Photographing British GT at Oulton Park Round 1-2

29th March – 1 April 2024

Report by Dave Nairne, David Harbey and Matt Evens

One of the events that kicks off the motor racing season in the UK is the first round of the British GT Championship which in recent years has been at Oulton Park. Under SRO’s management, the series seems to go from strength to strength with a huge field of GT3 and GT4 cars set to complete in 2024.

The opening round at Oulton Park on Easter Monday has been a favourite in this household over recent years as the following selection shows – and you can also see that the race is subject to typically British Easter Bank Holiday weather.

A conversation with Dave Nairne, who contributed to our British GT report from Silverstone last year, elicited that he was going to make his first return to Oulton Park for 30 years on qualifying day and he agreed to report on the day for us. He writes -

SATURDAY - After an early morning drive up the A14 / M6, I arrived at Oulton Park, for my first visit since the RAC Rally in 1993, to be greeted by that rarely seen phenomenon of a large orange ball in the sky - unheard of on a Bank Holiday in the UK !  The appearance of this unusual weather event changed my plans for shooting at the practice and qualifying sessions as I wanted to ensure that I used the light to my best advantage.

When preparing for a shoot, like most people I am sure, I try to have a specific plan about what I am trying to achieve. Having spent most of the media day at Donington getting absolutely soaked through and for the most part shooting through the safety fences, I was looking forward to having the unobstructed views that Oulton Park offers.

Having been somewhat self-critical of my images over the last year or so where I have not been brave enough with slower shutter speeds, I was determined to come away with some acceptable images of the GT3/GT4 cars at speed. This obviously means that I was going to have to accept that the keeper rate was going to be somewhat lower but overall, I think that it worked and I came away pleased with my efforts.

I had originally planned to spend most of the day on the middle section of the track from Brittens around to Druids but the low, early morning sunshine forced a change of plan as I would have been shooting straight into the sun, so I initially headed to the outside of Lodge for the start of free practice with the idea of switching to the inside.

Unfortunately, a mechanical failure to a GT4 Mercedes, followed by a sizable accident to the Blackthorn Aston Martin GT3 of Matt Topham bought out the first red flags of the weekend, frustratingly, shortening the one-hour session by almost 30 minutes and giving me less time to move around to my intended spots. 

So during the extended stoppage, I wandered down to the outside of Old Hall to await the resumption; with hindsight, I think that the inside of Lodge might have been more rewarding.

I used the Nikon D500 and 200-400 f4 combination for these first images and shutter speeds from 1/250th of a second down to 1/100th but also having to use various exposure compensation amounts to try to keep the aperture suitable enough to lose the fences at this part of the circuit - always a challenge when the sun comes out !

I then moved to the far end of the circuit for the Pre-Qualifying session, switching to the somewhat lighter 200-500 f5.6 as there are little or no fences to contend with at Brittens and Hill Top, again using various shutter speeds of 1/250th and below. I was specifically hunting a shot of a car jumping the chicane at Brittens along with the different angles that are available.

I then moved towards Hill Top looking down on the exit of Brittens and over towards the exit of Cascades and the run down towards Island. 

Yet again, a red flag was thrown early due to Adam Smalley nailing his Garage59 McLaren 720s into the wall at Druids causing another 25 minute stoppage meaning that running time was shortened yet again, followed by another red flag right at the end of the session when one of the stunning new Lotus Emiras ground to a halt coming out of Brittens with some sort of mechanical issue. All of these stoppages were becoming very frustrating - we lost probably half of the anticipated running during the two sessions. A portent of things to come on Monday ?

For the four short qualifying sessions, I moved up to Knickerbrook and used various positions to take advantage of the ‘golden hour’ of late afternoon sun which showed this year's colour schemes off to their best, (the retro D2 Privat colours on the 2Seas Mercedes looked stunning) and, again, experimenting with different shutter speeds and focal lengths. Yet again, another red flag stopped Q1 when Richard Neary found the wall, again at Druids …… But, you would have to say that, if you cannot shoot in this fantastic light then you really should put you camera away ! Best moments of the day !

Generally, I would say that Oulton Park is quite rightly viewed as one of the most spectator photographer friendly circuits in the UK - access to most parts of the track are excellent, with plenty of elevation changes and, fortunately, MSV have, so far, avoided the installation of unnecessary safety fencing to spoil the views. The vibe in all the spectator areas, the paddock and the facilities felt good, with plenty of food and drink outlets to keep you fed and watered. The size of the crowd for just a practice day was rather impressive.

