Photographing the HSCC Spring Trophy at Donington Park

Regular readers may recall my recent article regarding the Donington Historic Festival – and how I had fallen back in love with the event. I was keen to go to the Masters Historic Festival at Brands Hatch last weekend. However, perusal of the entry lists was somewhat underwhelming despite the presence of F1 cars.

Since the mid-60s, the HSCC (Historic Sports Car Club) were the people who ran historic racing in the UK. In more recent years, new series organisers and the growth of a more professional approach to historic racing (preparation companies could make money) has led to other games in town for historic racers. Hence my – check the entry list before committing your hard-earned to a ticket – approach rather than just relying on glossy social media content.

HSCC Spring Trophy

As I considered last weekend’s plans – and Brands Hatch was off the list – I looked at the programme for the HSCC Spring Trophy. Well, that would make 3 trips to Donington in five weekends. With 13 races planned for Sunday and healthy entry lists for many of the races, the commitment was made. Hey, even the weather was looking set fair – Breeden Priory wasn’t shrouded in mist as I arrived this week !  We did get some angry skies and a short downpour late morning …

In reality, the traditional HSCC categories were supplemented by Alfa, BMW and Porsche races plus the Super 60s series from the Netherlands. Some classes were also amalgamated – but if that meant lots of track action, then I am OK with that. Some classes were also racing on the GP circuit.

As is my usual approach, this isn’t a formal set of race reports – they can be found elsewhere – rather it’s the images from an itinerant spectator snapper with no real brief ! So, to the outside of the Esses for the last of the qualifying sessions and first race. It was not crowded !

Golden Ratio

An artist friend highlighted that the image of the Lola T290 was in line with the Golden Ratio – a natural phenomenon in art and nature to create balanced and dynamic compositions. This is a step further than simply using the rule of thirds but perhaps it explains why and how the image stood out to me when I was editing my photos.

Of course this is also a great spot to experiment with slower shutter speed panning. Some Marmite stuff here, I suspect.

HSCC Spring Trophy Donington Park – Shooting locations

For the Super 60s race, I concentrated on the Melbourne Hairpin shooting through the fence. The #10 Falcon was driven by 1991 Le Mans winner Volker Weidler.

A brief stop at the Esses (inside) where the profusion of circuit vehicles made finding an angle challenging.

Thereafter it was off to Coppice – my favourite place to shoot at Donington – I even had my step to hand to assist – although the picnic bench that has featured on the inside of Coppice is still there but it seems to be increasingly rickety. Use at your own risk !

For some variety, I headed down to McLeans on the outside – for more shooting through the fence. They are decent images, but would be much better unhindered. Perhaps I wasn’t really feeling it for that technique – there’s only one shot from the outside of Coppice – a rather nice AlfaSud Sprint.

The actual Alfa race was up next so back to the inside of Coppice and down towards McLeans – the commentator had mentioned the flames from the yellow GTV – got ‘em !

The Derek Bell Trophy and Thundersports followed – proper engine noises and playing with the shutter speed – the backdrop was fortunately less cluttered than a better attended meeting.

Star shot is the mighty March 717 with it’s 537 cu in Chevrolet engine shot at 1/60^th second. In it’s time, it raced at Croft in Interserie – a European version of CanAm.

There was a final stop at the Esses for the single seaters.

Photographic Post Script

As I was thinking about what to write in this report, I found myself reflecting that I could, as a photographer, have happily spent my time at the Esses and inside of Coppice – minimal fences, lots of potential for arty shots. To be honest, I reckon I have got fence fatigue – I don’t want to see another one – perhaps that’s why some of the grassroots venues like hillclimbs and many US circuits are so appealing !

The HSCC Legends of Brands Hatch SuperPrix is in early July – will I be there ?   Depends on the entry lists!

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