Top of the shots: Our favourite Autocar photos of 2020

Even with numerous restrictions to negotiate, our snappers captured world-class images of some amazing cars this year. These are their favourites

Luc Lacey loves the scenery of the North Coast 500, but shooting a Porsche 718 Boxster among it in January was tough. “The short days made it tricky, but working into the wee hours, I lucked out with clear skies,” he says.

Olgun Kordal was also looking skywards just before his F-Type snap: “I saw clouds rolling down the mountains in Portugal and took the logs shaped like an F as a sign that I should place the car there.”

More sky talk from Luc, this time about his Porsche Taycan portrait: “My colleagues weren’t quite as excited as I was about the prospect of the sunrise lining up perfectly with this arch of rock reaching across the road. It was well worth the early rise.”

Max Edleston, no stranger to early starts himself, was pleased to get the Volkswagen Golf GTI and Ford Focus ST for his first cover shoot.

Weather is a constant issue for photographers. “I was getting disheartened waiting for good weather and almost let this dramatic scene pass me by,” says Olgun of this Ferrari Roma image.

Max’s issue was rain for this shot of the BMW M2 CS at our annual Handling Day. It was “one I’d wanted to get for ages”, although “sitting in the front boot of a 911 in the wet to get it wasn’t fun”.

Luc also found grey skies anything but fun during much of his day with a Lamborghini Huracán, but a late burst of sunshine enabled this super shot.

Luc created perfect reflections on McLaren’s latest Longtail supercar. “It’s always fun playing around with light in the studio and seeing it interact with the contours of your subject,” he says.

There was no such luxury for Max, who had to shoot the BMW i8 during a storm. He admits he was thankful not to be blown off the side of this cliff.

Talking of almost getting airborne, Olgun reckoned that his tracking shot of this Ruf made the Yellowbird look like it was flying.

Max enjoyed a trip to Goodwood for the Speedweek event, where he shot this Ford GT. “This image stands out because of the photo itself and because I was standing in the middle of the iconic Goodwood pit lane,” he says. “Another nerdy fanboy moment!”

Olgun, meanwhile, shot the spectacular Bacalar in a studio, although he admits Bentley thought he looked a bit amateur when he turned up with fairy lights.

But it worked, as did Luc’s use of light in his shot of a concept built by a friend of Colin Goodwin.

And Max’s evocative use of artificial light shows he was clearly feeling the Christmas spirit when he shot this Land Rover Defender.

*AUTOCAR’S BEST RENDERS OF 2020*

Our scoops are illustrated by picture editor Ben Summerell-Youde. His proudest creation of 2020 was the MC20, although he admits: “I felt guilty pressing Ferrari hard to get hold of a high-resolution image of the SF90 Stradale, only to use it as the base for a Maserati.”

As for the futuristic new F-Type: “Jaguar tells us the Gran Turismo Vision concept won’t be an influence, but it looks so good that I couldn’t resist using it as the basis.”

Completing our renders podium is an imagining of the new Lotus sports car because “there’s nothing better than a fresh halo supercar that I can rework into smaller models”.

*OUR FAVOURITE CONCEPTS OF 2020*

There’s always a load of concepts revealed each year, but Ben’s favourite of 2020 was actually made in 2005. “All of the never-before-seen cars Porsche recently revealed were spectacular, but this reimagined 906 is my favourite, because I love the tight surfacing and low, Le Mans look,” he explains.

Talking of which, racing the Wankel-engined RX-Vision GT3 on Gran Turismo has only made Ben hungrier for a new road-going Mazda coupé.

As for the Prophecy, he says: “The menacing but sleek and elegant rear end represents a new design direction for Hyundai that I hope to see reach production.”

*READ MORE*

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