Having done my best to avoid the M6 Toll once again, I found myself once again taking a circuitous route to head for Silverstone to meet up with my younger daughter and her two youngsters to enjoy some Formula Junior races and later, stunt drivers, before the main event the Fireworks Display.
I arrived at a layby on the A43 where I collected my ticket, in case I was going to have to pay extra for my car, as it turned out it did not matter and we travelled the last few miles together – parking alongside each other finally and then headed around the circuit where we had a good view of some of the races, when we moved again which gave us an excellent view of both the stunts and the Fireworks that followed. There were other families with young children and soon our two were following them and running around together; with minimum necessary guidance from the three adults.
Some of the racing we watched was very competitive, often with three cars abreast for more than just a single corner, and on one occasion, this did not end happily with a loose wheel and tyre in its very own race along the tarmac before losing momentum and travelling towards a Marshal’s post. I have yet to sort through the images from the afternoon, so will complete this narrative once that task is complete. I spent some time experimenting with different settings to capture the essence of racing and stunts in the dark; so, many more failures than successes! The same was true of my capture of the fireworks – shots of this nature need a longish exposure to capture the trails, and as such are best taken with the camera on a tripod, but fortunately in the case of the fireworks there is an alternative after the event. Provided there is some space around any burst of a firework, the resultant images can be montaged back in a program such as Photoshop or Affinity Photo.
The stunts that were performed on the track after the presentations to the winners were performed under a clear full moon which rose from low on the horizon and became a part of some of my fireworks shot against the night sky.
This was a fitting end to the last couple of days in which I had driven from Bedford to Staffordshire and back down to Silverstone before returning home to Marston Moretaine. Subsequently I have spent several hours in front of a computer screen as I prepare and sort images for the galleries to go on the blog.
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