Despite my interest in cars and Formula 1 I had yet to go to the UK’s largest and most prestigious track – Silverstone. Synonymous in recent years with victory after victory for our very own Lewis Hamilton. Though I am a long way off getting a press pass for the Grand Prix, as luck would have it, I was able to get one for the Silverstone Classic – one the largest historic racing events in the world. A full three-day weekend of everything from pre-war to touring to Formula 1, no matter what you have fond childhood memories of there’s something for everyone here. I was there just for the final Sunday.

When you don’t have you eyes glued to the track there’s plenty of other things to occupy yourself with. Car clubs galore with just about every major marque still in existence, and some not, were on display here and this presented a good opportunity to find that rare and unusual model you’d always wanted to see in person. Yes, the usual excitement of Ferraris and Lamborghinis attracts plenty of attention but for me it is always the more ordinary cars you never see anymore that catch my eye the most.  Beyond that there were other exhibits, including a display of every one of Lewis Hamilton’s championship winning cars, a world first. And if you ever got sick of cars there was a full accomplishment of fairground rides to keep yourself and the kids entertained.

For me though this week was all about the racing. It’s no secret that I am interested in photographing more motorsport and being able to go trackside at a major event presented a great opportunity to gain valuable experience and bolster my portfolio. Donning an orange tabard, it did feel rather strange to be standing next to the race marshals on the other side of the fence, protected by a tyre wall that was much small than I had imagined. For classic racing and the lower power output of these cars I didn’t feel very worried, but I certainly would feel more concerned if I was photographing the very latest Formula 1 cars. Especially after Zhou Guanyu’s horrible crash here earlier in the year when his car skidded over the tyre wall and into the metal fence. But where would the fun and excitement be without any danger?

I didn’t move around the entire track, that’s a bit of an ask when you only have one day at a track you’ve not been to before and navigating around was actually more difficult than I expected. It wasn’t always immediately obvious which bridge you had to walk over to get where you needed. I started off at Village Corner/Luffield for the morning races, before moving over to Luffield/Brooklands in the afternoon. Though I did finish the day looking out from the pitstops onto Hamilton Straight and found a good vantage point from the grandstand over my first location which served well for the lunchtime procession and later 90s Formula 1 demonstrations. Perhaps next time I’ll make the effort to go to Maggotts, Becketts & Chapel and further along to Stowe. As with anything you need to experiment and see what kind of shots you can get on different corners from varying vantage points.

A long day for sure but certainly a very memorable first outing to Silverstone, seeing some truly legendary cars up close and walking through the pit lanes I’d seen on TV countless times. I’ve certainly got a better feel for the place, and I did think my ability to track the cars improved over the day. Though it certainly wasn’t fun to sift through more than three and a half thousand photos I’d certainly go back in a heartbeat, albeit with a bit more photographic discipline.

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