Mallory Park General Testing

philipJvernon has added a photo to the pool:

I've wanted to have a go at some motorsport photography for a while now, and have been looking at Rockingham Race Track as it is pretty local to me.

I recently heard about Mallory Park and how every Wednesday is general testing, and entrance for spectators is only £3.

A few of the members of Leicester Photographers Club were planning to go to a race event at the weekend but some of us decided to have a quick practice a few days before.

When I looked at the weather forecast the day before, it said that there was going to be heavy rain pretty much all day. I still decided to go as it was only £3, and if I could get a few shots, see what the track was like and figure out some decent places on the track, it would still be worth it. The morning of going and the weather forecast was updated to be dark clouds until about 3pm and then heavy rain.

We arrived at about 11am and was told that there were cars until 12.30, then 1 hour break, and bikes would be on from 1.30. We headed straight out to see what it was like, and about 15 minutes after arriving a car broke down with flames coming out the back and the track was shut off for a while.

It started to rain heavily for about 5 minutes, then it stopped and was only light rain until we left at about 3pm, which was when it started pouring with rain again.

I tried a few different techniques, with different settings, just trying to get some decent shots. I am pleased with what I got, especially as this was my first time at motorsport photography, and the conditions were not ideal. I will definitely go there again and will try to look for some more race tracks that I can go to that allow photography.