[danpen]

Hi, been away for a while I've had no time for photography or forums for various reasons but this weekend I'm off to Oulton Park for the British Superbikes so some advice would be appreciated.

I've got the Canon 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 and the Sigma 120-300 f/2.8 - which is likely to be the most useful, I have a 5D so don't benefit from the crop factor here. I've never been there before and don't know how close I'll be able to get to the action. Don't much fancy carrying both around all day.

cheers

Daniel

[stepheno]

Hi Dan, good to see you back I can't offer much advice except - if it's sunny take the 100-400 and if it's overcast take the Sigma

[Larne]

Let me know how you get on, please. I am thinking about going to Oulton Park for the BTCC day on 27/Jul and as I will probably end up renting a lens for the weekend I will be interested to learn from your experience.

Hopefully we will get to see some great pictures as well!!

[danpen]

Stephen, thanks - good advice, although if I can get close enough I'd rather the 120-300 regardless of what light's available as it provides more exposure options and at f/5.6 the image quality's a little better than the 100-400mm.

Larne, I'll let you know - we thought about going to touring cars but decided on seeing as much of the BSB Series as we could manage this year. We're planning on Oulton Park, Donington, Mallory, Cadwell and Croft. I think we get a second shot at Oulton later in the year so if this goes badly at least I can try again .

[Larne]

I'll also be interested to know where you decide to set up. I have been to Oulton Park watch BSB a few times and have always sat on the grass bank above Cascades but I don't think that would be a terribly good spot for photographs so I am trying to work out where to setup. A lot of the best places have high fences which is a pain and in other places you are well back from the track.

If you are going on your own make sure you take plenty of supplies. If you have to abandon your 'spot' for any reason it will be long gone by the time you return.

[Dabhand16]

Last time I was at Oulton Park, it was to see Jochen Rindt in the JPS Team Lotus F1 car in the Gold Cup. Before that I saw one Jackie Stewart lead the Gold Cup in an F2 car - can't remember the make - before Jack Brabham finally took the lead and won the race in his F1 Repco Brabham.

I bet it has changed there now.

[Larne]

Oulton Park Race Circuit - The Official Oulton Park Motorsport Site

Click on the circuit picture on the r/hand side to get a nice PDF of the circuit.

[monkeydave]

i will be there on saturday..

i will be starting at knickerbook as thats where we go in. you can get quite close to the corner good enough to fill the frame with the 400..

druids is good for close action and possible wheelie shots. 300 2.8 best here.

you can get to the other side of the track by the start finish and get some close shots there.

take plenty of cardsas the do eat them up

practice your panning alot .. by the end of the day you will be getting pretty good trust me..

best of luck ..

remmeber to keep the shutter speeds down so you get the motion blur


md

ill show you what i get on sunday

[brian wright22]

I wish you luck Danpen. I went to Silverstone last year ,the first time for about 15 years. I was very dissapointed with the viewing. Taking photos was restricted due to the very high crash barriers, especially through the chicane and into the pits straight. You could just see the drivers heads, where as before you could get good shots of the whole car. This was with viewing seats half way up one of the grandstands!!.

Probably Oulten Park should be better because most of the barrier height increase at Silverstone was done for added safety for Formula One racing. I don't think that there has been any Formula One championships at Oulton Park? The problem is that its spoilt the rest of the seasons fixtures viewing at Silverstone for me. By the way I would take both lens and all of your options are available then.
Brian