Tag Archives: West Sussex

Rally Stage

I was not feeling at my best the day when I went to the Festival of Speed at Goodwood. Consequently, I always gave myself the option to bail out if I wasn’t up to it. One of the things that I figured was most likely to get sacrificed was the rally stage. This was something I was most interested in seeing but it was quite a trek up the hill and, with a hot day and a slight lack of energy, I thought this might end up not happening. In the end I decided to start walking up there and see how I felt as I went – always having the option to change the plan. As it was, while it was very warm, there was a lot of shade on the way through the woods, and I ended up getting there without feeling bad. Always good when you have options!

I first came to the paddock area and that was so much fun to stroll around. So many older rally cars including some Group B examples along with more modern examples. The selection of Audis, Subarus, Lancias and Peugeots was great. Sure, there were lots of others but my strongest memories of 80s and 90s rallying were these types. A couple of cars were driving around including a Mini that had clearly been rolled recently. A while later, the commentary team mentioned that it had indeed been the case. I guess the participants aren’t hanging around with their vehicles on the stage.

Things were pretty quiet when I first got there, things were pretty quiet. However, it wasn’t long before they started up runs through the custom designed rally stage in the woods. A couple of cars came through before I had got to the woods and then things went quiet for quite a while. I wandered along the trails into the woods and wondered if I had missed something when a truck came along the track towing a car. Not sure what had happened, but it clearly hadn’t ended well. Hopefully they got things sorted before too long.

Then it was back to cars running through the stage. Some of them were really giving it the beans while others were making sure that they stayed within their limits. That’s fine by me. If you have a vintage rally car, being reckless with it really doesn’t make sense. Besides, you might have the cool car but that doesn’t make you the greatest driver so do what makes sense. I’m just glad that they have the car and will bring it to an event like this.

Given how hot and dry it had been, the stage was very dusty. The good spots to watch from were often around bends where you can see the cars doing what they do best. It reminded me of photographing on the ramps at air bases. There you will fit yourself photographing a jet and then, as it turns away from you, you will turn your back to avoid the jet wash. This was the same except it was dust and dirt that was being thrown over you rather than hot air. By the end of my time there both me and my camera gear were coated in dirt!

When getting images, you are looking for something that really emphasises the drama of rallying. I was going with low shutter speeds to try and emphasise the speed of the cars as they hurtle through the woods. You also want something that includes cornering since rally cars do a good job of going sideways. If they are throwing up dust, that is even better. Then you get the more interesting moments when they might catch the bank and throw earth up as they bounce back on course. They won’t all be doing that but, when one does, it does look spectacular.

The course designers also included a small jump along one section. There were distance markers on the ground so you could see how far each car went before touching down. There was a lot of variety in the way in which the drivers approached the jump. Some seemed to be barely airborne while others got a lot of distance. I tried being ahead of the cars for a bit and then went with a side on view. The trees were a bit in the way for the images, but it was more about trying to show off the drama of the location.

Up to this point, I have talked about the location and the cars. However, what I haven’t shared is the relaxed nature of the area. It is a bit like going to Oshkosh in that the main venue is absolutely manic, but you can go to the seaplane base and chill out without the thousands of people. The rally stage is like that. Whether people aren’t as interested or maybe they just don’t want to climb the hill. It’s even possible that they don’t know what is there. Whatever it is, there are just not so many people up there. The woods give you loads of places to check out so it is never crowded, and you really feel like things are a bit more relaxed than down in the main areas. If you go to the Festival of Speed, I would definitely recommend some time up at the rally stage. Even if you aren’t a big fan of rallying (and why would that be??), I think you will enjoy it – once you have cooled down after climbing the hill!

Hypercars Get Ready

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I was down near the start line for the hill climb at Goodwood when the hypercars were coming out. They were exiting the paddock and turning on to the start line. However, there were so many of them that after the initial cars had turned left onto the road, the rest had to turn right and go up to turn before coming back to join the line. There were that many cars. None of these were in anyway cheap under performers!

