VSCC Silverstone Spring Start 2013

A year after going to Silverstone for the VSCC Spring Start, I returned again to a new two day event format with a media pass on behalf of the Frazer Nash Car Club to photograph the first event of the VSCC season. With such an amazing array of classic and vintage racing machinery present I wanted to make the most of the weekend.

Some new equipment, plus some returning favourites

With Silverstone having large run off areas, long lenses are often a requirement to get the best depth of field shots. I brought with me a new Canon 400mm f/5.6L, which is by far the longest lens I own. I had taken this to the Harewood Spring National Hillclimb the week previously, but this was my first use of it at a circuit.

I also brought along the Canon 300v, a simple plastic bodied 35mm film camera that I bought for £40 off eBay several years ago. This simple camera has produced great results in the past, especially with Ilford FP4+.

The ‘usual’ equipment, the 5D MkIII and Mamiya C330F were also in tow, the medium format camera having a choice of Delta 400 and FP4+ to use through the weekend.

Using the Canon 400 f/5.6 for vintage motorsport photography

The 400mm lens certainly is long – but this allows for excellent depth of field shots, which is something I’ve aimed to work on this year. The f/5.6 aperture isn’t wonderfully fast, but at a quarter of the cost of the f/4 version it is certainly better value for money. The lens is very basic, and has no image stabilisation unlike it’s much more expensive brothers.

A trio of Grand Prix cars photographed on the 400mm f/5.6 – super sharp optics producing great detail

I was amazed by the image quality of this lens. The detail picked up includes the fine heat haze emanating from the engines, and the background blur is super smooth. Even fully open the image quality produces is very good, and at just over the kilo the lens is also light enough to hand hold. I didn’t feel as though I needed IS, as the types of shot I were doing were fully open and with high shutter speeds. I also didn’t feel that I would need a monopod, which I did consider taking.

Bugatti T73C captured with a blurred background racing through Copse at Silverstone.

The lens is also good at panning shots, such as with this Bugatti, but do to the focal length a higher shutter speeds is usually needed to capture a truly sharp image. I think I need to try using this huge focal length in the paddock area to capture details to see what other types of photographs I can create.

Pit wall panning

This area of the track produced great photographs when I had limited shooting at the Ginetta Media Day and the same could be said of the photographs from the VSCC Spring Start.

A Maserati races over the grid hatchings at Silverstone, the bright red bodywork working well with the blue in the background.

Bright colours were readily available because of the Saturday’s favourable weather, and the Maserati 250F was a more than willing subject as it screamed past the pits. It wasn’t just the digital shots that worked well from here, and I managed to revisit a previous idea with the C330F.

The Mazerati and ERA race over the line. A manageable shutter speed of 1/125 made this shot possible with the limited capacity Mamiya.

The Mamiya is a camera that you really have to prepare to use before shooting, due to the winder, manual shutter speed and aperture settings, and square format. Luckily the prism finder has made it much easier for this kind of shot, and the 80mm is just about long enough. I would like to get my hands on either the 105mm or 250mm, as these could potentially provide great results with their longer lenses. I usually err on the side of caution when using this for panning, a strategy so far that is working really well.

The Mamiya C330F at it’s best

As I’ve mentioned many, many times before, the C330F is a fantastic camera, and probably my favourite. A mix of image quality, quirkiness and ease of operation has always produced great shots. I wanted to photograph cars and drivers together to start to give my work a more human feel to it.

A driver straps up his helmet at the wheel of a black ERA. I loved the framing of this shot, and the blurred details of the driver in the background with the sharp driver in the centre of the frame

I loved the sharpness and background blur captured in this photograph, which was taken on FP4+. I like the strong, contrasty shots that this film creates when developed with Ilford DD-X. I want to produce more shots of this type and quality, as drivers prepare to take to the track and race.

A 1950s sportscar in the pits at Silverstone. The Delta 400 was perfect for shooting in these conditions.

Delta 400 was the ideal film to use in the pits, offering just enough speed to be able to shoot at decent apertures and shutter speeds. The light coming in allowed for some very classy looking shots of the 1950s sports cars, where the light caught the edges of the bodywork. Black and white was the ideal format to shoot with for these, weather on 120 or in 35mm format.

Returning to 35mm film

I’ve not photographed with 35mm much since I bought the Mamiya in the summer of last year, so it was a strange experience going back to the 36 exposure rolls of Ilford FP4+.

The GN/Ford Piglet of Dougal Cawley is one of the most popular cars in the VSCC. With the 400mm lens on the Canon 300v, I managed to get a great shot of the car racing through Copse.

As the Canon 300v has the same mount as my digital body, so I can use all of my EF mount lenses. I even tried the 400mm, and it once again performed well wide open, even when the light was starting to fade. I found it tough to photograph so many frames as I’ve become accustomed to the 6×6 12 shots per roll format.

A pair of Aston Martins in the pits, taken on the cheap and cheerful 50mm f/1.8.

I was surprised how well shots came out of the 35mm format, which , let’s face it, is really rather small. With the plastic 50mm f/1.8 I got some great shots around the pits on the Sunday, when I left the Mamiya in it’s bag so I could concentrate on getting through another 36 shots of 35mm!

Summing up

This event was a great opportunity for me to fine tune some skills and try out a couple of new pieces of equipment. I felt I didn’t get the most out of the digital camera, and that I’m struggling to measure up to the huge 22 megapixel resolution of the 5D MkIII.

I was really pleased with the Mamiya C330F, and I’m finding the shots coming out of every shoot are getting better and better. It was great to revisit 35mm film again, and after feeling as though it was a bit ‘inferior’ to medium format, I’ve a new found respect for the smaller format.

Further viewing

I have a set with a selection of my images available on Flickr in my VSCC Silverstone Spring Start 2013 set, including photograph from the Mamiya and Canon 300v.

Posted in: 35mm, 6x6, Digital, Film Photography, Medium Format, Motorsport, VSCC