News / Blog - Motorsport News

Well done to all those who organized the Guernsey Round of the 2022 CI Moto-X Championship.

Also our local riders who did us proud by leading from the front! Nice one guys and gals.

Another big thank you (ha, ha) goes to whoever filled me in with sticky mud on Saturday.... note to self: Stand further from the track next time 🙂

I was at the holeshot and probably didn't take my normal interest in the condition of the bend. I had a very short time available on the first day as I needed to get away to photograph two football games.

I made the rookie mistake of not allowing for the bigger than usual number of bikes heading into the holeshot. Inevitably some had to take a wide line hitting the puddle of very sticky mud on the outside of the track launching it in my direction!

The outcome of this splattering was a very muddy photographer including two cameras and lenses. I had to leave the racing early and make a quick return to home for a change of clothing and a hose-down of my kit!

But luckily I have a short memory and on Sunday I was back trackside for more pics. This time there was less mud too!

I've added a full Gallery of the pics I took on my website if you are interested. Click on this link:
CLICK TO VIEW THE 2022 CI MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP

All sports photography makes special demands on a photographer.

The challenges may take different forms with so many sports available but there is always a similar thread running through the photographic work.

Unlike filming sports action (digital video nowadays) a photographer has to rely on capturing a 'peak' moment of action telling the story of the activity in a single frame.

What isn't perhaps obvious to those who don't spend their days photographing sport is that to capture the pics that a photog wants there is often a lot of work beforehand to create the 'luck' to reliably come home with the pics!

Getting the shot needs the photographer to be in the right place at the right time and to be ready with a camera all set... exposure settings, correct lens, positioned to give the most dynamic angle for what is about to happen... then to maintain attention during the boring moments to be poised and ready when the action kicks off as it is usually over in fractions of a second!

Luckily, like most skills, practice really does help.


This ramble comes after I've just photographed a two day Trials Bike event. I only had limited time to spend at the event so I really needed to work hard to get the pics that I planned.

I like to make use of the setting that trials bike sections are laid out in as realistically many of the riders will not offer me the dynamic action that I know they think they perform. My job is to make the competitors look amazing and a bit of help from the background can help!

However there are always a few elite riders who really provide an opportunity to get great shots. But even capturing those is a problem as Trials sections are spread over a wide area (miles apart) and it is all too easy to miss them completely whilst moving around.

I'd studied the various sections (you make your own luck) and I had earmarked one steep granite rock climb as the most promising for the 'shot of the day'. I now had to hope that I would be in place when the elite riders came to the obstacle.

Luck was with me (just) as with just minutes left before I needed to get to the next assignment the top guns turned up. All the planning came together, I was in the right place, the lens was correct, the settings all dialed in, I just needed the action to happen as I hoped.

And it did! I got the planned shot and there wasn't really any luck involved! I love it when a plan comes together!

I've added a gallery featuring all my 2-Day trials pics here:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE 2022 GMC&CC 2-DAY TRIALS PICS

Here comes the summer.....

Well I might be a bit premature with this comment as it's is only April the second but when an assignment is on the beach and it is sunny it's easy to get a bit excited!

I'd found myself down on the white sands of Vazon Bay to photograph race one of the Guernsey Motor Cycle & Car Club 2022 Sand Racing Championship and this was a great start to the year.

Whilst I'm sure there will be some pretty horrible and mucky meetings before the championship reaches the end I'll enjoy things whilst the going is good!

I've uploaded a few pics to a new Gallery here:
CLICK TO VIEW RACE 1 OF THE 2022 SAND RACING CHAMPIONSHIP

The 2022 Petit Bot Hill Climb was held in March this year. Perhaps the aim was to achieve a dry event for a change. If that was the plan it all worked out well. The contrast to the previous year couldn't have been greater!

It was nice to be able to photograph this event without waterproofs on. However I did miss the dramatic shots from last years torrential rain.

You just can't keep some people happy, eh!!

The pics from this year are now online. Take a look at them here:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW PICS OF THE 2022 PETIT BOT HILL CLIMB

To check out what a wet (normal) Petit Bot hill climb looks like click on this link:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW A WET PETIT BOT HILL CLIMB

As the F1 cars take to the track at the start of their 2022 season the Guernsey Motorsport racing community have also dusted off their machinery to get back to racing.

The opening event of the Guernsey tarmac season started today with the Guernsey Kart & Motor Club Vazon Sprint.

I made two visits to photograph some of the action. Between the two I popped off to Footes Lane to cover the GFC v Uxbridge football. More about that later.

