My Experience at a Three Sisters Drift Day.
A Car at Three Sisters Circuit, Wigan drifting around the bend with smoke coming from the back tyres. April 2024.
Take a look into a ‘Novice Drift Day’ taking place at Three Sisters Circuit, Wigan. This is what I thought.
Known as the North West’s most challenging outdoor racetrack, Three Sisters Circuit in Wigan offers a wide range of different car and go karting events for participants, spectators, and photographers to enjoy. For me as a photographer, it is perfect for both my own enjoyment and the ability to get close to the action and take some photos.
As well as offering services for Go-Karting and Car Track Days, they also have dedicated days for what they call ‘Novice Drift Days’ where car owners can take their personal car onto the track and one by one drift around the challenging bends. This is the event I went to enjoy.
As an aspiring car/motorsports photographer, attending as many events as I can is vital to build up an industry appreciated portfolio and to be able to have the required skills when it comes to fast action photography. I find track days to be perfect for that and it has heavily improved my photography in this area. My main aims for this event were to further improve my panning photography as well as capturing some smoke coming from the cars while they’re drifting.
An image I managed to capture showing I achieved my hopes of getting a car drifting with smoke coming from the back tyres at Three Sisters Circuit, Wigan. April 2024.
The event itself was quite well planned. Pulling up to the main gate, there was clear signage for visitor parking and a participant’s entrance. The visitor carpark (only used on main track events) isn’t tarmacked so if it’s been raining, I would highly recommend bringing a spare pair of shoes to stop the risk of having a dirty car on the drive back home. As this was a bigger scale event for the size of the track, there was a small charge for spectator access, this was five pounds. Considering they host a wide range of events for free; this wasn’t a bad price. Under 16’s were able to get in for free as long as they’re with an adult.
Given the circuit's popularity both locally and across the North West, I expected it to be swarmed with car enthusiasts and other photographers. While having this kind of audience there, it wasn’t swarmed and there was plenty of room to move around to watch and take photos.
As I arrived at the track, I decided to scope the area and find a good spot to capture the action. Due to attending events here before, I was able to find a spot I liked quite quickly and set up there. It was nice to be quite close to the track, giving me more photo opportunities. There was only a small fence and some grass separating me from the track. With nothing obstructing my view, this was perfect for trackside photos.
Media Passes were available on the day, however I wanted to attend as a spectator and enjoy the event without any additional responsibilities. There was only one photographer that I could see who chose to use media access.
The structure of the event was quite simple to understand. Cars would queue up on the track in two single file lines and would be allowed to drive on the command of the steward. They had the opportunity to drift on their own around the corners of the track, right in front of the spectators before the next car was allowed to go. This meant safety of the drivers was the top priority and allowed the crowds to appreciate one car at a time.
At drifting events, its expected not to see any exotic cars on the track. Drifting cars are normally project cars rather than a standard everyday car. Drifters who come to these events know their cars are going to be appreciated and they will take the time to make sure that the modifications they apply are the best they can be. Examples of this would be louder exhausts, car wraps or even Xenon headlights. It is also important that their tyre pressure is lowered before hitting the track to ensure the best results when drifting.
It was nice to see that events like this can bring people together in both the car and creative industries. In the spectator zones, I saw families enjoying the cars, younger children screaming with excitement and even some elderly people leaning against the fence appreciating every moment the cars were passing them at speed. I also noticed a father and son photographer duo, both capturing panning shots as the cars passed them. It was clear that this event attracted people of all ages from different backgrounds.
My image showing a father and Son taking photos trackside at Three Sisters Circuit, Wigan. April 2024.
As with any other motorsports event, we can’t expect everything to go to plan – especially when it comes to the cars on the track. Crashes at these types of events are inevitable due to the speed, risk, and driver skill. However, from a photography perspective, this can be some of your better shots – hoping the driver is okay of course. This is something that happened on one of the corners close to where I was lucky enough to be standing at the time. I quickly put my camera to my eye and frantically adjusted my settings as if I could foresee what was about to happen given the car lost control just a few moments before. I was able to capture the spin out along with the smoke from the impact with the grass off track.
A selection of my two images from this description. On the left showing the spin out impact with the grass and on the right showing the rescue process whilst track action was stopped at Three Sisters Circuit, Wigan. April 2024.
After a while, I started to gather a lot of the same photos and I felt more comfortable with this panning at this speed. I decided to move behind the scenes and see some of the cars that had come off the track for some maintenance. It was interesting to see the work that goes on behind the scenes on these cars that make them track ready. Tyre changes was the most common adjustment. Walking around the participants areas, you would constantly see cars on Tonne Trolley Car Jacks while they changed the tyres. The work they were doing captured my attention, so I decided to photograph it.
What made this stand out to me more was that I was able to see the car that ended up being one of my favourites from the entire day having some work done to it off the track. This made it more of a full circle moment in terms of images for me and something that would bring my piece of writing together.
The same car I caught drifting in my header image having some maintenance off track at Three Sisters Circuit, Wigan. April 2024.
After the event, I realised why people attend events at Three Sisters. For a track that is tucked away at the back of an Industrial estate, it hosts many events that makes the community engaged. This event was better than what I expected because it wasn’t overcrowded, and I had the ability to take clear photos.
For anyone who is thinking of attending this event or ones like this, I would highly recommend it. Whether you’re a photographer or car enthusiast – you won’t be disappointed.
