I made a similar purchase last year prior to my visit to Laguna Seca and Pebble Beach. There were up and down sides to the ‘fancy’ camera. I found it most useful when a telephoto lens was attached, i.e. racing photos, but for around the paddock area the $100 ‘point and shoot’ digital was just so easy.
I also played around with shutter speeds, etc, on the new camera but found I was spending too much time with my new toy and not watching the events I had emptied my wife’s bank account to attend.
One good aspect of high definition digital cameras is that you don’t have to solely capture the subject in the frame; you can always crop it later. A big plus to that is that you can pick up some interesting background subjects at the same time. Also, don’t forget to take wide shots which include plenty of background – your friends don’t give a rat’s about Shelby Cobra chassis #1234 but they will enjoy sweeping shots of the track and grandstands, etc.
I found that at Pebble Beach after 10.00 am it became impossible to get a photo without people standing in front of the subject (luckily I got there at dawn) so my plan for Goodwood is to spend Friday taking paddock photos, Saturday taking racing photos and Sunday sitting in the stand watching the 250 GTOs beat the Cobras.
Here are a couple of photos from the same spot at 500 and 250 shutter speeds, some might call the latter an ‘Arty’ shot but I call it crap!
This thread might give you some ideas for paddock photos.
Personal photos: the details only - The AUTOSPORT Bulletin Board
Some more advanced stuff here.
The photographers' thread - The AUTOSPORT Bulletin Board