Photographing the British Super Bike testing at Oulton Park

1 May 2024

The British Super Bikes were testing at Oulton Park prior to the second round of the 2024 BSB Championship, and the PistonClick team went along to photograph and review the event in the Cheshire country side. It was a last minute decision to head over to the test day and we weren’t too sure what to expect, but the weather forecast looked good and it’s not a bad way to spend the first Wednesday in May so off we set.

When I say we didn’t know what to expect, this was because the time table for the first of two days of testing just said “BSB riders and guests” on the Oulton Park website. The second day had a full programme of BSB and all of the regular support classes in a defined time table. As it turned out choosing to go to the Wednesday test to was spot on for me. Two three-hour sessions with the BSB riders and a hand full of Isle of Man TT racers made up the grid. 

So, for my entry fee of £13 I had six hours of motorcycle action with some of the best domestic road and circuit riders in the UK. It also gave me the opportunity to take a look at some of the TT riders that we will be following in a few weeks on the Island of Dreams.

One omission from the riders’ list was Michael Dunlop - that would have been the icing on the cake! However, having just competed in the Le Mans 24-Hour and the Cookstown 100, where he came off in the Supersport race on his MD Racing Triumph, but went on to win four of the eight races he entered, he probably needs a little RnR before his main event of the year at the end of May. 

Jamie Coward looks on as #3 John McGuinness MBE, #5 Nathan Harrison and #5 Dean Harrison (in black testing leathers)  get some laps in on the new 2024 Honda Racing UK CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP.

Dunlop’s main rival at the TT will be Peter Hickman, who was putting in a lot of laps with his FHO BMW M 1000RR with IoM TT and BSB team mate Josh Brookes. Brookes was eighth fastest with Hickman just behind him in ninth with a best lap of 1:34.737.

The lap times at these tests are usually irrelevant as the teams focus on testing prior to the race. But Hickman’s best test day lap was actually quicker that his best lap in the April Sprint Race at Oulton last year at 1:34.745 in similar weather conditions. So we can conclude that there has been some improvement in the FHO BMW team over the winter.

One rider that I was looking forward to seeing was the 2020 British SuperSport Champion Rory Skinner who left the BSB Championship to race Moto2. After a mixed campaign in Moto2 I was intrigued to see how the experience of racing in a top flight international race series had developed his riding and race craft.

Looking at the timing sheets it appears his experience in Moto2 racing hasn’t developed him much. At the Oulton April 2022 test he posted a time of 1:34.919 compared to a May 2024 time of 1:34.980. However, didn’t I say test times are somewhat irrelevant? Race 1 in 2022 saw Rory post a best lap of 1:34.116 on his way to the second step of the podium, so he is there or there about.

As I write this, the bank holiday racing hasn’t started so Rory being fourteenth fastest during the test is not a real indication of how well he will do at a track he has performed well at previously. We will see in a few days time.

As one of the young guns of BSB, Skinner and the other up and coming riders have an extreme riding style, with bikes all crossed up and elbows dragging on the track which looks great from the spectator side and gives me, a spectator photographer, a great set of images.

Max Cook and Storm “Lord” Stacey could have come out of the same mould as Skinner, taking their bikes to some crazy low angles in an attempt to post a fast lap. It was unfortunately not to be for them. Cook was just behind Skinner in twelfth with Stacey in fourteenth despite their best efforts.

Ryan Vickers on the other hand was setting a fast pace with this type of riding style. In the combined results of the two days he was third fastest. With Vickers winning the two opening rounds at the Spanish Navarra circuit he must be confident that he can challenge for this year’s championship.

Vickers, with his OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing team mate Kyle Ryde, also riding high in second place in the test day rankings, they have to be ones to watch for this season. 

One other rider that I photographed a lot was Christian Iddon, not for his extreme riding style or his pace (he was seventh fastest) but the bike is so good looking. The Oxford Products Racing Ducati with Iddon’s new colour coordinated race leathers looks mint. Top tip for the team managers, if you want lots of pictures of your team and therefore sponsors all over social media, get a good livery on your bike!

Topping the Oulton Park time sheet was last year’s runner up in BSB Championship Glen Irwin. Irwin for me is most definitely one of the riders to watch this year. Losing by half a point over a season has got to hurt and I fully expect him to be in the running come October and the final round.

Glen has stayed with the Hager PBM Ducati team who had a tough final few rounds last year when the owner Paul Bird passed away. Now, as a one rider team, PBM will be able to focus all of their efforts on retaining the championship which was won by Irwin’s PBM team mate Tommy Bridewell. 

Tommy has moved on to Honda Racing UK this year, riding the CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP which he hustled round the undulating Oulton track to end up in fourth spot. Riding the new for 2024 factory backed Honda, Bridewell aims to be the first BSB rider to win back to back championships with different manufactures. 

Jason O’Halloran made up the top five, with less than a third of a second separating the front runners over the two days. This is going to be a close championship again I hope! I’m looking forward to close dramatic racing that defines BSB as the most entertaining domestic race series in the UK.

So to sum up this very chilled out test, it was for a great day out for me as a spectator photographer. £13 for six hours of top quality riders entertaining me in some glorious sunshine that has been missing from the British spring weather maps capped off a pleasant day’s photography.