Post weekend, there are many online comments about 'is Oulton Park capable of containing GT3/GT4 cars now ?' I get quite angry with these comments because, at the end of the day, these guys ‘race’ and you are going to get incidents and issues especially when the weather is so changeable. I think that SRO / MSV will have to look at incident response times though and whether they have enough facilities to cope with these issues ? Ultimately, on Saturday, I thought that they coped pretty well but Monday may well have been a different matter - I will let DH comment on that (errm, yes, see below DH)!

Overall a good days shooting, spoiled by the length of time lost to red flag stoppages which frustratingly cut down considerably on the time to try different ideas and my usual ability to be in the 'wrong place at the wrong time' when any incident happened, but an enjoyable day none the less! DN

MONDAY – a decidedly unpromising weather forecast until mid afternoon and the likelihood of a big crowd parking on waterlogged grass meant I was shifting the cogs for myself in the front wheel drive Giulietta rather than letting the wonderful 8 speed auto in the BMW take the strain.

Having driven / swum up my preferred M1, A50, A49 route to Oulton Park I joined the back of the mile long queue at 09.10 – this didn’t promise well. We were directed to the parking behind Lodge as the interior of the circuit was “full”. In reality, a large area had been roped off as it was waterlogged, as was another large area of parking at Knickerbrook. I managed to squeeze in just behind the grandstand at Lodge.

Having missed warm up and glad I hadn’t aimed to be there in time for the first race, it was time to get my eye back in at Lodge – mostly through the fence with the 500mm prime. It was wet for the GB3 race at Lodge and the Ginetta GT Academy; the latter shot from opposite the starting grid.

I have to confess to feeling a bit “meh” about the support races – GB3 and GB4 – identikit single seaters which rarely produce good racing without a reverse grid (and that’s a debatable point at best) and various Ginetta classes. Soon enough it was time for the main event part 1 – the first of the two one-hour GT races with the Ams due to race first before handing over to the Pros at around half distance.

Having checked in with Dave over the weekend, I tried to find some different shots and started on the inside of Lodge with the 70-200mm zoom.

Of course, some preferred to head for the beach – “more than just a holiday” indeed!

The long Full Course Yellow and Safety Car around half way gave me the chance to swap to the outside of the track to get some atmosphere shots as the cars exited Lodge (you can shoot from beyond the end of the fence). 

That was followed by the classic “Oulton Park with Lodge in the background” shot – this requires shooting through the fence.

The GB4 and Ginetta GT Championship followed in conditions that remained very wet. Lodge is a great place - even with the, rare for Oulton, fence decent shots can still be obtained.

I opted out of the pit walk, preferring sausage, chips and beans in Chequers where it was dry and I found a seat quickly. Where to go for the afternoons action ? I like the shot down at Cascades, but on the outside of the circuit with the crowd in the background.

From here, the roped off area of parking was very noticeable and I had, for some reason, left the 500mm prime on the camera when, of course, I should have fitted the 300mm prime and popped a teleconverter in my pocket. Heigh-ho, just have to stand well, well back … Ginettas (there’s more?) were first - in plain sight and hiding.

The second GT race started in damp conditions but thirty odd GT cars would soon bring a dry line to the fore.

The race was, however, blighted by another FCY / SC period – the only positive being that the cars were grouped together on the restart. Now the 500mm prime came into its own looking back up the track towards Old Hall where the action was fast and furious – and close at times! Track limits were pushed as competitors played with the edge of the kerb and the possibility of a penalty.

The Dan Harper / Michael Johnston BMW encountered an unusual issue. During the pit stop the windscreen tear off failed to come off cleanly, leaving Johnston to drive into the bright sunshine with a very dirty screen.

My final shot of the day was of the GB4 at Old Hall into the warming evening light – but they were soon under safety car, so it was time to head home. The first part of the journey out of the track onto the public road was really easy. It then took half an hour to travel a mile up the Coach Road to join the A49 – the morning experience in reverse making a six-hour return journey.

Dave hinted above that there had been some level of debate online regarding British GT at Oulton Park in early spring. It’s a popular meeting and attracts a good attendance, but when the stats for the main races of the day are – 59 minutes green flag, 23 minutes safety car, 41 minutes full course yellow – you have to wonder.

Of course, safety is paramount and should not be compromised and racing always creates incidents. GT3 and increasingly GT4 are spectacular, fast and noisy and they are fan favourites with good reason. Perhaps racing them at Oulton Park at a different time of the year with the potential for higher track temperatures would be less prone to long period of neutralised racing and avoid issues with parking on grass ?

PistonClick will be at the next round of the British GT Championship at Silverstone on 27/28 April. Will it be another wet’n’dry weekend like 2023 ?

Matt Evens was also at Oulton Park with his Nikon Z9 and a 70-200 f2.8. His images are shot at 1/200 to 1/25^th of a second.