Birkett Relay 2023 - Silverstone - 26 October 2023

I’m not sure why I haven’t photographed the Birkett motorsport Relay race before. I have it in the back of my mind that it clashed with other events that had a higher priority in previous years. The SuperMoto is usually held around this time of the year at Cadwell, but like quite a few events at the Lincolnshire track it has moved elsewhere. So, to get my weekend motorsport fix I could have gone to watch the beach racing at Mablethorpe but as that runs throughout the winter I headed for Silverstone for six hours of racing.

The Birkett is billed as the largest annual motor race in the UK with 70 teams and nearly 300 cars taking part on the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit. Up to six drivers and cars are allowed in each team. Some of the teams will have fewer cars than drivers so, for the time keepers, a lettering system is used to determine who is driving.

Only one car per team is allowed on track at any one time, so the drivers are allocated a letter between A and F next to the race number. Struck through letters indicate that particular driver is not racing if multiple drivers are using the same car. 

It can all be a bit confusing if you are trying to follow the race as a black Radical #40 will fly past, then a grey one appears on the next lap with the same number, but you get the hang of it after a while. As this is a relay/endurance race you are going to see the cars out on track for quite a while.

As a minimum you should see the cars for at least an hour, six cars max in a team, six hour race, if the fuel and tyres allowing them to race for that long.

Some of the cars were doing less than hour, possibly because of driver fatigue; the Grand Prix circuit is 3.667 miles long with 18 corners so quite demanding. There are different classes to make the racing fair. To say there were a load of different types of cars with different power racing is a bit of an understatement. 

Radicals, Mazda MX5, Minis and BMW and a host of others were all set off at the same time, 11.45 am. This would allow the drivers to race into the darkness, adding a little more to the challenge.

Considering the number of cars participating I wanted to capture them all together, so I headed for the end of the International Straight.

I kind of got the shot but by the time the leaders, three Radicals, had arrived at my location they were a good distance from the rest of the pack already, in fact so far ahead I couldn’t see the rest of the field as they went past!

The Birkett is not a massive crowd draw, however there were quite a few out to watch but there was still plenty of space to spectate from around the GP circuit. One nice aspect of this race is you can drive into Silverstone which allows you to get around the outside and inside of the track using your car.

At large meetings like MotoGP and F1 you are parked outside of the circuit but can still get around using the buses laid on once you have walking in. 

Having your own wheels during a six hour race can give you the time to explore and try out a few locations you might not have been to before. Although, I have been to Silverstone a lot and didn’t find anywhere new to shoot from.

In fact, a particular shot from the end of club before the straight is now not accessible due to large grandstands being built there.

Around Silverstone a lot of construction is taking place, mainly accommodation, the new hotel is open for business and can be recommended. I have stayed in it a few times now and the views of the track are very good.

The race was not what I would call exciting. If you have been to Silverstone you will know there are may areas where you can’t hear the commentators, so after a few laps it was difficult to work out the class leaders.

One team I wanted to watch was the #58 Royal Air Force Motorsports Team who were easy to spot being in mainly blue cars with RAF decals. 

The teams are given a number of laps before the start of the race that are then added to the total on the day, a bit like a golf handicap, to try and even out the differences between the performance of the cars in the teams.

The RAF team have a history of winning the Handicap race and after posting 128 laps did it again this year with a record sixth win, and also retained the Military Inter-Service Championship.

The boys in Blue will be at the Race of Remembrance later this month where we will have a PistonClicker there to capture the action and see how they get on at the last race of the year. 

If there is a Handicap race there must be a Scratch race, and there was. The Birkett turned into the battle of the Radicals of #40 RJ Motorsport, #41 RJ with Daytona Motorsport and #16 RSR Motorsport who would post 148 laps and take the win.

#16 RSR Motorsport drivers of John Macleod, Ben Stone and James Lay were all all driving Radical SR3 

Photographic Postscript 

The Birkett Relay is quite a good event for the spectator photographer to attend. It is reasonably priced at £17 but Silverstone is now ticketless so get your ticket online before setting off.

One slightly confusing aspect of this is that at all of the other events I’ve been to at Silverstone, once you purchase your ticket it appears in the associated app that you also need to download. This time it didn’t. Not a problem as I always take a screenshot and save the QR code to my phone’s photos just case there is a poor signal at the gate.

As for taking photographs, the Birkett is great with the whole of the GP circuit and plenty of room to explore. On the down side you will need a long lens.

There are a few places that you can get close to the action but most of track is some distance. I used a crop sensor Nikon D500 with a 200-400mm f4 lens but a full frame camera with a similar lens would probably be better for shooting through the many safety fences at Silverstone. 

The motorsports season is now coming to a close in the UK so it was fitting to finish it off with a race that had multiple car types.

I could well visit the Birkett next year but for now my big coat will make an appearance as we start to photograph the winter motorsports of Rallying and beach racing and maybe the odd indoor event.