British Super Bikes - Test day

Donington Park

8 June 2021

The final of four British Super Bikes testing sessions was held on a blisteringly hot Tuesday at Donington Park motor racing circuit.

As the nation is still under partial lockdown only 4000 fans were able to make the trip to the track on the Leicestershire / Derbyshire border.

The BSB fans were out in force to see if they could get a heads up on who will be the 2021 champion, although I don’t think the full allocation of 4000 tickets had been sold as they were still for sale the night before the event.

There was still a good sized crowd nonetheless, and premium places for the best photographic locations were in high demand. I arrived early but still had to head to the far right of Redgate such was the demand.

On the upside, parking was back to normal outside the main entrance and Motorsports Vision had opened up the in field tunnel next to the café for spectators.

The tunnel had been closed to spectators on recent COVID-19 restricted visits. This saved a long walk right round the track as they were making you park at Hollywood with the only infield access at Copice previously!

Out first were the Junior Superstock, GP2 and Ducati Tri-Options Cup which gave everyone time to get set up, and for those who hadn’t taken a photo track side for some time, a bit of practice.

86 Charley Nesbit set the fastest time on the Kalex - RS Racing / Kovara Projects GP2 bike in a 1:10.273. Fastest Superstock was 19 Joe Talbot with Josh Day fastest Ducati. 

The "Stalker" had got a few more decals on his Ducati since we last saw him at Oulton Park. He was third fastest at the end of the day when all the times were combined in the Ducati TriOptions Cup. 

Next up, the tempo was increased when the Stock 1000 and 600 cc bikes hit the track.

As BSB visits Donington twice in the championship it will be interesting to see what the time different between the well funded 600cc teams and the 1000cc bikes is under race conditions. 

As the test was using the National circuit the 1000cc bikes topped the timing charts as they should do, using their power advantage down on the long sweeping corners and long straights.

But when the Melbourne Loop is used on the GP circuit we should notice the time difference come down as the more nimble 600s have the advantage in the corners. We will see if that’s the case later in the season.

Topping the timing on the first session was Luke Headger on the Jones Dorling Racing Suzuki with Tim Neave and Chrissy Rouse snapping at his heels.

Top 600 was Bradley Perie on the Appleyard Macadam Yamaha with Jack Kennedy second and Lee Johnson third.

As the second session closed there was no movement from the spectators, everyone was waiting for the main event - the British Super Bikes. The klaxon sounded in pit lane and here they came for the green flag lap.

The assembled fans started clicking away with their cameras, from the best DSLRs money can buy, to the entry level camera and obviously the obligatory camera phones being held aloft everywhere else.

I don’t usually bother taking a picture on the green flag lap. I look at the bikes, who has  the new livery that I’ve not seen before, who doesn’t have any paint on their bikes, this helps me spot them at speed when I do want to take a shot.

As the test sessions were an hour in length the assembled photographers had got the pictures from the location they had started at and  now began to move around looking for a different angle. 

I joined them, finding a socially distanced space to get some different shot quite easily.

This won’t be the case on race day. If you have been to a few BSB events before, you will know that the fans come in force and generally stay in one place, pitching wind brakes and lugging cool boxes, so as a spectator photographer on race day a small step is highly recommended.

When the session closed it was new bad boy on the block 52 Danny Kent fastest, posting a 1:06.334 with Gino REA third and Jason O’Halloran’s McAMS Yamaha splitting up the unpainted Buildbase Suzukis.

After a quick drink to quench my thirst in the growing heat, I’m sure I heard the circuit commentator say the track temperature was well into the 40 degrees at some point in the day.

I took a gamble and headed off to the next location, infield of the Foggy Esses or Roberts, depending on what circuit is in operation.

When I say this is a gamble it is and it isn’t. The location is fine. If you are tall you can see most of the track, and if you have a step, even better.

The gamble is what will be located here. It’s a favourite spot for the professional photographers who will be right in your line of fire. Also there is usually an ambulance and/or a recovery truck parked, with its associated orange army.

On this occasion I was lucky. Only a few professionals turned up, and one at a time, so I was able to shoot round them, and no trucks - must have been my lucky day!

I stayed here for the next session as I haven’t done much shooting from this location, so was interested to see the results. 

In the past I’ve got up close to the wire just to the right of Robert’s infield looking directly into the corner, but there is now a wooden barrier pushing you back, and as the light was not right on the day, I passed on that location.

You can get great pictures one day at your favourite spot and the next they won’t be so good. Light is one of the most important factors in photography.

Overall I was quite happy with the results, the inside of the bikes were leaning in towards me so were in shadow, but a bit of fiddling with my exposure compensation button and I was getting some half decent results. 

It was here that I had a chat to one of the main contributors to the PistonClick site, David Harbey.

A four wheel fan from as soon as he could walk, he is a gold mine of automotive information and is now starting to appreciate the two wheel side of motorsports. 

David had been shooting at Coppice and gave me the low down. It sounded like the best shooting spots had been taken for the final test session.

As I had got a good selection of images in the bag I decided to call it a day, just after we had taken a few shots from the opposite side of Robert’s.

I wasn’t feeling the love for this new location and started for the exit when David asked if I had taken any shots on Starkey’s straight. I had in the past, but it is a difficult location to shoot from.

The bikes are going flat out and hit a rise in the track popping a small wheelie.

I decided to give it a go. To track the bikes you are shooting at an acute angle through the thick wire fence,  doesn’t help the focus lock and was losing focus so I tried a few different modes including 3D, which in this situation is rubbish by the way.

Eventually I went back to my standard 9 points and concentrated on keeping the focus points on the nose of the bike.

The results were encouraging, and as I had set my shutter speed to over a 1000 of a second I got brave and started reducing it, getting some good results. 

This was a great way to end the day, not at work, British Super Bikes on full throttle, good pictures of them with the front wheel in the air and tomorrow was wheeliewednesday it’s the little things that please me these days.

Your Top ten fastest riders - Donington Test 8th June 2021

1. Jason O'Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) 1m:05.725s
2. Tarran Mackenzie (McAMS Yamaha) +0.184s
3. Kyle Ryde (Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW) +0.282s
4. Glenn Irwin (Honda Racing) +0.335s
5. Danny Kent (Buildbase Suzuki) +0.415s
6. Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati) +0.685s
7. Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati) +0.723s
8. Gino Rea (Buildbase Suzuki) +0.741s
9. Lee Jackson (FS-3 Kawasaki) +0.746s
10. Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW) +0.838s

Thanks to David for the shots you can see more of his work by following the links below.