Hankook 24HR
Silverstone 2017

Photographing the cars at Silverstone in the Hankook 24hr Touring Car Endurance event is something I have been planning on doing for a couple of years now. So finally at the third attempt I managed to get here. The main reason for visiting has always been around the idea of capturing the cars as the light in the sky starts to drop, and the running lights are shining out on the cars.

So loaded up with a tripod, in addition to the normal gear. The plan was to arrive sometime in the afternoon and get some racing shots and images from the pits as well. Then plan where to setup later for the “night time” shots. I was looking to capture as it became dusk and to also find somewhere to setup for some interesting “light trail” type shots as well. Hence the need to bring the tripod along with me as well.

On the day the race was due to start at 16:00 and we turned up around 15:00. I have never seen Silverstone look so deserted for an event. Considering the sun was out, although the rain was threatening I thought it would have enticed a lot more people. At least I was free to take pictures all the way around the circuit.

THEN IT STARTED TO GO DARK!

So the main reason for attending the event as I have said was to capture the cars as it went dark. It’s amazing how quickly the light dropped and the ISO on the camera kept getting increased by me to keep a reasonable shutter speed. The brake discs were certainly lighting up as the cars came into Vale as can be seen by the BMW below.

So 549 laps later and 24 hours it was Congratulations to Team Bleekemolen, in the number 100 car, the Seat Leon TCR V2 for coming first. The difference from the team behind only 5 laps, just 11 minutes and 54 seconds difference. Image below was taken of the winning car earlier on in the race.