For enthusiasts of car photography and historic car imagery, this is a great book. Just the cover jacket alone is reason enough to buy this book. It was eagerly awaited in the office and the striking image by Arthur Benjamins, plus the title “The British Are Coming” makes you stop and pick it up. The inside is every bit as good. Celebrating the achievements of British speed record breakers across the years on land and water, there are some truly great images from various archives together with recollections by the teams involved.

The jewel part, though, are the behind the scenes photographs that show the huge team efforts across the decades that back up the man or woman in the hot seat. First hand recollections make compelling reading, from Wing Commander Andy Green’s recount of breaking the sound barrier in Thrust SSC to the srtiking recount of John and William Norris, the first men on the scene of the Bluebird CN7 Salt Lake crash. And also, sadly, Leo Villas account of that fateful day in the Lake District in January 1967. For sure, many people have paid the ultimate price in this quest for ultimate speed.

The quality of the book is first rate, the landscape format may not be the easiest to balance a glass of red alongside, especially a book of this weight, but the orientation lends itself to displaying the images. World record breaking speed machines by their very nature are long and slender so their lines display well this way. The quality is first rate with the Kodachrome colours of the early 50s and 60s faithfully reproducing the period feel of the images. Images from the archives of Brooklands Museum, plus personal collections of many team memebrs are reproduced faithfully, with no attempt made to ‘modernise’ them digitally. Indeed, if you’d like to see a history of automotive photography, this is a fine example, the images starting off with the grainy glass plate negatives of ‘Babs’ and icons such as Sir Malcolm Capmbell in the twenties and thrities, thorugh 50s Kodachromes all the way to Andy Green’s JCB Diesel record breaking car, captured in cuttingly crisp digital.

Mike Varndell has taken a roughly chronological oder for the book, but the chapters are dedicated to individual British record breakers. And not just outright speed records either, with coverage given to the significant achievements of others including Don Wales,Mark Newby and Patsy Burt.

You don’t need to be a fan of world speed record breaking to enjoy this book. You don’t even need to be British. If you enjoy browsing the quality feel of a good motoring book as a method of relaxation, this is for you. It’s one you’ll keep on the shelves for a long time to come and lift it down when you’re feeling self indulgent.

The British Are Coming can be purchased online via Chaters Ltd

Text – Neill Watson

Here’s a great video showing photographer Tim Bjorn shooting the new Volvo truck in the docks of Malmo in Sweden. Using the IQ180, Capture One and Pro Photo lighting, building the scene into an image with almost thirty layers. Great to see Tim’s workflow and the Capture Pilot software on the iPad keeping the client reassured. It’s great so see a talented photographer at work creating an image that wasn’t just the result of a CGI studio.

Canon or Nikon cameras? You need to practice with both

At Chobham test track last week, I was working in my other capacity as a track instructor and driver in the latest Ferrari 458 Italia. A shot for the cover of the new company brochure was needed, so I drove the 458 for the photographer to try and nail a shot from overhead on a bridge. It was late in the day, I assumed they’d got the shot and parked up the Ferrari.

Next morning, a nudge from director of 6th Gear Simon and “You couldn’t just grab a camera and get that shot we wanted, could you? It didn’t work yesterday, so I told them you’re the man.” No pressure, then…

It seems that the first photographer was a great pitlane portrait guy, but didn’t get the relationship between car road speed, shutter speed, predictive AF and angle. Shouldn’t be too hard, should it? Mr Canon Fingers was in for a shock. If you’re a Canon or Nikon guy thinking of switching either way, read on.

First off, the lenses attach and detach the opposite way. OK, I can handle that, I only need to get one shot, no big deal. Next up, what settings to use? I decided on Shutter Priority as the car would be moving from shade into the direct light and with the unfamiliar position of the controls, I need all the help I can get, so Marc, owner of the fleet of Nikons used by his business of event photography, can set that up. Hands on the Nikon D300S now and, more importantly, the zoom control ring is opposite too! My Canon hands are pulling to zoom in but it actually moves out. Hmm, this is going to be requiring more brain power than I thought, a bit like swapping around the clutch and the throttle on a car. I’ve only a few minutes to figure out how I’m going to work all this, so I climb up onto the road bridge to wake myself up and test a few things out.