Click on this link to see my first edit featuring the Vazon Sprint which is now online here:
CLICK TO VIEW PICS OF THE GK&MC VAZON SPRINT

It wasn't just the 2022 Comprop Rally that kept me busy last weekend.

My work actually began on Thursday evening when I popped along to the Rally scrutineering to capture some behind the scenes pics.

Then the racing began on Friday with two evening stages... just perfect for me to get my timing and trigger finger up to speed!

But the serious stuff started on Saturday morning which meant a 5.30am start for me!

Why such an early alarm call? Well I wanted to get into one of the first stages before it was closed.

I had checked out all the stages when they were published and I'd noted my favourite vantage points and angles. I had a plan for a couple of positions that were too dangerous to stand.... but they were perfect for a radio controlled remote camera! The early start was needed to give me time to make sure everything was setup and working properly before the first car arrived.

If you browse through my Rally pics thinking that I shouldn't of been in such risky positions, don't worry, you now know how I captured those shots!

So all day Saturday was spent moving between stages chasing the Rally racing action and by 5pm I knew I had some good shots in the can.

By now I was pretty knackered after dragging over 25kg of kit up and down the stages. Frankly I just wanted to get home and put my feet up!

But that wasn't an option as I was straight off to Beau Sejour as soon as the rally finished. The Guernsey Amalgamated Boxing Club had organised their 'February Fury' event. This featured 10 Bouts of boxing with a GABC team facing a team from East Wales.

After refuelling with a chocolate bar and an energy drink I was ring-side capturing another form of action sport.

Gratefully the 10 bouts went without holdup or hitch and my day finished earlier than expected and I was home by 9.30pm.

It's safe to say that by the time my head hit the pillow I was ready for a good nights sleep... after such a long and tiring but fun day!

I've completed the Rally and boxing edits and the Galleries are online here:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW PICS OF THE FEBRUARY FURY BOXING
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE 2022 COMPROP GUERNSEY RALLY

After missing two years of racing due to the restrictions imposed by Covid regulations the Guernsey Rally was back in 2022 with new sponsors Comprop.

The lost time had been well used and the 2022 Comprop Guernsey Rally was bigger and better than all the previous years. The public are now getting a feel for how a rally event is organized and it was clear that spectators had done their homework as many vantage points were lined with crowds of people. There was a great atmosphere all through the stages.

I'd managed to plan my different shooting positions and achieved most of the shots I had intended. The only fail was because the very last stage on Saturday was cancelled due to running out of time.

The variety of angles I captured was helped once again by the remote camera I set up on a couple of corners. This meant that you can actually see me in some of my own shots!

Two pics for the price of one! It's magic!!

These galleries feature the most extensive coverage of the 2022 Comprop Guernsey Rally....
CLICK TO VIEW PICS OF THE 2022 COMPROP GUERNSEY RALLY

I think we'll call this weekend the warmup for next weekends rally event. After missing the Rally last year due to the evil covid the excitement is now boiling over for the 2022 Guernsey Rally.

Hopefully the weather will warm up a little by then too!

So today I got my Motorsport fix by visiting the Kart racing at The Track followed by a very windy trip down on to the sands at Chouet for the Autocross Bangers.

The first pics of the Karting are already online with the Bangers to follow....
CLICK TO VIEW RACE 2 OF THE GK&MC KART CHAMPIONSHIP


I've now added a new Gallery featuring Round 8 of the Winter Autocross Banger racing championship of the windswept beach at Chouet.


Follow this link to view the latest Banger racing pics:
CLICK TO VIEW ROUND 8 OF THE AUTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP

I popped up to the Motocross track on Saturday to photograph the championship racing.

Sadly there was a very small entry as it seems several factors combined to make riders unavailable... Covid, School Holidays and other future commitments.

Hopefully this is a one-off as the financial cost and the commitment by officials and Marshall's needed to organize a days racing will not be covered by such a small entry!

Fingers crossed that it is back to normal for the next meeting.

My pics are now online here:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE MOTOCROSS RACING

As the Guernsey Kart & Motor Club start their 2022 full calendar of events the hopes and spirits are high as racers look forward with spanners crossed for no more Covid disruptions.

Between this Club and the Guernsey Motor Cycle & Car Club motorsport fans can compete locally in just about every genre of the sport... within the limitations of what a small Island can host.

If you look at the list I think you must agree....

Hillclimbs at four venues
Karting
Motocross
Rallying
Sand Racing
Trials
Sprints at several venues
Speed Events
Twisty Sprints
Autotests

....and there is also the Guernsey Autocross Club Banger Racing on the beach!

