Toyo Tires MSA British Rallycross Championship Round 9 

The Toyo Tires MSA British Rallycross Championship was held at Silverstone last weekend the 4 November 2018. On show were 600bhp fire breathing Rally cars, Super National, Junior and the old school Retro Rallycross all competing in the final tarmac and dirt round of the year.

Arriving at Silverstone we were guided across the main track and straight into the pits, where we spent some time looking around. The pits are open to all, so it’s a great opportunity to chat to the drivers and get up close to some iconic metal of yester year and todays modern RX machines.

All of the races were going to be held on the purpose built off-road course. This is in the middle of the Silverstone complex and is easy to find from the pits. Just head for the large green and brown hills amongst the tarmac and concrete. 

Having visited Silverstone in June for the Speed Machine Rally Cross we knew we would get some great action shots. I will be the first to admit I don’t know a lot about Rallying or Rally cross except it is excellent to watch and I wanted to see more after the June event. 

So here is one of my top tips on getting all the info you need when visiting a race track. Of course you could just Google the event you are attending but there is no fun in that. 

Being British one of my, and I think everyone else's favorite topic of conversation in the UK, is the weather. If you live in Spain it’s not a topic that I would imagine comes up much, “it’s hot” will sum it up nicely, resulting in the end of the conversation with Pablo.  

Silverstone in November is another matter, fog, rain, wind, sunshine and a plague of frogs is something that can be experienced in a few hours. When I say plague of frogs I mean two, that weren’t doing much hopping as they looked a little deceased probably due to the bitter cold.  

The weather opening gambit when chatting to spectators works most of the time and is an invaluable tool for the event photographer. Unless you are following a race series every weekend you won’t be up to speed on what is going on.

Breaking the ice with those dedicated race series fans can be gold; they are obviously interested in what they are watching and generally like to talk about their favourite subject. From these snippets of conversation you can find out who of the drivers to concentrate on or who has a story.   

Mooching around one of my favourite Rally cars of all time, the Lancia Stratos we got chatting to Jon Cross who would be driving this incredible car. Asked if he was looking forward to getting some big air out on the course the replied he "wouldn’t be pushing it to hard". Quite understandable considering the rarity of this iconic machine. 

Now armed with loads of Rallying knowledge, cough, and being aware of the best places to be to get those great action shots from, we begin moving into position. The mixed surface of the purpose built off road circuit ensured the crowds would be entertained with massive jumps and power slide action all day. 

With over fifty races being held on the off-road course we were guaranteed plenty of chances to get some high-speed action photographs. If you have read the PistonClick Silverstone Speed Machine article you will know that to get a variety of shots you will need a long lens for this circuit.  

However, we were not able to gain access to the same areas as Speed Machine, so remained around the main jump, just using the trusty 70-200mm f2.8. Usually I like to move around a track to get different images and angles but the main viewing area had some thick catch fencing so that was out. 

However, this limited viewing area wasn't bad and I was thoroughly entertained especially by the Retro RX machines so stayed put round the main jump area. 

The maddest vehicles of the show were the RX150 buggies. These single seat 1000cc rear wheel drive machines only weight in at 430kg so have great power to weight ratio, lapping the 972m Silverstone course only a few seconds slower than the full on RX Supercars.

Chrissy Palmer launching his RX150 hard, was the overall winner in the mad buggies event. Not only a dirt specialist, the RX150 champion Palmer has won the Formula Ford Festival and the Formula Ford scholarship championship.

In the main event Mark Higgins was on form for the days' racing, taking the win on the Sunday and the overall MSA British Championship and making it his fourth British Rally Championship title.

Higgins who is originally from the Isle of Man, dominated in the flying Peugeot 208 RX. Julian Godfrey in the equally acrobatic Mitsubishi Mirage was 6 seconds behind in second place in the final event.

Pat Doran in the Citroen C4 was third and Ollie O’Donovan; who was leading the championship at the beginning of the day was fourth in the Ford Fiesta. This finished off a splendid and entertaining, if cold day, of tarmac and dirt racing.

That concludes our coverage of Toyo Tires MSA British Rallycross Championship Round 9 from Silverstone. A big thank you to RP Watkinson Photography for helping out.

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