Photographing the British Hillclimb Championship at Prescott – with a difference.

Prior to last weekend, the last time I had a photographer’s tabard was for the 1989 Audi Sport International Rally – a very long time ago! It was a surprise to get an email from Prescott inviting me to apply for media accreditation in 2025. The application form was duly completed and Public Liability Insurance cover secured. With the opening round of the British Hillclimb Championship on the horizon, it was all systems go for the British Hillclimb Championship at Prescott! Regular readers will know that I am rather partial to some hillclimbing. Here’s some Prescott highlights.

Prescott Locations

This report will, therefore, probably be rather less helpful for spectator snappers than usual as I had a number of new areas to shoot from. I presented myself at the circuit office at 8.30 to sign on and receive my tabard and description of red zones. Thanks are due to Joy Richings and Geoff Robinson for ensuring I didn’t stand anywhere unwise on my first morning and afternoon respectively.

Orchard

With the forecast of a bright sunny day, we headed up the spectator side of Orchard towards Ettore’s. There’ a great shot looking across to the run to Pardon and then out of Pardon through the trees – with little spring foliage to obscure the competitors. All was going well until a Clio ran wide out of Pardon and then flipped over – fortunately without apparent injury to the driver, but a fair bit of damage to the wall. Safe to say, it won’t buff out on the Clio …

Esses

A lengthy delay gave us the time to get up to the Esses where being able to stand track side of the spectator fence gives a slightly better angle for photography. It also seems to put the photographer at a better angle for shooting front windscreens which can often “white out” when shooting from the higher spectator area here.

There is a good panning shot, too. The strong sunshine, however, casts dark shadows – a perennial challenge at Prescott on a bright day. Like good comedy, it’s all a question of timing …

Moving to the area next to the marshal’s hut, this again gives a slightly different, but better, angle for the Esses including a pan with a wide-angle lens. Of course, you are much closer to the action; the presence of two sturdy trees gives reassurance and cover for any incidents. On this occasion the early season mistakes were contained to running wide at the exit of the Esses.

One of these delays gave time for us to move to the other side of the track where there is just space for a couple of snappers (alongside a substantial tree).

Ettore’s

Then it was back down the hill towards the exit of Ettore’s. There’s a wide range of shots available in this area all the way through to Pardon. There was a good-sized crowd there and lining the fence line behind the track gives a great background especially on a slow shutter speed.

British Hillclimb Championship at Prescott Results

With various delays, the Sunday timetable of a practice run, a timed run and then the first Top Twelve Run Off of the 2025 Championship meant that we were looking at a late lunch. Tom Weaver might have made that even later but managed to hold onto this drift moment while Trevor Willis #5 briefly locked the front right.

With Alex Summers #2 only running a limited programme this year, 2024 champion Matt Ryder #1 was looking to be favourite for another successful year. However, despite being clearly quickest in the timed runs, he could only manage 3^rd in the Run Off, 0.08 seconds behind Wallace Menzies #4 and 0.09 seconds behind winner Will Hall #3. That’s a winning margin of 0.01 second. A minor glitch with the gearchange was sufficient to make the difference between first and third for Matt!

Prescott Paddock

A brief wander into the paddock, which is open to all, garnered a couple of photos – Alex Summers seen here tweaking the set-up of his car.

For the afternoon session, I returned to the Esses with the intention of getting a mix of documentary and more artistic shots before the second Run Off.

I will generally start at 1/100^th second and take it down to 1/60^th or 1/30^th. We are heading into Marmite territory now …

The light was starting to soften with the shadows much less harsh as the sun dropped behind the hill. The second Run Off of the day saw a return to what may prove to be 2025 normality with Matt Ryder winning by nearly half a second from Wallace Menzies with Will Hall a fraction behind in third. What this does mean is that three of them are all on the same points as they leave Prescott,

Photography Post Script

How do I reflect on my first day t’other side of the fence ? Well, it was a long day and there are some locations I have still yet to visit. Hillclimbing is already one of the more accessible disciplines for motorsport photography, but there is greater scope to get “that shot”.

It’s also worth remembering that it’s not just on the day, there is an obligation to provide a set of images to Prescott for their use promptly after the event and, last but not least, pull this report together for PistonClick. I’ll leave you with my personal photo of the day – Matt Ryder on his way to Run Off 2 victory and the fastest time of the weekend.

If you can see more of Davids images from the British Hillclimb Championship at Prescott via his Flicker account.

The Prescott PistonClick photographic guide can be found here.