I could try naming them all but that is hardly possible. First, there are so many it would get boring. Second, I don’t even know what some of them were. I might have a bit of an idea, but I would really be guessing, and I don’t want to get people giving me a hard time about being wrong when there is no point. Instead, here is a sample of the amazing vehicles that were awaiting their turn to blast along the opening straight and turn up the hill for the large crowds at the Festival of Speed.

Go for the Cars, Stay for the Helicopters

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A day out at Goodwood Festival of Speed was clearly done to see the cars on show. However, there might have been a chance for a little aviation to be thrown into the mix. On the Friday of the show, I was working from home and heard a sequence of helicopters head overhead. About four helicopters seemed to be running a shuttle from a country house hotel near us across to Goodwood. Seems like a pretty decent idea. It’s probably not much more than fifteen minutes and means a nice spot to stay combined with no traffic. Maybe I should have given it a go.

Elite Helicopters from Goodwood was running the service. For the rest of the day, they were doing pleasure flights around the venue. At one point in the day, I headed across to the field that they had set up for the helicopters and sat watching the steady flow. A combination of JetRangers, LongRangers and JetRangerXs were being used. There were a number of pads and ground crews were sequencing passengers on and off. A one-way system meant that the departing helicopters would go around a cluster of trees and out the back passing the inbound traffic. They were certainly keeping busy.

I would have quite liked to do a ride, but I decided this was not the day for it. The hillside around the event would make for a good view. I learned to fly at the nearby Goodwood aerodrome and know that the Trundle looks nice with the horse racing course being cool to see too. Combine that with so much stuff on the ground for the festival, it would be a good trip.

I would probably be camera happy in that environment but, watching the flights, it did occur to me that everyone did seem to be busy watching it through their phone rather than just looking at it. I would probably be tempted to do something similar. That is when something like the Insta360 can help because you don’t have to frame anything. It can all be done after the event allowing you to just enjoy the moment. I hope they all enjoyed their flights.

Car Aerodynamics Beyond the Norm

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When you look at any modern car, the aerodynamic design is always going to be advanced since reducing drag is key to fuel economy. However, you will also see a bunch of stuff that is designed to look like it is aerodynamically important, but it is really just styling. Vanes that look like they do a lot are common but the one that is always there is a diffuser. The shaping of the underside of the rear of the car is designed to look like it is there to increase downforce. The underside of the rest of the car is hardly tailored for downforce, so this is really a styling cue.

There are cars, where the aero is significant, though. The Festival of Speed at Goodwood included an Aston Martin Valkyrie. This is a car where aero really does matter. In these two shots, focus on a couple of areas. The rear of the car has quite a diffuser and this one is definitely functional. A combination of flow route either side of the centre of the vehicle combining and expanding to enhance the downforce under the car. Then look near the front wheels in the wider shot. The wheels are isolated with the flow coming around them and then back out of the sides. So much effort went into this design.

Photomerge Likes Weird Stuff

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The panorama merge function in Lightroom is usually pretty good. It can have some odd quirks, and the three different projections can produce very different results at times but, on the whole, I rely on it for my pano creation. Every once in a while, though, it catches me out. At the Festival of Speed, I did find myself using a longer lens to get elements of a shot with the intent of stitching them together later. Partly, this was because the crew was working around the car and I took shots when they were in different places to aim to have an unobscured car in the final shot.

It was the Red Bull RB17 where I was playing with this. When I went to stitch the images together, Lightroom gave an old result. Instead of either having the whole person or no person, it managed to have parts of them only in the shot. I decided to use Photoshop’s photo merge function instead, but it gave the same results. However, it did this by outputting layers with masks which were then editable. I was able to go into the shots and get rid of the bits I didn’t want while bringing out the bits I did. Some of the blending is not perfect in the revised versions but, for a quick solution, it works fine. If I needed to do more with the images, I would fix the flaws with more care.

Goodwood House

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The Festival of Speed at Goodwood is spread throughout the grounds of the estate but the main route takes cars right past the front of Goodwood House. They always put up a sculpture involving cars of some sort in front of the house. This year it was three Singer 911s. A pretty dramatic structure. Seeing the house brings back big memories for me. I spent the summer of 1986 living in the stable block just to the left of the main house. That was a cracking summer. Being back there is a treat. Seeing the cars zipping by is an extra!