By 2017, I had upgraded to the Nikon D610 and using the window in the fence at Becketts (since closed) allowed for a different sort of first lap shot with heat haze – yes, at Silverstone ! In 2018, getting adventurous with Polarr produced this image of the Nissan GTR.

For this year, I concentrated on just a few places around the track including some “through the fence”. I have tended to shy away from these in the past and the PistonClick Circuit Guide for Silverstone gives lots of spots where there is no fence. However, there are some interesting shots that can be obtained in this way. Starting between Luffield and Brooklands; these are in the range of 400-500mm focal length.

Heading to the apex of Brooklands and shortening the focal length to 200mm gives some good angles especially with the sun behind to illuminate the “blurry wheels”. Regular readers may have noticed that I am somewhat partial to blurry wheels.

The next location was the other end of the track at the southern end of the Wing – where the F1 pits are located. There is a terrace that overlooks the exit from Club Corner and where the cry “track limits !” can oft be heard. Note – the terrace may not be accessible for the F1, however. These are taken with 135mm focal length and needed some work to bring out the detail in the wheels which are in shadow.

A location I discovered at this race last year was the inside of the Hangar Straight between the Bridge and Stowe. There’s a fence around five feet high so a step is useful or you can walk away from the track for a wider shot. Note, that this area may not be accessible at every meeting. At 70mm focal length, images like these can be shot.

Moving back and using 200mm focal length, can give this sort of panning shot.

Changing to a front three quarter shot, with focal length in 200-300mm range gives a nice angle with the Porsche Driving Centre in the background even if I didn’t get a Porsche in the foreground every time !

Extending the focal length to 500mm and looking further back up the track gives a different view but still with Silverstone’s infamous fences in the background.

There is a good location on the shoulder of the bridge over the Hangar Straight looking back to Chapel and Becketts. These are with a focal length of 500mm. Had I been standing there on lap one of the race, I’d have seen some of the chaos unfold that eliminated four cars.

A favourite spot is on the inside of Village by the marshal’s access gate. A step gives a little bit of height to get a cleaner shot to the right above the grass. Focal length here is 200mm.

There is a large gap in the fence around the Village complex where the National Circuit crosses giving a rear view of the cars heading out of Aintree and up the Wellington Straight. The images here are at 200mm focal length, but 500mm would give a tighter shot.

Back to “through the fence” – this time looking at the cars heading through Aintree – there’s a panning shot here – these are at 200mm focal length.

Alternatively, a front three quarter view showing a little lift of the inside front wheel as the cars cut across the kerbs in some cases. Focal length now is out to 500mm.

And so back to Luffield for the final minutes of the race - this time beyond the exit looking back at the seemingly never-ending corner and through the fence. Lines vary and overtaking manoeuvres are attempted – to varying degrees of success - here ! This set of photos were taken in the 400-500mm focal length range.

At Luffield in the late afternoon, if it is sunny, the driver’s faces are illuminated. Whilst this would be better with open face helmets, even with full face, you can sometimes see the whites of their eyes.

An enjoyable day at Silverstone with reasonable weather and not too breezy. British GT is there in early June for the Silverstone 500 and PistonClick will be there to report on the action.