Events | Nat Twiss | Automotive Photographer

Sep

Britcar Pt.1

Britcar 24 at Silverstone is the first time I’ve ever attended, let alone photographed, a 24 hour endurance race. It won’t be my last.

Silverstone is a vast circuit. I’ve never shot the full track. Even as a spectator at the British Grand Prix in 2007, I’ve always been situated in the Brooklands complex of the circuit.

I absolutely love the varied mix of cars running in the Britcar 24. This classic Porsche was my personal favourite, with a beautiful GT-86 and a Honda Jazz tied for second place.

Silverstone is an odd circuit for me. I’m very used to being close to the cars, but the large, F1-minded runoff areas mean that I’m actually a huge distance from the cars. Except at the entry to the famous Maggots complex. The cars enter at blistering speeds, it’s a great feeling.

There’s a true beauty to racing cars. Sometimes, it’s hard to find. But I’ve yet to photograph a race-built car that I’ve turned away from. The way this chrome-painted Aston Martin GT3 reflected the late afternoon sun put a huge smile on my face.

There’s nothing better than to be bathed in warm light, while race cars tear past you. It’s something I’d only previously experienced while at Pikes Peak, but here, at Silverstone, it happened again.

Sep

Wales Rally GB

Yesterday I had the pleasure of going to Wales Rally GB. My first time ever at a rally event of this scale. I’m used to going to the Pirelli International, and the Malcolm Wilson, but this was an entirely different scale.

It was also my first time seeing WRC-level drivers on stage.

Jari-Matti Latvala went on to win the rally today. He came in to SS8 with a huge lead, and acted like the thick fog that was covering the jump section didn’t even exist. Luckily, it cleared up after about half the cars had ran through, making my job much easier.

Sebastian Loeb went on to take the second spot from Petter Solberg on the last day of running, but actually looked quite slow on Halfway, in my opinion. I’d love to see him drive on a day where he’s at his fastest.

Matthew Wilson looked quick over the jumps. I guess growing up in Cumbria has some advantages for this event! He came home in eighth once the event was all over.

I decided to play around with slow shutter speeds partway through SS12. I think some of them came out really well. Recently I’ve been shooting much faster than normal.

I blame the 70-200 2.8, and it’s gorgeous bokeh.

This Skoda, driven by Hayden Patton, was probably one of the most photogenic of the bunch. One of the simplest liveries in the entire field.

With any luck, my full coverage of Wales Rally GB, as well as a tour of the M-Sport and Ford World Rally Team HQ should be coming soon on MotoIQ! Stay tuned!

Aug

The Joy of Re-Editing

Editing images after an event is a funny thing. For me, at least.

It’s actually a huge problem for me. I focus on having a lightning-fast turnaround. But I’m also no Larry Chen. I edit my images, like most photographers do. This means I don’t have time to review every image that I captured during the day; I usually go for the ones most relevant to the post.

This means I miss out on some golden images quite often.

And this is where the re-edit comes in. Although it serves no purpose editorially, I love digging through my archives, looking for those images that you had to ignore on the first edit.

They aren’t necessarily moments of great action – just bits and pieces that can capture the atmosphere of an event.

Aug

Pikes Peak – Friday

What an experience this morning was. I showed up at Pikes Peak off of a last-minute flight, at 3am, with no sleep. I wasn’t prepared for anything.

The altitude made everything harder – the cold, the lack of air. It was a cocktail of human suffering.

My hands froze to capture these images. They still hurt now, as I type this.

And yet, with all of that said, Pikes Peak is the greatest event that I have ever attended.

The landscape…

The diversity of vehicles…

It all comes together. It’s perfect.

Apr

Pirelli International Rally

So, I went to the Pirelli International Rally yesterday. Blown away by the crazy Scandinavian talent!

I wish rallying still featured as many 4WD monsters. Though these DS3’s sounded incredible.

I really didn’t expect a huge, rock lined quarry in the middle of SS3. Or the drivers to be so balls out and barely missing massive boulders at the side of the road. Incredible.

There were a few AWD cars too. You can tell when an Evo is coming because it pops whenever the driver feathers the throttle.

This guy. Kieth Cronin, the eventual winner of the rally. Insane! Even the AWD cars weren’t jumping on this kink over a sharp crest, his pace was incredible.

The kink was an awesome, but scary place to be standing. Every driver cut it tighter, going on to the bark and frankly, massive rocks. More than once there was a dangerously big stone kicked in my direction.

Historics! There were a ton of Porsches on show. I’ve never seen a 911 on a rally stage before, quite an impressive sight. The historics mainly consisted of these an the Mark I and II Escorts. As usual in British rallying, those things are everywhere.

I was excited to see the iconic Martini livery out on show, but then I noticed it was slightly modified. Grr.

Right, I think that’s about it for the Pirelli. Good event, I have to say.

BUT!

I have something rally-related in the works that could be absolutely amazing in May. Something tenuously related to that image above. Watch this space!

Apr

British GT — Oulton Park

The weekend is over. 3 days on track, pouring rain. My feet and legs still hurt. It was probably the best experience I’ve ever had with a camera strapped around my neck.

The pitlane is an insane hive of activity. It was a shock, and provided more feeling and emotion than I have ever witnessed during a drift event. And this was only a small portion of what I did.