The drive to these events is always interesting as you never know what you are going to see on the roads. It was a pleasure to cruise along with Paul and his immaculate R33 GTR Nismo R400, one of only 44 in the world. 

We went on the Sunday to check out the car club stands and most importantly to check out the best places to photograph the retro racing. Hopefully this will give you a head start on next years show which has been provisionally booked for the 26-28 July.

As the title suggests this is a Classic car meeting so straight away I had visions of flat hat wearing old gentlemen, sporting tweed jackets and polishing MG rag tops. 

That statement is true but that’s not the whole story, the Classic element is the racing but on some of the club stands you will see the latest Super and Hyper cars.

The show has many clubs stands with big turnouts, from Aston Martin and Ferrari, who won the best club stand. Other big hitters were the Porsche owners clubs who were celebrating 70 years of putting the engine in the wrong end of their sports cars. 

It was not just the high end super cars that were on show. There was about every marque you could think of and then some you couldn’t. 

Near the car club areas there is a retail village and to the back of that area is Copse corner. From here you can get some nice panning shots from the top of the banking. However the fence is in the way for 90% of the time, as seen in these photos. 

So onto the track action. We used the Pistonclick Silverstone circuit guide to give us a head start, so check that out after you have read this article. I recommend getting in early and walking the Club stands which are centrally located so you can get an unobscured view of the cars before the masses arrive.  

The grandstands around Silverstone were open for this event and give you great views of the track. A free bus service was provided to get you round the outside of the circuit. We didn’t go for the grandstand option, concentrating on the infield.

The best two locations infield for this event are under the wing at Club and on the raised area to the rear of Luffield. A map can be found in the Silverstone circuit guide.

Club is some distance from the main pedestrian entrance but the organizers had put on vintage busses between the two main paddocks. I would recommend getting on the busses otherwise it’s a long walk between the two with nothing to see.

The National and International paddocks are both open to the public. This allows you to get up close and personal with the historic iron at the National paddock and the carbon fibre clad and more modern cars located in the International paddock.

A short walk through the International paddock will give you some great photographic opportunities before you arrive at the Wing at Club corner. In the morning the sun will be at your left so the best shots are as the cars are leaving Club approaching the start finish line. 

You will need a long lens in the 300-500mm focal length range to capture the cars in detail.

Around the site are information boards and large TV screens. Keep an eye on these so you don’t miss any of the events you want to capture. 

My top tip is stolen from Rob the second shooter on this trip - photograph the time table and map from the info boards with your phone so you know exactly where you are and what you are missing.

Back at the National Paddock on the GP Legends stand we managed to capture and have a chat to the 1983 and 85 world 500cc Motorbike champion Freddie Spencer, Wayne Garner the 1987 500cc champion and Steve Parrish. 

A quick walk around the paddock then it's off to Luffield to take in the Touring Cars, Formula Junior, Historic Formula One and for me the highlight, the Masters Endurance Legends GT cars with the Peugeot 908 LMP1. 

From the raised concrete area at Luffield you can just about shoot over the fence. If you are of reduced stature a cheap fold up plastic step would be helpful. 

The sun will be overhead and slightly behind you so the colours on the cars should pop as they come round the bend. Experiment with different view points and angles remembering to check out the background.

The corner at Luffied can be tricky for the drivers so keep your eyes and ears open for when things don’t go according to plan. 

The grandstand to your left is worth a visit to mix it up a bit. Sitting in the front row will have you looking directly at the cars but be mindful of others around you as they have come to see the racing as well.

You are not far from the car park here so it’s a convenient place to call it a day. 

I can recommend the Silverstone Classic for the race enthusiast and photographer, it’s a target rich environment and one day is probably not enough time to do it justice. Roll on next year.

I hope you have enjoyed this photographic guide to the Silverstone Classic. As always I don’t claim to be an expert on this subject. It's just my observations of a very hot day out with some friends carrying a camera and hopefully I will inspire some of you to get out there and take some great images.