Bleedin' Silverstone! Bleedin' rules and regs!!!
Discussion
Had this week off, and was thinking of going to Silverstone today to take some snaps at the general testing, except:-
- Without professional indemnity cover I can't go anywhere outside the normal spectator areas. OK so far, except...
- Out of the grandstands, only Luffield is open* - BRDC in particular is closed...
- Oh, and did I mention it's on the National Circuit only?!? So the best photos would probably be from the BRDC.
...so in other words aside from Luffield (fences in the way) I can only wander (what's left of) the infield...which has only one half-decent photo spot at the far end at Becketts, and I'm not sure I can be arsed to walk all that way to see them for a few seconds at a time.
It's not this f'ing difficult elsewhere, is it?!? So why do this bunch have to put hurdles in your way all the time???
It's not like I'm going to have this opportunity again for a good year or more (limited holiday and like travelling)! 
* Apparently they have to staff any grandstand which is open!
- Without professional indemnity cover I can't go anywhere outside the normal spectator areas. OK so far, except...
- Out of the grandstands, only Luffield is open* - BRDC in particular is closed...
- Oh, and did I mention it's on the National Circuit only?!? So the best photos would probably be from the BRDC.
...so in other words aside from Luffield (fences in the way) I can only wander (what's left of) the infield...which has only one half-decent photo spot at the far end at Becketts, and I'm not sure I can be arsed to walk all that way to see them for a few seconds at a time.
It's not this f'ing difficult elsewhere, is it?!? So why do this bunch have to put hurdles in your way all the time???
It's not like I'm going to have this opportunity again for a good year or more (limited holiday and like travelling)! * Apparently they have to staff any grandstand which is open!
It is probably more health and afety regulators than Silverstone themselves. It only takes on nutter photographer to do something stupid and they won't let anyone go anywhere dangerous ever again.
Although saying that I did once get a clip round the earhole for sitting on the tyre wall on the outside of Copse at an F1 test day a couple of years back! (That's inside the crash netting
)
Although saying that I did once get a clip round the earhole for sitting on the tyre wall on the outside of Copse at an F1 test day a couple of years back! (That's inside the crash netting
) Edited by Phil S on Friday 9th March 09:44
God knows what they think you're going to do. Throw your camera into the path of a car ?? havoc said:
Without professional indemnity cover I can't go anywhere outside the normal spectator areas.
If it's worth your while, you can get liability cover for £79 from Pavilion.
I had to pick up a million in cover to shoot inside a couple of buildings in the city (waste of money, but what can you do ?), they were swift and efficient.
havoc said:
...so in other words aside from Luffield (fences in the way) I can only wander (what's left of) the infield...which has only one half-decent photo spot at the far end at Becketts, and I'm not sure I can be arsed to walk all that way to see them for a few seconds at a time.
Take your car into the infield and drive there? J111 said:
havoc said:
Without professional indemnity cover I can't go anywhere outside the normal spectator areas.
If it's worth your while, you can get liability cover for £79 from Pavilion.
I had to pick up a million in cover to shoot inside a couple of buildings in the city (waste of money, but what can you do ?), they were swift and efficient.
I have to have a minimum of £5 Million
Public liability insurance to be able to shoot trackside at the circuits I go to. Hi there,
It is always difficult to find a decent spot to photograph when you are on the publics side of the fence. I went to the BTCC last year at Silverstone which was run on the national circuit and found it was quite hard to find a decent spot.
In the end I settled for standing on the grass bank at the side of the priory straight. Tried both sides and managed to get a few shots I was happy with.
Sorry for the resizing but this site does it automatically. Click on the images for the full size versions.
Regards
Tim
It is always difficult to find a decent spot to photograph when you are on the publics side of the fence. I went to the BTCC last year at Silverstone which was run on the national circuit and found it was quite hard to find a decent spot.
In the end I settled for standing on the grass bank at the side of the priory straight. Tried both sides and managed to get a few shots I was happy with.
Sorry for the resizing but this site does it automatically. Click on the images for the full size versions.
Regards
Tim
As I understand it there were so many problems with punters at F1 testing last year Silverstone have been required to tighten things up and short of providing stewarding for the whole circuit to the normal level of a GP I guess charging and shutting bits of the circuit is their best option. Personally I'd imagine that if the problems of last year are repeated next year will be closed door.
Getting accredited media access for F1 (testing or not) is pretty tricky and no organiser or circuit owner would let you trackside without being signed on media whether it's F1 or Formula Ford. (the logic being that signed on media are totally expendable, they've signed the declaration and don't matter!! The £5m cover is becoming pretty standard. In the context of F1, if a 'tog did something stupid that caused a pile up it wouldn't take long to get a claim to £5m.
Getting accredited media access for F1 (testing or not) is pretty tricky and no organiser or circuit owner would let you trackside without being signed on media whether it's F1 or Formula Ford. (the logic being that signed on media are totally expendable, they've signed the declaration and don't matter!! The £5m cover is becoming pretty standard. In the context of F1, if a 'tog did something stupid that caused a pile up it wouldn't take long to get a claim to £5m.
If you can get cover through the MSA (UK) or MSI (Ireland), this will normally cover you for all events that come under that umbrella, I've had MSI accreditation now for the last few years and have covered the BTCC etc for several mags during that time, outwith events that are overseen by the MSA/MSI/FIA then you then deal with the track's own regulations (dictated by their own insurance policies etc), which for the likes of Brands Hatch last year required at least 3 million coverage with 5 million being preferred. As you can probably imagine such coverage doesn't come cheap - your best option is to try and get in on the back of a team or driver as they already carry a hefty insurance policy for their driver being on track and their team of people being trackside (which technically you would be too).
Hopefully that blurb makes sense as I'm not quite awake yet and good luck anyhoo
Hopefully that blurb makes sense as I'm not quite awake yet and good luck anyhoo
havoc said:
It does Baz.
Sadly I don't know any teams well enough...although there may be ONE BTCC team I could talk to...
Sadly I don't know any teams well enough...although there may be ONE BTCC team I could talk to...
Don't just limit yourself to the BTCC either, you have the Porsche Carrera Cup, Clio Cup, Formula BMW, Formula Renault, Seat Cupra Championship all along as support races, it'll help to widen your window of chance to get trackside
Do a background check of the drivers in the different championships, check to see if there's any local young drivers competing and then speak to them directly, as they're always looking for increased media coverage and images to be able to give their sponsors throughout the year
Edited by baz7175 on Saturday 10th March 11:39
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