Motorcycle Grand National

These photos are from the first day of a two-day event held at the Castle Combe Circuit. It was a full day of racing featuring a wide array of bikes, old and new in a wide range of engine capacities. The event is very well run and the facilities were excellent. I was pleased to see that the track has raised viewing areas that allowed me to take shots from above the fence line down onto the track. I was able to walk at least half of the circuit to get changes of perspective and mix up the image content. I was very impressed by the performance of my camera's vehicle tracking autofocus. This feature was only added at a recent firmware update and it is so fast that I was able to pan and nail focus on even the fastest bikes.

To give a sense of speed to the images I was trying to achieve a shutter speed that blurred the wheels rotating but kept the rider and bike in focus. The sun kept coming in and out so it was a constant battle to keep up with the lighting conditions and in many cases the images, while pin-sharp, lack that dynamic feel.

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