Anyone been to thruxton

powell7

powell7

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Hi guys, I'm thinking of going to thruxton for the bsb on Sunday.

What's the place like photography wise?
 
powell7 said:
Hi guys, I'm thinking of going to thruxton for the bsb on Sunday.

What's the place like photography wise?
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Terrible?

Two thirds of the track not accessible, its an airfield perimeter track with two chicanes...

The fences are low though which is about all you can say for it
 
Not worth the 2 hour drive then ?
 
desantnik said:
Terrible?

Two thirds of the track not accessible, its an airfield perimeter track with two chicanes...

The fences are low though which is about all you can say for it
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And its even worse with the Sun out, it always seems to be in the wrong place when tyring to get some shots. lets say its a challenge :D

Still the plus side is.. its superbikes:D
 
powell7 said:
Not worth the 2 hour drive then ?
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Well, I will be there on Sunday but its not great photographically as I said.

Typical airfield its either glaring blasting heat or freezing wind with optional rain too
 
It's my local track & to be honest I'd rather drive 250 miles to Cadwell or Oulton than photograph there.Your pretty limited on access as Andy said two thirds of the circuit is out of bounds.The only really good photographic spots are totally full by 9 o clock even on practice days.So unless you've got a free pass the I'd give it a miss & try one of the more photogenic tracks like Cadwell or Oulton
 
GPmotophoto said:
It's my local track & to be honest I'd rather drive 250 miles to Cadwell or Oulton than photograph there.Your pretty limited on access as Andy said two thirds of the circuit is out of bounds.The only really good photographic spots are totally full by 9 o clock even on practice days.So unless you've got a free pass the I'd give it a miss & try one of the more photogenic tracks like Cadwell or Oulton
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when i was on the bank last year for the BTCC there was plenty of room around and i got some nice shots but that might be due to the Gail force winds and torrential rain that we had all day :lol:
8632770448_12c964e100_c.jpg
 
it's not that bad!

Campbell and cobb corners normally get some action ;)
 
alix said:
when i was on the bank last year for the BTCC there was plenty of room around and i got some nice shots but that might be due to the Gail force winds and torrential rain that we had all day :lol:
8632770448_12c964e100_c.jpg
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Great panning shot:thumbs:, just a shame about the typical Thruxton back ground:bang:
 
GPmotophoto said:
Great panning shot:thumbs:, just a shame about the typical Thruxton back ground:bang:
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Thanks Gary one thing i would recomend is if its wet or been wet make sure you got great tread on you boots and for love of god dont wair trainers the amount of people that slipped on the bank was nuts few had to be taken away by medics :gag:
 
I love it there, some pretty good low angles for spectators. Great for panning practice as well as it's very quick. I'm not a fan of bikes but went along to the Friday of BSB in 2009, really enjoyed it.
 
I visited for the first time for the Easter Revival meeting.

I'm not sure if I'll bother again although knowledge gained would make a second visit more productive.

I concur with most of the previous comments:

With the live airfield all trackside photography has to be from a position where strong light is coming from a less than ideal direction and its not possible to hike round to any better positions on the far side of the track

Not unique to Thruxton, but there's obtrusive catch fencing on the most interesting places and most of the togs are taking similar shots from the same limited areas

There's very few sheltered spots from wind or rain if its not a pleasant spring or summer's day.

A lot of airfield and admin clutter parked on the inside of the track making a difficult background for sideways panning shots

My shots <a href=" http://vintageman.zenfolio.com/p966940588 "> here </a>

CC is always welcome

David
 
Thanks chaps :-)
 
Anyone heading to the BSB round expect to get a good soaking, just checked the weather & it looks a fairly good chance of rain on all 3 days:thumbsdown:.
Might be a few sunny spells on Friday/Saturday late afternoon.
 
Lol, traditional I think :-)

I've got showers in the morning and sun after noon on the blz weather radar here
 
Anyone going on May 5th for the BTCC?
 
DavidC1980 said:
Yes, I'm there for BTCC. I'll be on a course though so have got extra access to the 'other side' of the fence and the paddocks. So, I'm hoping that I can get shots which will be a bit more interesting that the usual side on panning shots that I end up taking.
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How was the course David?

Does anyone know how to get a press pass?
 
desantnik said:
Search Talk Photography for "media pass", read the instructions, apply.
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Cheers, just had this land in my inbox...


