NEW MARSHALLING MEMBERS MATTERS
Midget and Sprite drama at Mallory
Return to Mallory Park
The Club ’ s return to Mallory Park kept a select team of marshals quite busy , says the Club ’ s chief marshal Fay Crook .
It has been a busy few months for the HSCC , ending up with the first visit to Mallory Park for a number of years . It was great to be back at the circuit and although the grids were not full ( apart from the FF2000 ), the races were full of incidents which kept the marshals busy . Unfortunately , there were not many marshals as we were up against various other meetings around the country , but we managed one post chief , one flag and one incident marshal on most posts . Gerard ’ s was the busiest post with numerous incidents , including one where a wheel came off , went over the marshals and ended up in a field . We sent Jason , the Circuit Manager to go and collect it !
In Historic FF2000 at least 11 cars were on the grass at the first corner with only a few on the circuit , but they all made it round . We had a slow accident with the Midget and Sprite Challenge , with one ending up on top of another so a
“ We need young marshals and we must all try and make everyone feel part of the team .”
red flag . In fact , we had three red flags on Saturday and four on Sunday . Benn Simms was the star of the show having started at the back of the FF2000 grid on Sunday and ended up second .
A few marshals had a drink in the bar at the end of each day , together with a few drivers . That made it feel more like the old days when marshals and drivers used to go back to the bar for a few drinks and discuss the day ’ s racing .
Can I ask all marshals to talk to any new marshals or marshals new to the circuit ? We need young marshals and we must all try and make everyone feel part of the team . Sometimes you have marshals left on a post on their own , and we should make the effort to go and check on them and have a chat . I know that at times you turn up , go to sign-on , end up on a post on your own and then go home , not having spoken to anyone during the day . Ideally this should not happen , but I know it sometimes can .
We are always after new marshals and as I have said before , if you can talk to friends , work colleagues , acquaintances down the pub , at the gym , or wherever and explain to them what being a marshal is , and all the different duties that you can do , ( incident , flags , post chief , pits , startline , assembly , scrutineering , etc ) perhaps we may get some more .
As marshals and drivers we all know that motor racing is dangerous and this was brought home to us all recently by the death of Robert Foote at Brands , where he was an innocent victim of a racing accident .
If possible try and find a safe place to stand , bear in mind that cars and debris can end up anywhere so nowhere is totally safe . New signs are being put up around circuits showing where marshals should stand , where fire bottles are and where there is a gap for cars to pull into .
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The return to Mallory included Historic F3