As a photographer, motorsports enthusiast, and fan, Race Retro ticks a lot of the boxes for me. A weekend-long event held at Stoneleigh Park just south of Coventry, it’s a show for fans, racers, and traders. This is our review of Race Retro from the perspective of a visiting spectator photographer.

As an event, Race Retro covers various motor sport disciplines. Formula and circuit racing, rallying, hill climbs, touring cars, single-seater racing, and one-make series are all showcased. Aimed mainly at the historic and classic enthusiast, it is held over four halls and a live-action outdoor area. 

I have been to this event a few times; it’s the live-action rally stage that keeps bringing me back. I planned to attend last year, but the show was unfortunately cancelled due to bad weather. There were no problems with the weather this year; it was a little muddy underfoot, but nothing to concern me.

Arriving  early, we were able to access the Park and Halls quickly. This is an improvement from my last visit when we seemed to be parked somewhere just outside Birmingham. The first hall of the four used housed the rally cars that would go out onto the live-action stages later in the morning.

Race Retro Live Stages

The crews were waking the cars up, and a few departed to the paddock while we were walking around. Arriving early will probably be your only opportunity to take a good look at these cars. For the rest of the day, they will be worked on and doing what they do, sliding round the stage. You can also get up close to the cars in the paddock as it’s open to the public. However, our view in the paddock was restricted as the crews worked on the cars.

As the weather was due to change from cold and damp to cold and wet in the afternoon, we headed for the stages first. This year, the show advertised a new layout for the spectators. It wasn’t clear how to get to the stages to me as there were a lot of signs saying no entry.

Viewing Areas

After a quick chat with one of the many fluorescent-clad marshals, we were directed to the viewing area. This entails you crossing a few tracks that the rally cars were using, so you need to keep your eyes and ears open.

My shooting buddy and I were pleased with the access we had as spectators. There are loads of great areas to view from. As a photographer, I was able to capture some nice shots and, as a spectator, see lots of action.

The viewing area is in the middle of two stages. The main stage and a passenger ride stage. Parting with a few pounds, you can experience rallying from the co-drivers seat. Looking at some of the passengers’ faces, they seemed to be enjoying the experience. There is also a secondary viewing area where you can watch the rally cars heading out onto the stage from the start line. 

The main stage was run by Rallying with Group B, which had advertised over 120 ex-works and WRC cars. We attended on the Sunday, and there was nowhere near that number. Also, there was a distinct lack of the iconic Group B cars that I wanted to experience, hear, and capture on the mud.

As it was the last day of the show, there could well have been a few casualties. The public address system also announced the British Rally Championships was running a round over the same weekend. This probably added to the lack of iconic cars out on the stages.

Race Retro Halls

Most of the Group B cars were tucked up in the Halls, which didn’t surprise me; the price tag on these cars now likely prevents many of them being taken out in anger and used to their full potential. Being able to get up close to the Opel Manta 400, Audi Quattro, Ford RS2000, and Metro 6R4, sort of made up for the lack of muddy live action.

Besides the Group B cars in the Hall of Fame, it also had a great display of the Legends of Formula 1. This stand featured eight F1 cars from various eras. There were also more rally cars and hill climbs, Formula Ford, and a random NASCAR. 

There is also a Talk Motorsport Stage with Chaz Draycott as the host. Chaz chatted to some of the legends of motorsport like Nicky Grist, co-driver to rally icons like Colin McRae and Juha Kankkunen. Rauno Aaltonen, Dai and Tom Llewellin also took to the stage. Not on the stage but enjoying the show with the rest of the punters, Fuzz Townshend seemed to be enjoying his day out. 

The other halls contained parts traders, memorabilia, and other competition cars. The Iconic Auctioneers, formerly known as Silverstone Auctions, were part of the show. To access this Hall required a payment of £20. As we were not in the market for an iconic classic car, we passed.

You are able to walk around the side of this hall and see the cars on display, some of which were truly impressive. A great looking Prodrive P25 with 121 miles from new was featured next to the main auction stage; it sold for a whopping £562,500. Other notable cars to consider for your daily run about were a Pikes Peak Audi and an ex-works Metro 6R4!

Race Retro Summery

Overall Race Retro is still a good event to attend as a fan, spectator and as a photographer. There is plenty of live action with some interesting cars. The start list wasn’t as good as previous years but still had enough variety to keep us interested. The Halls are laid out well and now have all of the trades stalls under cover. In previous years the auto jumble traders were out side, not great when the weather turns as it does this time of the year. As a season opener Race Retro most definitely puts you in the mood for more motorsport action and the season ahead.

Photographic Post Script

Camera equipment I and my shooting buddy used for this report was the Nikon D500 DSLR and a 70-200mm f2.8 lens. I had a 1.4 teleconverter in my pocket when I needed a bit more reach on the stages. In the halls I used a 17-55mm f2.8 DX lens for the detail work.

While walking round the halls at the end of the day as we were heading to the car park my DSLR battery died. Rather than dig into my bag for a replacement I took a few photos with my smart phone. This is the iPhone 16 Pro which I recently acquired.

I must say the images came out rather well. Comparing them to the 17-55mm f2.8 they were as good as the DSLR. I shall be exploring the iPhone 16 Pro more as the season progresses. It appears to be a very capable camera system for static close up work, but I will be sticking to my DSLR for the action shots.

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All of our Rally Reports can be found here.