Thank you for showing a few of your photographs – you certainly captured the atmosphere!

As for applying for a media pass you will need to meet two criteria. One is a letter of accreditation from a company requiring your work and the second is proof of Public Liability Insurance to the value of £5m. You can apply to Thruxton for a season pass around February time or on a race by race basis.

I hope this information is useful to you.

Best regards
 
Well, thats the trick:

1) Be working media with a letter to support it (they might not accept a letter from the Beano or Razzle however)

2) Have insurance

Simples?
 
I would imagine the tricky part is finding a media outlet that is not already covered photographically for events, or having shots in the public domain that stand out SO much against all others that you are approached by a media outlet that want you to cover an event....?
 
Nail...head
 
desantnik said:
Well, thats the trick:

1) Be working media with a letter to support it (they might not accept a letter from the Beano or Razzle however)
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Reckon they would accept photos from another sport? IE football?

When I went to Thurxton I was very surprised at just how many press guys there where and a real mix of cameras too. Loads of budget cameras/lenses.
 
Its not about having photos.... its about having a commission and backing from a publication to get motorsport photos.

As I said, accreditation from Razzle won't cut it
 
jimmy83 said:
Reckon they would accept photos from another sport? IE football?

When I went to Thurxton I was very surprised at just how many press guys there where and a real mix of cameras too. Loads of budget cameras/lenses.
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Sad reality of national motorsport media status
 
photo4 said:
Sad reality of national motorsport media status
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Sad how? They didn't get accreditation by showing the recipts for their camera gear.
 
desantnik said:
Sad how? They didn't get accreditation by showing the recipts for their camera gear.
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That's true, and I would be first in line to advocate how little equipment matters in the grand scheme of things (one of my favourite galleries I've seen from Le Mans was taken with an iPhone).

However, out of interest more than anything, I would love to know who some of the guys you see trackside are shooting for, and for what purpose. Silverstone WEC springs to mind, a guy with nothing but a compact stood for hours at a point where 300mm would only fill quarter of the frame.

Or, the guy at Thruxton BTCC who spent all day on the highest bank in the middle of nowhere (I decided in my own mind he was waiting/hoping for an incident that nobody else would catch).

I have no issues with them and I'm certainly not jealous as I have zero interest in being trackside, but I'm fascinated/intrigued by their stories, and would love to see their images.
 
Its a good question, but you'd know if you tried that you definitely do have to have some sort of purpose that is beneficial to BTCC to get there. They are historically more lenient than most other series - and certainly infinitely more so than one in particular ;-)
 
desantnik said:
Sad how? They didn't get accreditation by showing the recipts for their camera gear.
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Pretty sad as only a few make their living out of it, I do agree that a professional camera+lens handled by a donkey won't change much
 
Hmmm true, but that is as I always say, the impact of the internet on media.

Its a problem much akin to the music industry vs downloads and just as much of a quandry that still isnt resolved by business.
 
Interesting discussion, on the 'purpose that is beneficial' point I wonder how that has changed, or how it might change in future, particularly for those well connected on social media but without links to traditional print media or well established websites.

As an example, I attended an action day (glorified track day with about 1500 cars in attendance) recently, within 3 days my gallery stats were sitting somewhere around 50,000 views despite only posting a link on one forum and Facebook myself (and I'm far from being well connected). Looking at the stats, it led me to loads of forums where the photos were shared/linked to, and plenty of 'ooooh I'm definitely attending next time' type comments. They probably reached more unique individuals than if I had managed to arrange a short article/image in my local paper, and were focused on exactly the sort of people the event is trying to attract.

I don't want to be trackside, but I imagine I could put a pretty strong case to the promoter based on the internet traffic/social media discussion etc that my photos generated, that even though I'm not working for a company/newspaper/website, I could bring a lot of awareness to their event in future. Whether there would be much (or any) money in it is obviously another issue entirely.
 
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I think there has to be some way of limiting the number of photographers trackside. To many and it starts to become a safety issue. Not only for the photographers but the general running of the meeting, if marshals can't move safely because photographers are blocking the way.
 
Munch - BTCC have been addressing this problem :)

As for the question of what media coverage is useful to the promoters... its a question they themselves are struggling with.
 
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