Jaguar Track Day — Castle Combe

John Sentinella, a friend from Caddington who owns a Classic Jaguar invited me to join him at a TrackDay at Castle Combe in Wiltshire. We had to be on the road well before dawn to sign on and attend the briefing. The roads were packed with traffic, and there was a slight drizzle, with many drivers often following others way too close, so it was not entirely surprising there was a coming-together — on this occasion not too serious, but all adding to the travel time.

We stopped off for a comfort break and a drink at the Chievely services, and managed to miss the correct exit, which meant a return trip to take the correct direction for Chippenham and ultimately Castle Combe! Fortunately by this time, the rain had stopped, and the sky was lightening, and we still managed to arrive in good,  time for the sign-on and briefing. Obtaining a helmet for my size was more of a problem, but I finally found one I could squeeze on! I put it down to having a good head of hair!

I had to take my camera gear from the car, because, there was no way it could be stowed firmly within the boot, but Helen who was manning the reception desk handily obliged by offering to stow them in her van, which made it easy to access for lens changes later.

Everyone was extremely friendly and helpful, and after John had had his trip with one of the instructors for a few laps he came in and I locked the camera back up and accompanied him as his passenger, later I was able t retrieve the camera, swap from the 24-70mm to the100-400mm to get shots of John and others circulating. It was during this phase that I got to chatting to a Nikon shooter, who very kindly got me a chance to go out as a passenger with a surprisingly tall driver in a very fast car that was very much a one-off — one of only twenty models of its kind, and the only one that was road-legal. This was Andy, and he and I duly hatted up, joined the queue, before hearing the lunch break being announced! But the result was fortuitous, as we were closer to the front of the twelve cars!

Being fairly recognisable toting a long lens meant that I was asked to take a shot of one young lady’s husband, so she came to the Pit entrance to act as ‘spotter’, so that was handy, and later, the Club’s head of publicity wanted some shot’ for their magazine, which is all grist to the mill.

The return trip was even longer than the outgoing, making it a very long day, but did not spoil what had been a thoroughly enjoyable and interesting time. Now to make a print of Jeremy Brennan in his car for his wife, as it is to be a present for him.