Meeting up with like minded people who were also enjoying themselves is also part of this experience. The result of my day at Oulton Park was that I captured some very nice pictures, nothing outstanding, but a few that will go in my portfolio, and obviously a load I have used here to demonstrate what an amateur photographer shooting from the spectator side can achieve at Oulton Park. 

Bennetts British Superbike Championship, R&G Official Test, Oulton Park, combined times:

1. Glenn Irwin (Hager PBM Ducati) 1m:34.050s
2. Kyle Ryde (OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing) +0.138s
3. Ryan Vickers (OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing) +0.199s
4. Tommy Bridewell (Honda Racing UK) +0.578s
5. Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW Motorrad Team) +0.687s
6. Jason O'Halloran (Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki) +0.837s
7. Josh Brookes (FHO Racing BMW Motorrad Team) +0.876s
8. Christian Iddon (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) +0.915s
9. Danny Kent (McAMS Racing Yamaha) +1.108s
10. Leon Haslam (ROKiT Haslam Racing BMW Motorrad) +1.147s

British Super Bikes Oulton Park - Practice Day - Report and Images by Scott Grant

Saturday 4th May

I usually go to BSB meetings on the practice day as it has the least amount of spectators, therefore you have a much better chance at getting a good spot for photos. The camera gear I used for this trip was my trusty Canon 1DX Mk 1 and my recently acquired Canon 100-400 Mk II lens. The weather forecast was overcast which can make it a bit more tricky to get a good pin sharp photo, but the main thing was it was DRY!!! 

I started the day at Druids to ensure I could pick a good spot to take photos from as this is a photographer’s hot spot which can get very busy as the day progresses, and with good reason as you can get such an array of shots. The settings I used for this location was shutter priority with auto ISO and a shutter speed ranging from 1/160 to 1/400.

For the afternoon session I ventured over to Knickerbrook as it’s a great place to take photos, where you can get images at the apex of the corner and if you follow them round on the exit of Knickerbrook you can get some nice panning shots showing a real sense of speed. I used the exact same settings as before except I would use a range of shutter speeds between 1/200 to 1/800. I wound up the shutter speed to freeze the action when they hit the apex at Knickerbrook.

All of the BSB support classes were also practicing. The stand out bikes in the Supersport class Rhys Irwin #69 and Harry Truelove #7 of the Astro JJR Suzuki team are running a beautiful colour scheme representing the late great Barry Sheene which looks absolutely stunning in person. Also running a Barry Sheene replica is James Hind #18 riding the NLC Suzuki.

I would strongly recommend any photographer who has not visited, to try Oulton Park as you can get such great selection of shots, but remember to bring some good walking shoes as you will easily clock a few miles.   

PistonClick Photographic Post Script

For this assignment I challenged myself to see if I could use just one fixed focal length lens. I used the Nikon D500 with a 300mm f/4E PF ED VR lens with a 1.4x, 1.7 and x2 teleconverter. My shooting buddy also used a Nikon D500 but with a Nikon 200-400mm f/4 VR a AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR for the free pit lane walk. His images are water marked RPW Photography.

The challenge I took on was for two reasons. The first and most important for me was my health. I am suffering from arthritis of the hips so carrying large heavy lenses is, for the time being, not possible. The second reason is that I have not had this lens long and wanted to fully understand it’s strengths and weaknesses.

On the plus side, this setup is super light even with three teleconverters in your bag. So for the photographer looking for a light weight long reach solution it does fit the bill. As the Nikon D500 is a crop sensor camera it crops the image to give you a 1.5 times “magnification”, so a 300mm lens becomes 450mm. Add a 1.4 teleconverter and you are now at 630mm keeping the same great image quality that the 300mm f/4E PF gives you in a compact set up. The 300mm f/4E PF is 755g compared to the Nikon 400mm £2.8 FL being 3800g.

The performance of this lens is very good, and the image quality as you would expect of a prime lens is outstanding. Adding the teleconverters does drop the quality, with the x2 for me not being usable. I have reviewed my previous images with this convertor and I’m going to upgrade it. The one I have is a mark two, which works well with my older lenses like the Nikon 200-400mm f/4, but not so with the 300mm f/4E PF.

I loaned a mark three x2 convertor recently, using it with the latest Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR and the results were very good. As with all of the F mount lenses, they can be picked up quite cheaply as photographers convert over to the Nikon mirrorless systems, so it makes sense to see if I can improve the image quality especially as the focal length would be 900mm! 

The negative aspects of this lens are surprisingly it’s strong point - it’s size. Being so small it is quite difficult to pan with and takes some practice if you usually use a big long, heavy lens. Once mastered, it is fine but I did notice I had to increase my shutter speed to get good results, probably due to my new style of panning and possibly also due to my not so supple hips! I do think the short body of this lens does compromise it, but it is a compromise worth living with due to the low weight. 

I hand held this lens all day whereas I would be using a mono pod with my large lenses, which helps when panning so that also might have something to do with it. The 300mm f/4E PF doesn’t come with a lens foot to use with a mono pod but they can be picked up cheaply from online market places, so I will try it out with a mono pod attached to my belt next time out. I will continue using this lens with a new x2 Mk3 convertor and a short mono pod and report back with any interesting results.