“Hallo my friend, I need your help… I can no longer come to UK from Netherlands without 14 days quarantine!! This is problem as I need to shoot Masters Historic Festival – Brands Hatch for the Championship… So I have a crazy idea!!” That was the text I got from my Dutch photographer friend, Carlo at Senten Images.
So that was it.. my first shoot at a race track in a Covid adjusted 2020 was finally going to happen in August!!!
Carlo’s cunning plan was I would shoot the races that were part of the Masters Historic Racing Series. Upload the images to my laptop back in the Media Centre. Send across to Carlo in Holland where he would make the selection and quickly do any editing. Once edited, he would then send them back to the media team for their online updates…. while I was already getting back out on track for the next race!!
We had several races to cover throughout the day, Minis, TT, Saloon Cars and Historic F1. During the first 2 laps I try to shoot every car before I moved location. In the mean time Carlo (back in Holland) was monitoring the race live timing feeds on his computer for overall and class positions.
He would then text message me car door numbers of the podium positioned cars. Using this info I could then refine my targeting to these cars. Shoot and move…on-track update message…shoot and move. We worked out where to start out on track and the direction to move in so it brought me back towards the Paddock. As soon as the race/races finished, it was time to run back to the media centre, then upload the memory cards.
Carlo’s plan worked well. We managed to cover all races, didn’t miss a shot of any car from the priority list. Masters Historic Festival – Brands Hatch was a success under new Covid procedures…. and I had a hell of a work out around the 2.4 mile circuit with 25kg of camera kit!!
It was great to get back trackside, it’s been wayyyyyy to long. Like so many things you don’t realise how much you enjoy something until you can’t do it for a while. I have missed the banter with drivers, mechanics and other photographers in the Paddock and Pit Lane. This weekend has shown that motorsport events can still be held if we all adapt… Stay Safe everybody!!!
