Rally Day 2022 - Castle Combe Circuit

Report and images by Chris Pearson of CPe FOTO

17^th September 2022

A rather cold start to the morning with a decidedly chilly 7 degrees showing in the car. As such the heating was on during the hour long journey to Castle Combe circuit in Wiltshire. Upon arrival at the track there was a familiar smell in the air of petrol and car cleaning products! This could only mean on thing there was a motorsport event to remember being set up! 

General admission track action, show and shine cars everywhere, different rally stages for the iconic ‘rally legends’ cars and so much more. This is THE show for anyone interested in the wonderful world of Rally! 

I did a loop of the paddock to try and get some shots of the beautifully prepared machinery on show before it got too busy. There was a huge range of everything from Classics to Iconics and everything in between. 

As you could rightly assume, there was more Subaru Imprezas than you could shake a stick at. So much so that Scooby himself was in attendance to show his mutually beneficial association! 

The highlight cars of the show for me were the ‘Rally Legends’ section which included a stunning example of the mighty Audi Quattro, a Colin McRae raced (and crashed) Ford Focus WRC and an incredible Toyota Celica which first peaked my interest in the early 90’s on an arcade game in the local youth club!

The Celica was being driven by none other than the absolute legend, Nicky Grist. 

Being a big follower of Fast Ford in the early 2000s, it will be no surprise to you that I was lusting over the healthy collection of Cosworth powered Escorts and Sierras that were in attendance. 

Most of my day was spent with my Olympus EM1ii and 40-150mm f2.8 PRO in hand but I also broke out the 7-14mm f2.8 PRO for some of the tighter areas of the paddock. 21,22,23

I came away from the circuit with a huge haul of images and some sunburnt arms (don’t forget your sunscreen kids!). 

Full collection can be found on my website at www.cpefoto.co.uk

Shooting exclusively with Olympus gear for four years and amassing around 100,000 images, Chris has been published in motorsport magazines, newspapers and been front cover featured in the Official Olympus Magazine. 

He has worked with drivers and teams to promote their campaign and secure sponsorship deals along with regularly capturing the action at various race meetings. One of the highlights was shooting the BTCC at Thruxton as a VIP guest with Olympus Cameras and Power Maxed Racing.

Feel free to get in touch with CPe FOTO via the links to discuss your ideas for a project no matter how big or small.