So it was great for me to return to The Track to photograph Round-1 of the 2022 Kart Championship on Sunday whilst looking forward to a busy year.

My pics of the karting can be viewed here:
CLICK TO VIEW ROUND-1 OF THE 2022 KARTING CHAMPIONSHIP

This new Gallery completes my Sunday assignments in the mud.

As I eluded to in the previous Blog I found myself 'tip-toeing' through muddy tracks and climbing slippery banks all day in an effort to get close to the two wheel action.

The latest pics are of the afternoon session at the GMC&CC All-Day Trials meeting. I concentrated on the sections set up at L'Ecluse in St Andrew.

For two of the sections the approach was along a very muddy track which the riders traversed with ease. I was less confident... but the worst didn't happen! I kept on my feet and both clothing and cameras returned home unsoiled!

So that was a win-win as far as I'm concerned.

The Trials pics can be viewed here:
CLICK TO VIEW PICS OF THE GMC&CC TRIALS AT L'ECLUSE

It was inevitable that the two jobs today would involve some mud.... we did have a lot of rain yesterday, eh!

So my day was spent trying to avoid an embarrassing slip into the mess.

I'm pleased to say I succeeded.

Both the jobs involved two wheel transport - man powered and motorized. And each one demanded confidence and skill to be shown by the riders due to the already noted mud!

I've just added a gallery of pics featuring the morning job... the GVC MTB XC at the Underground Hospital. Click the link to view those pics.
CLICK TO VIEW THE GVC MTB XC PICS

I'm afraid that I'm an 'old school' photographer. I purchased my first camera whilst still at school using money saved from my Saturday job.

Of course as this was over 50 years ago that camera had to be loaded with film... 24 or 36 pics on a roll.

So I learnt that each press of the shutter had to be considered and not wasted. Also there was an additional cost to every shot as a film had to then be processed. That was more money out of my pocket!

I suppose that discipline got to be a habit and now that I take sports pics for a living I cannot break this habit of a lifetime of carefully firing off the shutter.

But modern day digital photography has brought many benefits and many advances that make our job so much easier. Think autofocus, fast and limit-less shutter rates and no film costs to name a couple.

I'd be silly not to take advantage of these improvements but I still can't get my finger into trigger happy mode. In fact I often dial down the maximum shutter rate as I get really annoyed if I take too many pics on a single press of the button, easy to do at fourteen frames a second! I like to try and capture just the peak moment and nothing more, however I'm sure that sometimes this means I do miss a shot!

Luckily those 50 years of taking pics sometimes helps with judging when maximum speed might be needed and Autocross racing is one of those times. It does mean that the number of shots I take during a meeting can run into a couple of hundred but that is the price to pay for being ready when something dramatic happens right in front of me.

That situation occured today at the Autocross racing on Chouet beach. Jade Ferbrache, who is well known for her skills riding large powerful bikes on tarmac, paid the price of pushing her car to the limit on a rutted sandy track. As she entered the pits corner her car launched into a massive double roll-over. Jade was wearing a neck brace and soon emerged from her slightly crumpled car unhurt.

So there we have it. Jade has added another roll-over 'notch' to her seatbelt and she now has a few pics to show the grandchildren one day!

In case you are wondering, I missed the very first moment of the roll but thanks to my modern Nikon digital camera I still got a sequence of 28 pics... that's more than I'd have got on a new roll of film! Maybe it's about time that this 'old school' photographer embraced everything that Digital photography brings to the kit bag... including the huge amount of pics it offers?

Follow this link to view the gallery:
CLICK TO VIEW THE LATEST AUTOCROSS PICS

Just a quick update to let you know that the latest Autocross pics are now online.

Race 4 of the Guernsey Autocross Club's Winter Championship took place in quite nice and bright conditions... meaning we didn't get wet!

Of course there are plenty more rounds of the championship to go yet. Not that I want to tempt fate!!

The pics are here:
CLICK TO VIEW THE LATEST AUTOCROSS PICS

Quite a chunk of my weekends work revolved around two wheels.

There was the motorized kind and the leg powered variety! I've already added a Gallery of my GVC MTB XC pics and the latest addition features Round 4 of the GK&MC Motocross Championship.

I had a full morning of Press work before I headed off to the clifftop at Pleinmont for the MAD bikers racing... well I always think they are the MAD bunch in Motorsport!

Take a look at my pics to see how much 'air' some of them take. Yes, MAD is the right term!!

Follow this link to view the pics:
CLICK TO VIEW ROUND 4 OF THE MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP

Who’d have thought that so many people would be into looking at pictures of hardcore action?

