Those of you who know me well will know that I'm a keen motorbike fan and ride a Kawasaki Ninja 250. You can see it on the picture in my profile. Well recently I decided to train as a marshal for both motorcar and motorbike racing. It's been a very interesting journey with a full days training at the Lydden track in Kent. There we were taught how to remain safe whilst marshaling a track event. We even got to set off fire extinguishers and wave a few flags.
Then I had a taster day at Brands Hatch where I not only got a free breakfast but got to dress up in an orange bib which had marshal written across the back! The basis of the job is to hang around until someone crashes out of the race and then help the driver back to safety, warn the other drivers and remove whatever is dangerous from the track. It sounds simple but as everyone mentioned no two incidents are the same so you have to be prepared for everything. And as all the marshals said, the quiet races are the best races. Doing nothing is a plus.
The one thing that amazed me is how hard the marshals work and how difficult it would be to run a race without any marshals. Yet amazingly the entire network of marshals is voluntary. Hundreds of individuals give up their free time, often traveling miles and camping out over a weekend due to their love of motor sports. The photograph shows a few of my marshal buddies when the track was 'dead' who guided me through the ropes on Post 2 at Brands Hatch.
So if you are ever off to see or participate in a motor sport event, keep an eye out for me and be sure to give the marshals a thank you.
