SNAFU! What's your best/funniest mistake?

[alexhall]

I was flagging the hairpin at Croft for our last meeting when some Porsches decided to take each other out, popped the yellow out in good time, but forgot to bring it back in again Was only out for about 10s after the track was clear... we all make mistakes, the best of us admit them!

[Steven Humphrey]

Originally Posted by alexhall

we all make mistakes, the best of us admit them!

See above!

I once took a broom out to sweep some mud off the track but proceeded to dump more off my boots than was on the track to start with.

[Hepatic]

can we keep any "howlers" to ones perpetrated by ourselves, that way avoiding the nastiness?

guess my best so far was a few years ago when some of the plastic barriers used to block off chicanes was knocked on to the circuit by a spinning car. 2 of us waited for traffic to pass before legging it to move the barrier. we should have formed a plan but in my haste i forgot (other person was a trainee, i should have lead by example) so as we got out there i went to pick one end up as he kicked the other. some of them have been known to fill with rain water so i took the cautious approach - the result was it knocked me off balance and i tumbled on to the grass.

no harm done, we both got to safety before the pack returned and i learned a valuable lesson from it. in the end thats what making mistakes is all about, ensuring you learn from them afterwards

[Richard Sneader]

mine was my howler a few years ago. Had a new set of sunglasses made with new prescription lenses that I could not quite focus properly. Car off looked very much nearer than the circuit vehicle Made intersting drive home too. At a test day at Thruxton a few years ago I was waving a blue when the stick was still in my hand but the cloth was on its way to another county. I could go on on my howlers.
As a trainee on the cage at Donno we had a Mini off into the gravel. So i ran out to it hit the edge of the gravel and down I went onto the ground face first. When I got home(no mobiles then) my Dad asked if I had a good day with a large smile. I said yes and he replied it looked good live on Grandstand.
We all have howlers.

[The STIG]

I've had a few silly mistakes whilst flagging... Picking up and waving the yellow by the clothy bit was one. Blue flagging the leader of a 2CV race was another [he was going slowly enough to give me a filthy look as he passed], and hanging a flag on the catch fencing yet another.

[Steven Humphrey]

Glad to see things have calmed down a bit! I really don't think anything on here has been said in malice or is intended to ridicule anyone. And if anyone has learned something from other's mishaps/howlers then it can only be a good thing

The thing I do most often is forget what flag I'm holding, especially when flagging alone, and nearly wave the wrong one. I've held the SC board upside down. I think my most embarassing one was getting my car stuck in mud at Silverstone! Luckily there were a few marshals about to push me out (and extract the urine!).

[White flag man]

Glad to see that people are now posting howlers they have made, instead of one or two "perfect" marshals posting mistakes other people have made, especially when they don't know the rules themselves.

Now lets see...
waved a green flag instead of a blue, held the safety car board upside down,
said, in a briefing, "not much happens at this post" only for the post to be hit by a Caterham in the first practice, dug a trench in the gravel, under a car and never found the towing eye.........
Yep, done all of those, and still learning.

[nomad_n]

My howler was a couple of years ago when I was traing a group of newbies and we had a major incident and I told the guy on yellow to throw it out and he threw it out onto the track..... MMMMMm needed to find a better choice of words next time

[Woolley]

Whenever I see someone get it wrong, my first thought is always one of two things:

1) I've done that.
2) That's a new one, must try not to do that.

We never get it right all the time, and some days I wish I'd stayed in bed. Some moments will haunt me forever. I shall never be allowed to forget the handbrake incident...!

So let's start the bidding with "I once fell over the crashed car I was supposed to be helping"!

[JackN]

As a marshal for 1 year, I find it quite handy to read about these howlers. Often at meetings I gain no experience simply because sometimes nothing happens, but reading other marshals stories is very interesting and gives me second hand experience.

[Bodysnatcher]

I held up the start of the day by breaking my ankle.

Post was one bottle short of a pair, and, when the van came with the replacement rather than take the long walk to the gap, I went over the armco/tyres. Landed badly with snapping sound.

Then of course, getting locked out the hut during a BTCC race, with the phone inside.