Those pictures are some the most recent ones that I’ve taken and they feature guys and gals in hardcore slippery action.

And before you get too worked up let me be clear. I’m talking about the weekends Petit Bot hill climb... the one raced in torrential rain!!

I’m commenting about this as my website has been taking a lot of hits in the last 24 hours... over 35,000 picture views!!

Not all visitors have been looking at the hardcore racers as there are thousands of other pics in the Galleries but thanks for the interest.

If you want to see what you have been missing follow this link:
CLICK TO VIEW THE PETIT BOT HARDCORE RACING

The 2021 GK&MC Petit Bot Hill Climb was the wettest I can remember... and there have been a few of those!

Conditions deteriorated as the torrential rain set in which led to the inevitable... the Clerk of the Course called an early finish. This was warmly received by the marshals who were soaked through.

It's no exaggeration to say that when faced by strong wind and torrential rain working as a bespectacled photographer entails continual wiping of lenses, viewfinder and glasses. I find that I miss more shots than normal and sometimes I have to shoot almost blind, trusting the camera to find the focus!

Also looking after and protecting the cameras is important but the knowledge that these wet days often provide great pics means we just have to take our chances.

So with the rain dripping down my back and my waterproofs failing in their waterproofness and the steamed up viewfinder the day was challenging and very uncomfortable, but a memorable one.

After completing the edit I think it was worth the endurance because as I had hoped I captured a few cracking shots.

And now I've had a shower and a beer it was an (almost) enjoyable day!! Follow this link to view the very wet 2021 Petit Bot hill climb:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE 2021 PETIT BOT HILL CLIMB

I've had a gentle reminder that I hadn't uploaded my pics from the 30th August hill climb. That is now sorted!

But I did have a sort of excuse... carry on reading to be informed!

This is my sick note to the Clerk of the Course that tells the story.

Dear Chemy – Clerk of the Course.

I’ve written this sick note to you to explain that Andrew isn’t feeling very well today.

It seems that yesterday someone made Andrew drink a lot of beer at the Vale Earth Fair.

When I asked how much he’d drunk all he could remember was that it was lots and lots and lots! Poor thing.

This is also why he was late arriving at the hill today.

I hope you will show him some compassion and give him credit for making the courageous effort to get out of bed this morning.

I also ask that you make allowances if the standard of his work isn’t as good as normal.

I’m sure Andrew will be fine in a couple of days... or after having another beer.

Love, Carol

OH, and in case you are wondering. It was me who forged the sick note.... just like I used to do at school.

My wife is amazing but there is as much chance of her showing me any sympathy when I have a hangover as there is of me breaking the ‘Terres hill record!!

The picture above confirms that I wasn't functioning fully :-)
CLICK TO VIEW THE 30-08-2021 HILL CLIMB GALLERY

The Imperial Hill Climb holds its place in the Guernsey Motor Sport calendar as a special event... but only once every two or three years!

So there is always a sense of excited anticipation when the diary page is turned to September and 'Imperial Hill' is seen.

For the 2021 edition everything was near perfect with the dry and warm weather playing an important part and the relatively uninterrupted racing (no disruptive return to pits at this hill) giving all competitors a chance to push hard and chase records and PB's.

The total number of records were... well I actually lost count! There were that many!

One of the galleries helps you to appreciate what a fantastic setting the Imperial Hill Climb enjoys. The backdrop of Fort Grey in the bay, the pub at the start line and a chance for the competitors to return to pits using a back lane so allowing uninterrupted racing!

The Imperial Hill Climb ticks a lot of boxes!
CLICK TO VIEW PICS OF THE 2021 IMPERIAL HILL CLIMB

For many people if you mention the beach they will instantly think of golden sands, warm sun, going for a swim and rock pooling for crabs.

But there is another group of folk who see a beach in a totally different way.

For them it is the smell of overheating engines, oily hands, rubber tires and noise, lots of noise!

How could this be?

Well the second group are the Autocross... or Banger racers if you prefer.

These guys (and girls) are banished from the sands for the summertime but once the season progresses into Autumn they are back doing what they love. Making noise and racing... and drawing a large crowd of spectators who seem to have missed the sport almost as much as the drivers.

This is also my signal to get back down to Chouet beach on a Sunday to photograph the action. Pics of Race 1 of the Guernsey Autocross Club winter championship have now been added to a new Gallery.

Follow this link to view the action:
CLICK TO VIEW RACE 1 OF THE AUTOCROSS WINTER CHAMPIONSHIP