A photographic guide to where to take photos at Snetterton race track.

Parking up and walking towards the circuit you are reminded that like a lot of UK race tracks, Snetterton is a an old WW2 airfield. A memorial to the young men who left the station on bombing raids over Europe never to return is located to the left of the main entrance.

Area B

Standing near the grandstand looking into the Bomb Hole you can get a nice reverse shot.

Area C - Coram Outside

However, if like David Harbey you like to go around the outside of the track there are a few good locations. One spot David visits is the outside of Coram.

There is new fencing erected on the outside of Coram (2024) which takes away the head on or panning shot midway through the corner. It’s too far away to shoot through the fence but there are unencumbered shots before and after the fencing. Note that the walk from the Bomb Hole to Coram is behind a large grass bank with no view of the circuit.

Area D

There’s a raised bank giving you great views of Coram through Murrays to the start line and the Senna Straight. These pictures were taken with a full frame camera and a 70-200mm lens.

Shots you can get here are:

• A head on shot of the cars mid-way through Coram.
• There is a grandstand on the inside of the track and gives a nice backdrop
• A nice panning shot as the cars head up the run to the finish line – sometimes with flames !

Area E - F

Another favourite location for David is opposite the start / finish on the Senna Straight. You are very close to the action here where you can get some great action shots, also you see the holding area next to the pits.

The shots you can get here are:

• The exit from Murrays can see cars running wide and kicking up the dirt.
• There’s sometimes an interesting view of the cars in the collecting area for the next race – in this case the karts.

From here it's either a long walk back to Brundle and the bridge to the centre of the track or you may be lucky and the crossing point on the Senna Straight will be open between races.

The cars will be travelling at speed entering Brundle after the long Bentley Straight so be prepared for when it goes wrong, which it does quite often. 

My actions on hearing a screech of tyres is to immediately turn the shutter control wheel as far as I can in one movement to the right, increasing the shutter speed. As I'm doing that I'm looking at the action, pressing the back focus button and the shutter release; you might get lucky.

You can walk around the inside of the track from Brundle inside past the Bomb Hole cutting across Coram to Murreys. This area is sometimes used a a holding area for the teams prime movers (trucks) so access can be restricted.

The shots you can take here are mainly panning, it's not a great area for photography as you only have one type of shot and there are better locations around Snetterton for this.

When you get to the apex of the Bomb Hole there is a grandstand on the other side of the track which can make an interesting background.  

The inside of Coram is slightly more interesting.

The cars will be braking hard as they approach Murrays, the left hander just before the finish line. There is a good chance you can capture a smoking tyres shot to add to your motorsports portfolio, especially if it's the last lap.

Area H

Heading towards Murrays you will see the staging areas with the drivers and pit crews preparing to go out on track. There are quite a few variations on the shots you can take here. They all look into Murrays, standing to the left or opposite the apex and moving down the straight continuing to look into the corner.

The further away you are from the corner the more chance you have of capturing an incident. This is true for all corners not just Murrays.

Area J

A large grass bank gives you great views of a lot of the track but you are some distance away from the action for photography. You can get a nice panning shot just before the corner at Richie’s from the top of the bank but you are better off opposite Palmers where you are low and reasonably close to the track.

These images were taken at the Snetterton Stages so the Rally cars are going the wrong way round the track on a few shots, more on the Rallying at Snetterton later.

Rallying at Snetterton

Rallying is held at Snetterton during the winter months and is well worth attending. The Rally stages will use the track but the conventional layout is thrown in the bin. 

There are usually six to eight pairs of stages that will utilise the track, service roads, paddock and grassed areas of the circuit. Putting out all of the cones and tyre walls is time consuming and not easy to change between stages. So to maximise the stages some of them will run in a reverse direction, miss out some sections and have other sections added. 

This means your favourite trackside location might not be available, my top tip is to buy a program when you arrive and study the stages to work out where and when you need to be to get the shots you want.