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Sir Stirling Moss, Jaguar F-Type, Back in the saddle at Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb

Apologies to my loyal readers, who will know that I have been shooting at my favourite haunt of Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb for quite a while now, but I had to come back here for a special event today.

This weekend, I was given the honour of shooting British motor racing legend Sir Stirling Moss as he returned to ascend the hill in the F-Type Jaguar of Philip Porter who was Sir Stirling’s driver on his nostalgic trip up the Hill Climb.

Sir Stirling Moss

Not only was I champing at the bit to shoot this Classic Nostalgia Meeting especially with a cavalcade of 15 Classic and Sports Car magazine Concours D’Elegance cars including Minis, MGs etc… it was great to be back on familiar ground just a stone’s throw away from home.

Sir Stirling Moss getting out of the Jaguar F-Type and into the XK120

Sir Stirling also laid claim to his ‘1 yard of tarmac’ – piece number 7. Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb is split into about 4,000 square yards of tarmac which are sold to help with the upkeep of this historic hill climb – for the princely sum of £125 you could own your own piece of motorsport history, so get in touch!

Sir Stirling Moss presented with certificate Yard no7

You’ll remember not long ago I celebrated the C type Jaguar, a passion of mine shared by Sir Stirling Moss, as you can see in my blog here.

The connection to this weekend doesn’t stop there though as it was one of these cars, the stuff of legend, that broke records at this very spot – Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb!

Obviously this made the weekend even more electric as we trotted off ready to see history in action, all the old classics in the one spot – cars as well as drivers!

Although shooting Sir Stirling, there was another motoring legend that I was keen to catch up with, Barrie “Whizzo” Williams after our day together at this location, the same time last year. Whizzo was helping to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of iconic Mini Cooper along with rally and racing star Paddy Hopkirk.

Sir Stirling Moss & Barrie Whizzo Williams sharing a laugh

He was such a good sport as he let me get dangerously close to the track as I shot him doing a victory lap. Incredible man, great driver, see more of that blog here.

The day was a great nostalgia event, with many people in period dress, jazz bands playing, some superb cars all adding to a relaxed summer vibe until a huge typically British thunderstorm had us all ‘racing’ for cover!

I’ve had some good sessions over the last few years at Shelsley, so much so I could be a mascot for classic nostalgia myself, as it was only a few months ago that we trialled the lighter camera rig here. That video of me ‘telling it like it is’ with Car Camera rig and crew by my side received thousands of views – great publicity for Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb!

Even the beginning of the year started with my Men and their Machines blog, where Mark Walker drove at Shelsley and let me take pics of him and his Darraq.

From the classic to the ultra-slick, this month we took one of our most popular CGI pics – placed on the top ‘Ess’ bend, to see how the virtual Lamborghini would mount the impressive hills.

Today I know it’s still one of my reader’s favourite images, with the blend of CGI and rig photography, so much so we even offered the back plate and HDR in a competition.

All of this combined makes it a very important weekend we’ve just had at Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb, see the pics and decide for yourself if I’ve done my old haunt and pals the justice they deserve!

Jaguar F-Type at Shelsley Walsh