Before writing this photographic guide to Japfest I was chatting to one of my American friends about it. He said "what the hell is that?" When I explained it is a gathering of Japanese cars he got it , but interestingly he said "that name would never be allowed in the USA". He has a point, is Jap offensive to the Japanese people? Other shortened country names certainly are not used in polite conversation, unless it's your nan talking. 

I get where he is coming from and maybe in a few years the name will have to change. We will let the PC brigade discuss this on Twitter and we will get on with celebrating and photographing the Japanese cars that we have come to see at Castle Donington Race Circuit for Japfest 2018.

Donington is one of those circuits with loads of safety fencing, however, most of it is on the outside of the track so if you are infield you can get some great photographs.   

Using the tunnel from the paddock area gets you infield. From here the raised banking gives you great unobstructed views of all of the track from Hollywood to McLean's.

You can get great shots with a kit lens or better still a long telephoto; these were taken with focal lengths from 55mm to 350mm.

This part of the track can catch out the guys doing public track time so keep an eye out for those with more enthusiasm than skill, as a lot of cars came off at Craner Curves and the Old Hairpin. Luckily there is loads of run off here so no damage was done except to the guys ego.

The main show area is around the paddock with the majority of club stands and the retail village located here, so plenty of opportunities for close up detail shots. 

The guys going out on track will enter and exit next to the tunnel that gives you access to the infield. You can pick up some slow panning shots here. These were taken at a 50th - 30th of a second. 

Part of this year's Japfest was the MX5 takeover where the MX5 clubs came together to make a combined stand of well over a hundred of these popular, diverse, iconic cars. 

This fantastic effort was rewarded by the Japfest organisers with the Best Club trophy. I felt sorry for anyone wanting to get a haircut that day as it wasn’t going to happen. Steven Webb from Goggle Box and the rest of the MX5 owners were out burning rubber and polishing their bonnets at Japfest.

In previous years the Melbourne loop has been used for drifting but it was missing this time. That was disappointing as a JDM meeting without drifting is like having sushi without Soy Sauce, its ok but better with it.

However, the Pro Drift Academy were doing their thing on a watered track to the rear of the grandstand at Hollywood so that made up for it. Utilising a handful of MX5 and a Nissan Z350, the guys did a demo run then let the paying customer slide around for some damp drifting action. 

Considering the amount of water on track I would have thought Skylines would have been better than Mazdas. Feel free to stick your own boat joke in here.

To the rear of the drift area is the grandstand at Hollywood, this gives you great views over the catch fencing from the top few rows. 

Also in this area there are a few gaps in the fencing for safety vehicle access enabling you to get a lower view point.

Overall Japfest at Donington is a good event with plenty of opportunities for the amateur photographer to pick up some great automotive photos for their portfolio.

 hope you have enjoyed this write up and photographs of a very hot and sunny Japfest 2018. As always I don’t claim to be an expert on this subject, it's just my observations of a day out carrying a camera.