[Dan Friel]

My greatest marshalling moment was trying to push Rod Jolley's Cooper out of the gravel at Goodwood. But pushing on the rear tyre wasn't the best plan. I was spat over the wheel and got a face full of gravel / a big black tyre mark down the length of the probans..

This all happened right in front of the packed Lavant grandstands. At least we got a round of applause for getting him out and providing some comedy.

[m1fcf]

in no particular order....

- leaving the red flag out on a hillclimb because I was too busy talking to colleagues, and not watching the post above me. Removed the flag when prompted by race control.
- push starting a stalled car at the hillclimb only for him to start quicker than expected and leave me with a nice gravel rash on my forehead.
- proceeding at a pace to an incident, only to remember that being second on scene, I had forgotten to pick up an extinguisher on the way past to cover my colleague who was dealing with it

Remember, they are not mistakes, just 'opportunities for learning' as modern HR departments would call them.

[stroller]

Doing Snatch at a high profile Touring Car meeting a few years back – After the usual first lap shenanigans we had 2 cars to deal with. First one was tucked away quite easily – as the second one was hitched up and started moving I decided the best way to handle it was to run backwards directing the tractor. Straight away I found myself losing my balance and realised I would end up going base over apex, so decided if it was going to happen, - make the most of it. I managed a complete backwards roll and pop up back onto my feet with hardly a stop. Much to the amusement of the (large) crowd.

p.s – All done without a safety car Mr Vass !!

[m1fcf]

Originally Posted by Bodysnatcher

Post was one bottle short of a pair

Is that the marshal's equivalent of 'One sandwich short of a picnic'

[Guinness2702]

Originally Posted by alexhall

I was flagging the hairpin at Croft for our last meeting when some Porsches decided to take each other out, popped the yellow out in good time, but forgot to bring it back in again Was only out for about 10s after the track was clear... we all make mistakes, the best of us admit them!

Think I've done that one a couple of times. Probably the best/worst I did was flagging on Coppice tower at Donny. One in the gravel was snatched from left to right past me, and as it did I brought in the yellow and stuck out the green.....with 3 marshals still in the gravel returning from where the car had been.

[Jayne Poston]

I try to think of my howlers as 'blonde' moments, hence the nick name blondie by some fellow marshals .......

To name but a few

Missing the leader with the chequered flag and so giving the Legends an extra racing lap at Mallory ............

Swallowing a large fly whilst carrying two fire extinguishers at Donington much to the spectators amusement

Two large black hand prints on my butt (thanks Adrian) on my first days marshalling

I could go on but hey it's always an adventure and at least I can laugh at myself

[cornish]

Ok here we go !

Normally I would agree with my mate (we tend to work together) who take’s the bottle and who would check the driver
However,
Proper Keystone Kop moment !!!

First session possibly not fully awake , car’s collide we get one.

We both go for the bottle and clash heads. Pride hurt , driver OK

[Power Bulge]

Does anyone know of a Hazard Board that can take itself back in after the incident has been cleared?

To err is human; to cock it up completely, you need a computer; to keep repeating the same mistake with a Hazard Board, just get me to do the flagging

[Tal Aras]

Had a near miss recently at a Hill Climb. Turned radio off at lunch. Got back to post after lunch and was thinking "It's a bit quiet" then remembered to turn radio back on. Just as the clerk was doing the radio check for the post before me.

[Simon Morris]

Most embarrassing moment (though slightly out of my control)...
Flagging at a wet BTCC round earlier this year (not mentioning the circuit name so as to avoid any criticism of the facilities in this light hearted thread).

At the start of the day I'd carefully placed my flags against a bag of hay as the wall was low and no provision provided for holding the flags.

The whole grid had thundered past on the green flag laps and lined up on the grid ready to go.
At this point the wind kicked up and a gust grabbed three of my flags blowing them over the fence towards the track. Oil flag, yellow flag and Red flag, couldn't possibly have been a better selection.

Fortunately I was able to retrieve all three flags by leaning over the wall with one of my remaining flags before the cars were anywhere near.
Even more fortunate, neither post either side saw "my red flag" causing delay to the start on live telly lol.

