Goodwood nostalgia

While I love the cars at Goodwood, one of the things which makes the Revival so atmospheric is the way most of the visitors come wearing clothes appropriate to the period between 1948 and 1966, when the circuit was in active use. This creates a wonderful feeling of nostalgia and I love lurking in the paddocks, people watching.

There are always familiar faces to be spotted in the paddocks - in this case former rally driver and broadcaster Tony Jardine, looking very dapper.

The rain at last year’s Revival made added some variety and made for some interesting scenes.

For the 2024 Revival I made a change to the camera kit I used. Normally I’d take a selection of prime lenses, but this time I spent most of my time using my 35-100mm f2.8mm zoom lens. This gives the look of a 70-200mm lens on and was perfect for capturing candid shots of people without being too intrusive.

I’d love to know what these two chaps were discussing!

This was snapped during a downpour when everyone dived into the paddock shelters. It’s one of my favourite photos from the weekend - so timeless and atmospheric.

I had to dodge the rain and the puddles to capture these two mechanic with their “don’t get in our way” expressions!

Motorsport fans are getting younger and younger!

Looking to the skies during one of the early morning air displays.

The work never stops for the Duke of Richmond…

A very stylish young lady.

Photos taken 6-8 September 2024

Brooklands Mini Day

One of the first trips we made after I bought my little half frame Pentax 17 camera was the Brooklands Mini Day - a gathering for Minis, large and small, at the museum in Surrey. I decided to travel light, with a roll of Kodak Gold loaded into my camera and an open mind about what I might photograph.

A quartet of Rover Mini Cooper 35 special edition cars - ours is the second from the left.

Mini noses in silver and red…

The odd non-Mini shaped interloper was allowed in too!

Minis as far as the eye can see on the old Brooklands track, and a few modern Minis too.

Minis of all sizes were welcomed in - even ones made from crochet!

Minis everywhere - even beneath the wings of aircraft.

We also took a look around the bus museum on site but it was a little too dark for my chosen film for many successful photos.

And finally, a triptych, created from an old petrol pump I found a corner of the museum

Photos taken 23 March 2025

Rustival

At some of the classic car shows we attend there are restrictions on the types of car you can bring, or perhaps a decree about the age of the vehicle. At the end of September we went to a different sort of show, held at the British Motor Museum at Gaydon, where anything and everything was welcome - Rustival.

Alongside the usual classics there were also more modern cars and the one thing they all had in common was they they were their owner’s pride and joy. I particularly liked this Citroen DS - a car which looks as modern today as it did when it was first launched in 1955.

I have no desire to own a big American classic like this, but I’m always drawn to their curvaceous lines and shining chrome!

My favourite photo of the day for its simplicity.

Photos taken 28 September 2024

Evening classics

Yet again I find myself with a backlog of photos to share here on my photoblog and I can’t quite believe that this particular set comes from way back at the beginning of October - better late than never! The regular classic car gathering in the village of Barrington happens on the first Friday evening of the month, so this one was the last of 2024 as after this the evenings become too short.

On this occasion I took just one lens with me - my 75mm prime - with the aim of finding scenes to photograph where I could shoot through objects in the foreground to create a sense of depth. Some of these worked better than others, but using just this longer lens made me look at the world in a slightly different way, which is always a good thing.

Photos taken 4 October 2024