The good thing is that setting the focus point is actually very similar to Canon, a four way button letting me move it around. I’m shooting the car coming towards me and from above and it’s a cover shot, so the focus point needs to be at the foot of the frame, camera in portrait orientation, to hopefully pick up on the front grille of the car. The D300S has a vertical grip added, so that’s giving it more of a Canon 1D feel. Simon in the 458 Italia knows to peg the road speed at around 45mph, leaving me to concentrate on getting a combination of sharp car and blurred road. 1/40th is always my favourite setting as a starting point for this type of shot and it should give me enough depth of field too, all things being equal. It’s looking OK, just check the ISO…. Ah, right, forgot to ask how you do that. Too late, I’m sure the last pair of hands on the camera left it set OK…

Radio Simon for his first run and as the car comes at me, I’m seeing red flashes on the focus grid. Is that telling me it’s nailed the focus? Nope. Using the very easy to find (thankfully) zoom controls on playback, I can see I’ve missed it. Red is telling me it’s missed the shot and can’t achieve focus. Oh for a Nikon user manual right now..

Simon re-positions for another run and this time, I’m more wide awake and concentrate on picking up the front of the car with the focus point. “Come on, Neill, you’ve done this loads of times before, you can do it in your sleep.” This time, the Nikon picks up on what should really be an easy target, but my clumsy hands and the unfamiliar balance of the lighter body and heavier lens mean that while the camera is working fine, the shooter isn’t. Once more… This time, I’m finally getting used to it and the Nikon and I pick up on the front of the car, no alarming flashes in the finder, 1/40th seems to be doing it and we’ve got the shot. A couple more runs for good luck now that I’m dialled in and we call it a day over the radio.

So why am I blogging about this, it’s no big deal, right? Well actually, if, like me, you’ve used the same series of camera bodies for a decade, being asked to switch to a different camera make at ten minutes notice to try and get a cover shot for a new brochure turned out to be harder than I though. It’s only when you pick up another brand of camera that you suddenly take for granted all of the subconious reflexes you have built in after all those years.

So how was the Nikon and will I be switching? Come on, that’s hardly fair on Nikon. The last Nikon I used was a 35mm F801 more than a decade ago and the D300S body doesn’t compare in price or specification to my 1D series bodies. The real lesson here is not which was best, but more importantly, whenever you get a new piece of gear, you really need to practice, practice, practice so that when it’s for real, you don’t have to think about where the major controls are, which way the zoom ring works or whether the balance of the lens and body is tipping in your hands. You just need to nail that shot.

Ayrton Senna, Rally Driver. By Russell Bulgin

I was there as Art Ed for CCC. It was my second or third issue, and my first job from college. An amazing experience. Met Ayrton at Slough Holiday Inn with Russell and then we travelled in convoy to Jan Churchill’s Rally School in Wales. He was a star throughout, happy to muck in, and we had a very enjoyable meal round the Churchill’s huge kitchen table the night prior to the test. Needless to say the test itself was one of the most memorable days of my career.
We set up a group cover shot with Ayrton standing in front of all the cars (I can hear my voice on the youtube vid directing), but when it came to designing the cover I argued long and hard for the In car shot, taken by Norman Hodson. The ‘framed’ look was a bit of a Car rip off if I’m honest, but I was always pleased with it and I think it’s stood the test of time.
Like Phil Collins I’ve got the same signed and framed pic (it’s the same cover pic) in my office. I think it’s probably the most valuable thing I own! Sadly most of the pics from the day were lost at some point, but I do still have the high quality proofs from the feature. Great memories of both Senna and Russell.

I’d no idea that this video existed and it’s superb viewing. Sit back and watch Senna on his day off…