[nomad_n]

Another mistake which I did when starting out, we had a red flag situation and me being a newbie sitting on the tyres and still holding the flag up the wind picked me up and blew me head first into the tyres and my flag point being the great people they are left me there for 10minutes before hulling me out.....

[Woolley]

Originally Posted by Power Bulge

Does anyone know of a Hazard Board that can take itself back in after the incident has been cleared?

Tell me about it. I always mention at the morning briefing that if anyone sees it, please remind me.

I blue flagged Cleland once while he was leading thinking it was his team mate being lapped. He signalled to me that he was currently first. At least, I think that's what he signalled.

Just failed to drop a yellow flag through the fence at Rockingham turn 4 while flagging a clubbie, which would have been a 2 mile hike to retrieve it! Fortunately I just caught the material as it fell before it was too late.

In my early days of circuits I enthusiastically took a fire bottle all the way to the edge of the Old Hairpin gravel trap (it wasn't quite so far in those days), and less enthusiastically left it there once we'd cleared the car. I was sent back to fetch it.

Fell over on several times, including once tripping over the remains of the car on the way downhill at Shelsley carrying a fire extinguisher.

OK, everyone's favourite, left the handbrake off in the Jaguar S-Type while going to get a spare bottle from the boot. Just managed to dive back in in time to stop just short of a brick wall. I still take stick over that one!

Waved a green flag for an incident at Oulton because I forgot there were two flag marshals for once, and the other one had got the yellow.

After red flagging a driver at Shelsley, had a little chat with him about what a great season he'd been having, not realizing that someone had borrowed his car for the day and it was someone entirely different.

Went to kill the electrics on a V8 Eurocar as we were pushing it off track, but got the wrong switch and squirted foam straight up the sleeve of the I/O who was holding the steering wheel.

Got lost at Silverstone returning from Club after the LMS night practice session. I headed straight through the middle of the infield, remembered the international circuit was there and climbed over the barrier but forgot about the national straight and fell over the barrier in the dark.

But my absolute favourite story - and I'll break the rules here and tell someone else's cock up because I know he doesn't post here and no longer marshals, and because it's really a case of 'there but for the grace of go I':

The marshal who turned up at Donington to find nobody there. Realized the clocks had changed, so decided to put his head down for an hour until the paddock opened. He awoke 2 hours later in a panic to realise there was still no-one there, and so he checked his tickets, only to discover he was supposed to be at Mallory...

Sure we try to do everything perfectly, and when I post on here I will always discuss what we should do in every circumstance, but in the excitement of an incident we're all capable of getting it completely wrong. The important thing is to laugh at yourself and try not to do it again.

[White flag man]

Originally Posted by stroller

Doing Snatch at a high profile Touring Car meeting a few years back – After the usual first lap shenanigans we had 2 cars to deal with. First one was tucked away quite easily – as the second one was hitched up and started moving I decided the best way to handle it was to run backwards directing the tractor. Straight away I found myself losing my balance and realised I would end up going base over apex, so decided if it was going to happen, - make the most of it. I managed a complete backwards roll and pop up back onto my feet with hardly a stop. Much to the amusement of the (large) crowd.

p.s – All done without a safety car Mr Vass !!

My first BTCC meeting, Brands Hatch about 5 years ago. The old post 1, opposite the startline. During 2nd BTCC race car pulls off onto the grass with a puncture, just past the post. Despite what the P/C had warned us, yours truly goes running along the bank, as this is obviously a matter of extreme urgency, slips on a wooden pallet and goes "base over apex" into the dirt. By the time I got up, the car had driven off.
As it was a BTCC meeting and I was along the pit straight, there were obviously not many spectators there and nobody said a word!

[Bryan Degerlund]

When in the startline box at Brands Hatch, I tend to arrange the flags in a pre-set order. At the end of one race, as the cars approached Clearways for the last time, I picked up the chequered flag ready to wave to the winner, only to find I had the black/white "naughty boy" flag in hand, after someone else had put it back in the "wrong" position. Luckily there was just enough time to swap over.

I have also missed the leaders with the chequered flag, particularly when they have caught up with backmarkers, in the late afternoon, low sun at Brands Hatch. It happens to all of us, don't worry, the timekeepers will always sort it!