Mabletherpe Beach Racing - 25 February 2024

The PistonClick team usually only visit the Mablethorpe beach racing once over the winter, but last weekend was our second visit this season. Why did we visit for a second time?

Well, we have a few associate photographers who dip in and out of the team. Georgie is one of them and my shooting buddy for the day had promised Georgie a trip out to photograph the beach racing.

The stars aligned last weekend, contacts were made with the Mabletherpe beach racing team, and a time to sign on at the track was arranged. This meant a little earlier start was needed rather than if we were just spectating, but what else is there to do on a Lincolnshire Sunday in February?

The rallying at Beverley was one event I was interested in, but a promise is a promise and as we have been mentoring Georgie for a while, this event was ideal to take her to the next level. Maybe we will get to capture some muddy rally cars in and around Beverley next year?

My shooting buddy gave Georgie the use of his camera, so a quick run through of the controls and settings and she was good to go. I briefly chatted about panning and what I wanted for the report and how to get the best out of her day.

Fluorescent jacket donned and off she went to capture the paddock before the main event.

The beach racing practice and start times can vary wildly depending on the tides, from early morning to the early afternoon. The riders usually sign on between 8 and 9 so there can be a bit of time for the spectator photographer to soak up the atmosphere and grab a few “set the scene” pictures if you arrive early.

It’s always a good idea to check with the Mablethorpe beach racing social media or website for when the first bikes will set off if you want to do this. 

Before the racing starts, as at any motorsport event, a safety brief is held. Mabletherpe is no different, with the organisers informing the racers and staff on the beach of the day’s events. Once completed everyone dispersed, riders to bikes, marshals to their posts and Georgie to the middle of the oval.

We, who were just spectators for the day but would also be taking a few snaps later retired to the benches overlooking the paddock, chatting with a few other photographers that had also turned up.

The sound of engines announced that the practice sessions were about to start so we headed trackside. The edge of the paddock next to the start line was my first stop.

The paddock is roped off and out of bounds for the public but from the edges you can see everything that it’s going on. If you have a decent lens you can get a few good snaps here.

The spectator area along the promenade also gives you good views of the action, although it’s a little far away for photography unless you have quite a large lens, but not too far. This is a popular viewing location but the spectators do move around and visit the many shops and cafes that were open on this sunny Sunday.

This gives you and me, the spectator photographer, the chance to move into some good spots to view and capture the action.

And the action comes thick and fast, the races don’t last too long so there is always a different class of bikes ready to go on the start line. Just like the last time we visited there was some very competitive racing, just how I like it!

So for some time I just took in the spectacle that is beach racing, which is not unique to the East Coast, but is very local popular event.

Ingoldmells, Skegness and Bridlington all have motorsport events on the beach during the winter months. I would recommend checking them out.

Having forward thinking local councils that sanction these events, and a lot of very long flat beaches in the region helps the cash flow into the local retail outlets during the bleak winter months. So it’s a win, win for all concerned.

There is usually a short break in the racing half way through for a spot of lunch, and this gave us time to catch up with Georgie to suggest a few different angles for her photography.

Inside of the track is a great location but can result in a lot of the same type of images. It was pleasing to see Georgie had managed to get a bit of variety into her pictures. 

For me this next picture, taken by Georgie, has captured the whole essence of beach racing at Mablethorpe.

Neil Massey’s home built, small capacity bike, with no front brake is set up to go fast and turn left. It also makes a disproportionately loud noise to the size of the engine and looks great.

A massive tractor representing the Lincolnshire agricultural heritage and an east coast seaside fast food outlet of Fish ’n’ Chips and Ice Cream makes this picture for me. It doesn’t get more beach racy than this. 

Photographic Post Script.

Camera kit used at this event was as follows: Georgie, standing inside the track used the Nikon D500 with a Nikon 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6 VR DX kit lens. She used a fast shutter speed of 1/800 of a second, f8 and auto ISO which resulted in a card full of sharp well exposed images seen in this report. 

I also used a Nikon D500 with a 200-400 f4 VRII lens for the long range shots.

RPW Photography was testing a Nikon D5 camera with the Nikon 200-500mm f5.6 lens. 

I’m a big fan of the Nikon 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6 VR DX kit lens. It is super sharp with reasonably fast auto focus and works very well with the D500. I mostly use mine as a walk round lens which it excels at. It is a little soft at its maximum focal length, but you have to look very hard to see any imperfections.

If you are staying with DSLR and not going mirrorless any time soon and have a DX camera I can recommend it. Also the price of these second hand is stupidly low when you look at the results you can get from this much overlooked lens.