Drone video for Bonhams’ 1976 Porsche 911 Carrera auction at Goodwood

The auctioneers at Bonhams Motorcars put a 1976 Porsche 911 Carrera rally car up for the bidding at the 79th Goodwood Members’ Meeting in 2022. Producer and precision driver Miles Lacey, who we previously worked with on a project for Praga in 2021, asked us to capture drone shots to promote the auction.

It was the first time we’d worked on something related to an auction! The closest we’d come before was crowdfunding campaigns, like Staggeringly Good Beer’s brewery expansion.

This was also the first time we had the honour of flying at Goodwood! We’d filmed there on the ground before with Pagani, but this time we were going airborne.

Emmie and I made tracks for Manor Farm, where we met the wider production team (including Tim, the Director and Director of Photography, and Miles). We drove along the tracks where the Porsche would be speeding around and where we’d be shooting, reconning risks and getting familiar with the area.

After a final debrief and a quick creative brainstorm, Miles, Tim, and I set up our equipment, getting cameras into place and testing communication gear. I kept my ground cameras handy to shoot all these exciting behind-the-scenes snaps!

The first location was Manor Farm, where we flew alongside the car and captured it kicking up dust. I was flying, Tim was operating the camera, and Emmie was our competent observer.

In another part of Manor Farm, we achieved a challenging — but incredibly exciting! — ‘joust’ shot, flying our drone towards the Porsche while it drove towards the drone. The resulting footage was jaw-droppingly cinematic, especially with such a unique and characteristic car.

After surviving dustclouds and holding our own against a torpedoing rally car, we felt confident overcoming another of a drone’s arch nemeses: water! We filmed a take of the Porsche dashing through puddles. Amazing things happen when talented drivers and expert pilots collaborate!

We wrapped filming on Manor Farm with some daring (but meticulously-controlled!) shots circling the Porsche bombing it up and down the dirt paths.

Then we headed to Goodwood for some glorious sunset visuals.

Emmie tried her hand at operating our drone camera for the first time ever while I maintained pilot duties. Tim fastened himself into the boot of a second car and shot the Porsche head-on, handheld.

We landed, Tim and Miles captured some closing shots of the driver exiting the car, and the day was complete — a success!

Once we’d transferred all of our drone footage to the production crew, we packed up and, feeling accomplished, headed home.

The auction — and the video! — proved to be a huge success, with the Porsche speeding past the £100,000 mark before the gavel struck the block. Watch the edit, beautifully cut together by Miles, here: