Brands Hatch GP Circuit - Page 3

RMR · 20 Aug 2003, 10:28 (Ref:693031)

2-3k!! blimey that would kill my season. fully appreciate it, and does make it a hard pill to swollow when you look back and it was your own fault, somehow easy to pay out if it was shunt with no one else to blame, well for me anyway. i also like the idea of the incentive! time and money are hard to find but time is easier than money. good idea though.

RMR · 20 Aug 2003, 10:33 (Ref:693038)

meant to read wasnt your own fault

**Stephen Green** · 20 Aug 2003, 10:42 (Ref:693043)

It's been spoken about in other forums but for some series you get a race licence signature for spending a day marshalling. Not much help in your case alfa57 I accept, but it might help a few of the 'novice' drivers. Your idea of a reduced entry fee for a days marshalling also sounds like a good idea, have you thought to run it by BRSCC or BARC for their comment?

I really do hope you manage to get the car out for the next round and best wishes for the championship!

ALFA7584 · 29 Aug 2003, 16:13 (Ref:702814)

I can see this incident from both perspectives, although ultimately agree that a minute and half is an awfully long time to not be able to have communicated with the other marshals post.
I was driving the yellow 75 that had a spin and then got collected at druids by #34 i got the car out of the way and then jumped over the barriers on the inside of druids.
I then noticed the marshals on the post on the exit of druids waving madly at what I assumed to be me as though they wanted me to cross the track to there post, as it turned out they were gesturing to the senior marshal (stephen green ?) who eventually ran across to my position and like me assumed that there issue was something to do with my car it was only then that the oil slick became apparent as due to the track camber it wasnt that visible from the inside of the bend. The marshal with me then started making hand gestures back to his colleagues on the post at the entry to druids which i interpreted as an instruction to get the race stopped but within seconds the leading cars arrived and all hell let loose. On the subject of flags i can say pretty categorically that the exit post was displaying both yellow and oil but frankly was so close to the incident as to be irrelevant and the post on the entry to the bend was diplaying no warning flags.

I would suggest that whilst everyone of the marshals did there best to interpret and act to the best of there abilities the incident could have been avoided if either the communication between marshals posts was improved or individuals were given more authority to make decisions without reference to the CoC in emergencies. In other words couldn't communications be improved by utilising mobile phones or giving individuals the discretion to display a red flag when they feel a situation is sufficientley dangerous and that normal communication procedures are proving ineffective.

SuperDavros · 29 Aug 2003, 16:35 (Ref:702849)

Will the 75 be fixed in time for Snetterton?

#34 is being attended to during this week, so "should" be ready for Snet.

Sorry again! - But if you will park in these places...!!!

ALFA7584 · 30 Aug 2003, 09:59 (Ref:703252)

I've been racing the same car since 96 and to be honest the shell was reaching its sell by date. The accident damaged the inner wing which would require a fairly expensive cut and re-weld which would cost as much as the cars worth so I'll probably have to start again with something new. I definitely want to be out again this season probably at Oulton as its my local track.

I was amazed how relatively little damage your's had. By the way I agree it was a silly bl**dy place to park but if youre going to have a head on then best to do it at the slow corners.

Good luck at Snetterton

ALFA7584 · 30 Aug 2003, 10:01 (Ref:703255)

By the way in answer to the original posting I reckon the new dingle dell makes the lap a couple of seconds quicker at least, not sure how much is due to the track layout or me being braver now theres some run off

**Stephen Green** · 3 Sep 2003, 07:18 (Ref:706454)

Hi Alfa7584, no marshal is allowed to put out a red flag without the consent of the C of the C. The marshals post can request a 'race stop' from the Clerks/Stewards but it has to be their decision whether to call the stop of not I'm afraid. Communications between marshals posts is never good (other than whistles and hand signals) and that's the case whether we are using telephones or radios.

Good luck for next year and I hope to see you ALL racing in 2004.

Bostik · 3 Sep 2003, 08:13 (Ref:706524)

Don't want to sound too revolutionary, but why not ask the clubs to mandate one weekends marshalling, per season, for every competitor. The competitors well understand that their investment in racing is totally dependant on the good will of marshals - they would be allowed to drop a race result to compensate, get another signtaure - and if they don't - then they have some forfeit - like droppping their best points score.
This approach worked well for me when I was building a new sport/club in Dubai, when we just didn't have enough hands to go around (i.e. everyone wanted to race - but no one wanted to marshal / lap score / sign-on / look after the track etc etc.
This is a serious problem that needs a touch of radical action in my humble opinion.

JimW · 3 Sep 2003, 09:11 (Ref:706558)

Quote:

Don't want to sound too revolutionary, but why not ask the clubs to mandate one weekends marshalling, per season, for every competitor.

I think that all marshals would welcome seeing as many drivers as would like to spend a day on the bank. I've marshalled with drivers several times and they seemed to enjoy it and I certainly did. However, can I just sound a note of caution. One brand new person essentially means another trained marshal to mentor them and ensure that they don't get into (or cause) difficulties. One per post we can cope with but getting more than that might be a bit of a problem.

So if it is drivers seeing what these strange orange/black people are doing; great. But we still need to recruit the odd sorts who want to spend several days per year, including a training day, getting a body of knowledge and experience. Of course there are a few drivers who combine both activities.

Regards

Jim

**Stephen Green** · 3 Sep 2003, 09:41 (Ref:706594)

A good point Jim! I'll be posting a new thread either today or on Monday regarding recruitment...Watch this space!

Bostik · 3 Sep 2003, 10:42 (Ref:706687)

JimW - so one per post would be good then? Supposing he looked downstream with the yellow flag - whilst you looked upstream with the blue - wouldn't that make a hell of a difference to the problem outlined above - i.e. we only had one marshal per post, and may have been looking the wrong way etc......
He wouldn't need to be a fully qualified and trained marshal to be of help, surely. How many race licence holders are there in the UK? 5000? Even if you have one extra man per post per event - wouldn't that make the world of difference?

JimW · 3 Sep 2003, 11:00 (Ref:706721)

Quote:

JimW - so one per post would be good then? Supposing he looked downstream with the yellow flag - whilst you looked upstream with the blue . . .

Hi Bostik

I don't want to be too precious about this but teaching someone to be a 'competent' yellow flag marshal is not the work of ten minutes. Assuming that she knows the rules in the blue book, knowing what those actually mean in practice is a skill set which takes some time to pick up. So guidance and supervision would be needed for a flag marshal, probably more than I would give/arrange for a course marshal starting to learn to flag (who might well have one or two years experience trackside before they got around to flagging).

Drivers joining for a day are likely to be asked to act as course marshals and perhaps to stand with flag marshals/observers so that they can see what is going on.

Regards

Jim

**Stephen Green** · 3 Sep 2003, 11:10 (Ref:706735)

Bostik, Jim's point is very valid and expressed very well. Drivers who offer their services to marshal are almost certain to be asked to become an 'Incident Marshal' for the day. This is for their own and other marshals safety and for that reason normally rule out them being a Flag Marshal. Any driver who volunteers to help out is greatly appreciated and will be made very welcome on post. I think Jim's original point was that to have too many 'Novices' on post can in fact be counter-productive in terms of efficiency and safety.

Bostik · 3 Sep 2003, 11:49 (Ref:706803)

I see your point - thanks.
Seems a shame not use the resource that is available though.

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