Racesafe: The Ultimate Team Building Event? My last enthusiastic posting about my concerns over marshal numbers appears to have come over as being overly negative. Now let me take the time to explain why I am passionate about marshalling and why I hope I will have to opportunity to continue. Living within 20 miles of Brands Hatch, it is inevitable I would end up going there at some point in my life. The first time I went was to see mini’s racing about 20 years ago. I then got into BTCC when it was at its highest with all the factory teams involved and if they finished with their wing mirrors still attached, they weren’t racing hard enough! About five years later a friend of mine passed his bike test and I naturally followed suit which then lead me to go to watch motorcycle racing at Brands which was during Foggy’s rein with massive crowds. The people I use to go with dropped off one by one and I ended up going to watch the racing on my own. I then started thinking about getting more involved and becoming a marshal but for a couple of years did nothing about it. The death of my middle brother from cancer made me realise life is short and I finally did something about it. My first year I did eight days marshalling for my closest club to dip my toes in and see if it was what I wanted to do. The next year I carried on marshalling for whatever club was racing at Brands plus joined Racesafe. The number of days for that year jumped up to 29! I was fortunate to be able to marshal at the last WSBK round held at Brands but sadly also saw the lowest side of the sport, being the second marshal to get to Craig Jones (and ironically, today is the anniversary). There are various different levels of support, depending on the club, to us marshals. Racesafe, being the high profile organisation supporting the televised national and international meetings, are able to offer a good level. These include a guest ticket (handy for keeping the other half sweet when she wants to go to MotoGP so that I can get my ‘weekend’ passes for other meetings!), a program and amazing places to view the proceedings from, like the flag box at the entrance to Brands pitlane. A secure campsite is always provided for the army of marshals with Racesafe adding the luxury of power hook-ups. A hearty breakfast is normally on offer, personally a must of me to keep me going for a day trackside, with Racesafe offering the option of either breakfast or a hot meal in the evening where circuits permit. Fridays are always a bit tricky to get high marshal number with clubs offering a variety of incentives to attend. Racesafe’s offering is a quick trip round the circuit in the safety car for one lucky randomly picked marshal, apart from Silverstone WSBK where the prize was a ride at the Haslam Race School. In addition at BSB6 Brands Hatch, a greatly appreciated drink voucher was issue to all marshals for use at the end of a hot day. For myself however, although grateful for them, it is not these perks that inspire me to go marshalling. It is the ability to escape from the normal life for a weekend, to be in the company of some good friends, make new ones and be an integral part of a sport that I have a deep interest in. I have a day job which is a Monday to Friday of mostly sitting in front of a computer and have a young family which I greatly love. To go marshalling takes me almost as far away from all this as I can get and gives me a mental break and time to reflect and appreciate on all that I have. The best way I can explain it is like going on a works team building exercise. You are taken out of your normally day to day routine to carry out tasks that you would not normally do, with people you would not normally work with, all working together in a light hearted way to achieve a common goal with serious connotations.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Aug 2013 12:51:54 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015