Thursday 5th April 2018

Supercar Driver Secret Meet: PH Gallery

One former RAF base, 300 incredible cars and £22,000 for charity. Sounds like the perfect weekend!

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When you're told to meet at a former RAF base for something called the 'Secret Supercar Meet 2018' you know you're going to have an interesting morning. And last weekend we were lucky enough to experience just that, as we attended Supercar Driver's annual 'mega meet' hosted on the runway at Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome.

We were promised that this would be the biggest event yet, and it did not disappoint. The premise being that members from across the country would congregate on the runway for probably one of the largest and most expensive automotive photoshoots ever, complete with an RAF TriStar as the backdrop. We attended merely as observers (our Peugeot 2008 hire car didn't make the cut for some reason), meaning when we arrived we were ushered past the cars queuing to get into position for the shot. What a sight that was, trying to keep our eyes on the road as we drove past one of the most remarkable traffic jams on the planet proving very difficult indeed.

Everywhere you looked there was something special. Ferrari Daytona, GT3 RS, McLaren 720S, 675LT, Lamborghini Aventadors, F40s... and that was just the queue to get in! To get to the photo location we had to drive along one of the airfield's taxiways, quite daunting whilst trying to keep pace with the supercars and hypercars that were making the same journey. Even more so when I looked in my rear-view mirror and glimpsed an Aston Martin Vulcan track car, one of only 24 ever made, charging after us down the tarmac. The sound of it alone enough to intimidate me out of the way.

Many many minutes later, the cars were all in position. Three hundred cars in the shot, 14 rows deep, and not a single row or column you could pick out as being where they dumped the 'boring stuff' that showed up. So, what were the highlights? It's hard to know where to begin really, so I'll just talk you through them as they are ordered in the enormous group shot in front of the plane (you can't miss it).

A Bugatti Veyron, one of two that attended, the other left before the shot was taken. A Koenigsegg Agera R in green, mirrored nicely by a white Agera R at the other end of the same row. A Ferrari F50 and Ferrari Enzo, looking positively pedestrian next to one of the only road legal Ferrari FXX race cars in the world! Next to the FXX was the aforementioned Vulcan, then an Aston Martin One-77, Pagani Zonda F, the Agera R and another F50 for good measure. That was just the front row!

Moving back there were three Eagle E Types, a Murcielago LP650, Porsche 918, and even a Bowler Defender, as well as countless 488s, Aventadors, 911s and so on. The most striking car of all though? That has to have been the Farboud GT, a car I'd never seen it in the flesh before. When all was said and done, the event raised £22,000 for the Bluebell Wood Children's Hospice and set the benchmark for an amazing year of Supercar Driver organised events and gatherings to come!

 

[Turbobanana]

300 cars and, what, about 100 front number plates?

That wide shot looks fantastic and must have taken some organising. Individual shots less impressive, although I guess the dull weather didn't help. It looks like a good variety of desirables, though.

[Turbobanana]

ThomasHowarth said:

Turbobanana said:

300 cars and, what, about 100 front number plates?

That wide shot looks fantastic and must have taken some organising. Individual shots less impressive, although I guess the dull weather didn't help. It looks like a good variety of desirables, though.

Thanks for the feedback. Can I ask what you were unimpressed by?

"Unimpressed" possibly not the right word: "not wowed by" is probably more like it, given the subject matter. I think it really was the lighting on the day, rather than any failing on your part. If it came across wrongly I apologise - you can't control the glorious British climate! My own preference (and I acknowledge it is just that) is for dynamic shots of cars to convey motion, and a minimum of post-processing (although I understand that some may have been required given the lighting). There may not have been much opportunity for motion shots, I guess, at least not at high speed.

Genuine question: what draws you to photograph a particular car? Is it a decision based on aesthetics (eg colour, shape), rarity or is it what you think others would like to see? Or do you do what I did when I went on safari for the first time, and photographed every animal I saw?

[Turbobanana]

ThomasHowarth said:

Turbobanana said:

"Unimpressed" possibly not the right word: "not wowed by" is probably more like it, given the subject matter. I think it really was the lighting on the day, rather than any failing on your part. If it came across wrongly I apologise - you can't control the glorious British climate! My own preference (and I acknowledge it is just that) is for dynamic shots of cars to convey motion, and a minimum of post-processing (although I understand that some may have been required given the lighting). There may not have been much opportunity for motion shots, I guess, at least not at high speed.

Genuine question: what draws you to photograph a particular car? Is it a decision based on aesthetics (eg colour, shape), rarity or is it what you think others would like to see? Or do you do what I did when I went on safari for the first time, and photographed every animal I saw?

Thanks for your thoughts, and you’re right. Most of the cars were either parked or queuing to park that I witnessed.

For the most part it would be because it was a car that I liked, followed by if it was positioned nicely for photos with the wheels turned or a nice backdrop for example. There’s always an element of what other people are going to like, I need to try an capture as wide variety as possible to try and please everyone, especially if they’re going on PH!

There was a time when I’d take a picture of anything slightly exotic, but you find that you never do anything with most of them, and they just take up many more valuable gigabytes of storage!

Thanks for the response Thomas, and I know what you mean about snapping everything - zebras, initially, in my case, until I realised they're two-a-penny. I'm old enough to remember shooting on 35mm film: it certainly focused your mind on the subject matter! (And you only got to see if you got it right a few days later once Boots had processed your film...).

[Turbobanana]

C70R said:

Turbobanana said:

Individual shots less impressive

Funk said:

Well done PH - another thread which is ALL about the pictures and you manage to post st, tiny low-res images with loads of artefacts.

You might as well not bother.

What sort of miserable bd rushes to a thread, just to moan about free pictures that they are given?
I feel very sorry for you pair if this is such an important part of your life.

Thanks for your insightful comment.

I can't speak for Funk, but this bd offered some constructive criticism and wasn't looking for free photos. I even engaged in some further discussion with the photographer. If I wanted free photos I'd go take them myself. Pistonheads, no offence to them, is NOT an important part of my life, merely something I look at periodically for amusement.

Have a nice day!