We have been going to, reporting on and photographing the North Humberside Motor Club (NHMC) Cadwell Stages and the Circuit Rally Championship (CRC), for quite a few years.

Now sponsored by ProTyre, who have taken over as title sponsors of the CRC from MGJ Engineering, it’s an event that defines the end of the circuit motorsport season at Cadwell Park. 

The Stages also heralds the start of the winter motorsports season for the PistonClick team. The opportunities to photograph winter motorsports action is a bit thin on the ground this time of the year, Rallying and Beach racing will dominate our UK reports for the next few months until the weather changes in the spring.

Most of the team are amateur photographers who like to shoot from the spectator side, fortunately we like a bit of Rally action, this is what they captured last weekend at Cadwell Park. 

This time of the year is a challenge for any form of photography, a low sun, cold weather and a short window of available light to capture some motorsport action before the sun sets means you need to get a wiggle on when visiting Cadwell Park, or any track.

However, ignoring our own advice we arrived at Cadwell a little late but were greeted with glorious sunshine, a few clouds in the sky, and silence. Chatting to the other spectators we hadn’t missed much as the first stage had been cancelled after a few cars had gone through, so we stood around looking at an empty, sunny track for some time. 

We never got to the bottom of why the stage was cancelled, other spectators commented that the large amount of people entering the event and there only being one road available for the Rally cars and spectators to use had caused the delay.

The word “blockage” was faintly heard over the far from ideal tannoy system at Park Corner, our first location, we weren’t sure if this was to do with the rallying or something nasty in the latrines.

We did experienced a “blockage” when we decided to leave, one exit from the main carpark wasn’t helpful. Rally cars trying to exit the paddock onto the same road and spectators arriving late to watch the last of the rallying and the end of season fireworks display added to the traffic chaos on the single track road that was in use.

It’s high time that Cadwell is modernised as delays to get into Cadwell happens at a few events during the Season. 

So while we were stood at Park Corner waiting for the action to start it gave us the opportunity to study the stages. The Circuit Rally Championship visits seven different tracks in a season, with two visits to Cadwell and Donington Park for a nine round series. At these venues the stages will utilise not only the track but the slip roads, off road areas, gravel roads and even water splashes.

Not all of the tracks can accommodate all of these extra areas, Oulton is the only one with a water splash but with 8 stages run during the day you do get a variety course layouts to keep you, as a spectator on your toes.

What I mean by that is using the first stage and our first location as an example, this was the only time during the day that Park Corner would be used with the cars going the “wrong way” round the track.

As a spectator photographer this was great as you get to see the cars coming straight at you with the morning sun at your back. This is the only opportunity you will get to watch cars taking Park Corner the wrong way, so I highly recommend it as a starting location as the cars looked spectacular in the morning sun.

This reverse direction was also true for the next set of stages, the rally cars would also be using Hall bends the wrong way, and the only time they would use that part of the track in that direction. So of course we headed down there as soon as the stage was compete at Park.

Understanding the stage maps is important if you want to watch the cars at different locations so it’s worth studding them. The maps are included in the program, available at the main gate and can sometimes be downloaded from the organising clubs web page, this gives you and idea of where to go prior to the event starting, just like a real rally!

Also available from the car club or venue website and in the program are the competitor lists. This year the entry seemed a little down on previous years with less top specification WRC type cars however, the ones that took part were great to watch.

There are plenty of older cars in the CRC and in my opinion the historic rally cars were arguably better to watch as they struggled for grip on the cold and damp Cadwell track. 

I don’t like calling Mk1 and 2 Escorts historic vehicles as it only seems like yesterday that I was stood behind a pine tree watching them blast through Scottish forests while getting showered with mud and stones. The rear wheel drive Escorts were hanging the back end out and drifting round the fast corners putting on a great show for the large crowd that had come to watch.

I would go as far to say that this was one of the biggest crowds I have seen at Cadwell for the CRC in the last five years. Having said that there was still plenty of room for the spectators to get track side and enjoy the event, at what is quite importantly these days, a safe environment.

At PistonClick we are not a sporting event reporting service, we like to take pictures and watch motorsport, reporting as a paying spectator but here is a short break down of the front runners and riders. We include this as it will give you a steer on who to look out for if you decide to spectate at any of the upcoming CRC events. 

Michael Igoe and Will Atkins racing a Citroen C3 Rally2 car 1 are the reigning champions with John Griffiths and Emma Morrison in a Skoda Fabia R5 car 2 are former CRC champions.

There are quite a few great looking cars in the championship, James Garner and Jordan Joines in the Darrian GTR stood out for me with its all new livery which looked great.

At the other end of the livery scale is #7 Chris West and Keith Hounslow in the very competitive Peugeot 306 Maxi. It’s been white for years and might not be the most photogenic livery but with its 2.5l engine roaring away it’s certainly good to watch on a cold November morning. 

Standing trackside in the cold is not everyones idea of fun, a lot of people like to come to this Rally and sit in the warmth of their cars around the edge of the track, venturing out when darkness falls and the end of season fireworks display is held.

The Fireworks are to celebrate the year at Cadwell and officially close the track for 2024. We as a team on the other hand love getting out in the winter weather to capture the action.

However, we had left long before the fireworks show, we have seen fireworks before and as the sun started to set and the darkness crept in with a chill wind and cold rain, we headed for home. After a great day watching the rallying and cameras full of great images I can recommend the CRC at Cadwell and will look forward to the next round at Donington Park. 

Photographic Post Script

Our resident Rally photographer who has been covering Rallying most of his adult life has compared the CRC to the Sunday spectator stages, that were part of the Lombard RAC Rally back in the late 1990s. Not popular with the drivers, these spectator stages were very popular with the public as they didn’t have to tramp half way across Kielder Forest with an ordinance survey map in their pocket to see the cars in action. 

I for one am happy that the CRC is using tracks around the country to host this form of Rallying. Although the R5s, Subarus, EVOs and Escorts have the appearance of Rally cars they are biased to the track environment more so than the forest gravel tracks.

For me this is a form of motorsport that has evolved over the years to what it is today. The special spectator stages were popular so why not build on that popularity and give the public what they want. It could be argued that this race series is more Rally Cross, without the mass starts, than Rallying, I think that is a reasonable definition of Circuit Rallying.

For this event three of us were using Nikon DX cameras, the D7200 and D500 with the standard motorsport 70-200mm F2.8 lens with a teleconverter thrown on when needed. David Gowshall of DEEGEE Motorsport Photography used the Canon EOS 80D, with a Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary lens for a bit of long range sniping.

Cadwell Park is great for the spectator photographer as there are not many fences and lots of places to watch the on track action, you can find more information on where to take photos at Cadwell Park in our Photographic Guide.

Throw in the abundant catering outlets, Fireworks display and great family friendly atmosphere in the paddock and its an event worth attending, along as you don’t mind a bit of queuing to get in and out. 

Thanks to David Gowshall, RPW and Georgie Photography for the images in this report which you can share with your friends on Social Media using these links.

You can see more of :DEEGEE: Motorsport Photography by clicking his website picture.