Andrew and I decided we would share the weekend ticket for the Silverstone 500 – the three-hour British GT round on the Grand Prix circuit; it’s been a regular fixture in this household over recent years. I chose Saturday – free practice and qualifying - while Andrew went for race day. As the weekend got closer, it became apparent that I would get the wet day and he would get the dry day. Oh well, I like shooting in the rain.

Given the half hour drive to Silverstone AND the forecast rain, I decided on a mid-morning arrival to be there in good time for Free Practice 2.

Given that my knee was still complaining about walking up and down the Ardennes hills the previous weekend at Spa, the plan was to spend time around Luffield with the new 40cm step / monopod / rain cover likely to get used. As FP2 started it was wet; here’s my postcard all shot on the 500mm prime -

After a break for lunch, I planned to relocate for the afternoon to one of my favoured locations at Silverstone – next to the Wellington Straight behind the Village Grandstand.

It’s through the fence but you can get reasonably close. The usual rules apply – try to shoot as close to the fence as possible, shoot at right angles to the fence and have the largest possible aperture (the PistonClick guide to shooting through fences)   

The rain though was getting worse, nevertheless the GB3 single seaters emerged for their race; meanwhile I had swapped to the 70-200mm zoom.

The British GT qualifying sessions were due to run from 4pm, but the weather apps and our own eyes were both unconvinced. In the event the cars came out but the red lights were already alight before a flying lap was completed and in due course qualifying was canned. Thus only these slowish speed shots were captured, although there is the hint of a neat reflection.

Bonus Coverage - Images by David Nairne

Back in 2020, David Nairne got I touch with me having read the PistonClick Nurburgring guide. We exchanged a couple of emails, established similar interests in motorsport and agreed that we would aim to catch up once the restrictions of the pandemic had reduced. In the event, we only got back in touch with each other a month or so ago but agreed we would meet up at the British GT weekend.

Here’s a selection of Dave’s images using his recently acquired Nikon D500 paired with a Nikkor 200-400mm f4 zoom. Firstly, from FP1.

The rather wetter FP2 and Qualifying, the latter at Village, on Saturday

Hopefully it won’t be the last we see of Dave’s work. Hint - I know that he is going to the Spa 24 Hours in July.

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