Photographing Festival Italia 2024 at Brands Hatch

Report by David and Andrew Harbey

15 August 2024

PistonClick is no stranger to Festival Italia – Matt Evans reported from the 2023 event and this year Andrew and I loaded up his Misano Blue Alfa Romeo Giulietta for the trip down the M1, round the M25 and over the Dartford Bridge to the picturesque Kent track. I have been getting used to being driven round having suffered a detached retina in late July. Fortunately, it wasn’t my camera eye, so with Andrew acting as chauffeur and carer, we set off to celebrate all things Italian.

On the track were races for the Alfa Romeo Championship which caters for a wide range of Alfas plus the occasional invitation Fiat. Two races for Ferraris and an HDRC Jack Sears Trophy race for 50s/60s saloons, again with a good entry of Alfas, completed the racing programme.

Away from the track there were displays for a wide range of two and four wheeled Italian machinery along with catering – Porchetta Hog Roast anyone ? Oh, yes ! Andrew headed up to the display area behind the main straight to capture a flavour of the event.

He says - "Festival Italia is all about Italian cars, both on and off the track. Having replaced my Nikon D610 (which decided to stop working last Autumn), I had an almost new Nikon D780 in excellent condition ready to test out and see what it could do".

"With the Nikkor 24-120mm lens I had plenty of practice adjusting the settings and managing reflections, but I was very happy with the results. A wide variety of vehicles from the usual Italian suspects were on display, including plenty of Ducati superbikes and a mixture of scooters".

Some owners had more enthusiasm, with two (original) Fiat 500s complete with rear storage baskets and a giant Italian flag flying out the roof.

"I also had the opportunity to sit in the driver's seat of Mike Hilton's 4C. Cramped and awkward with the roll cage, but a comfy enough place once actually inside! The heat from the qualifying session was still there, even after the doors were opened. The gearbox hadn't been running smoothly, so he was unfortunately not present in their final race".

While Andrew was enjoying the delights of the paddock, I got my eye back in – the last time I’d used the camera was for IndyCars at Mid-Ohio, now it was Alfas on the Indy Circuit at Brands Hatch - named in honour of the IndyCar race in 1978. 

And, yes, that is a Fiat 128 and a somewhat brutal looking Alfa GTV …

Having explored various angles on the outside of Druids for the morning, we moved to the inside of the corner where we found some shade from the tree at the start of the bend. It’s a great spot as the cars brake hard for the hairpin and can sometimes see brave / foolhardy attempt to outbrake and overtake fellow competitors.

Having got a few images “in the can”, it was time to slow the shutter speed and see what happened. I’d been using the 24-120mm zoom lens and decided to go for a wider shot. The hit rate of useable shots drops away but you can produce some interesting and perhaps rather Marmite images.

As light entertainment between the races, some F1 cars were let loose on the track. The Renault liveried car provided some nice flames. I’m rather on the fence about this sort of thing – from one perspective, it’s great to see some older F1 cars (although they aren’t always what they seem to be) and they aren’t always driven properly. Guess I am a bit of an old purist …

The Jack Sears Trophy brought out a range of classic saloon racers. Still on the inside of Druids, where there is no PA speaker, and having travelled light and left the FM radio behind, we were bemused by the ups and downs in the race. All became clear when I looked at the TSL results afterwards to see various penalties for speeding in the pit-lane or overtaking under yellow flags.

In the end, a tight battle between Jaguar and Alfa was decided in favour of the Jaguar which just had enough to pull away from the Alfa on the straights. Meanwhile Nick Swift was, as usual, impressing in the Mini!

Thereafter, back to the outside of Druids for the classic “coming up the hill with the Paddock Hill beach in the background” shot. With good late afternoon light and few fellow shooters in the area, getting decent shots was easy.

I am not usually one for the festival type events which seem to be coming more popular these days, preferring a day focused on the racing. Having said that, Festival Italia was a good event with a balance between racing and off-track attractions and had certainly attracted a good crowd.

We were also able to proudly wear the 2023 and 2024 caps from the US Giulietta TCR race team – with the traditional British racetrack fence as a backdrop …