Most memorable marshalling moment....

[ascarracinguk]

.....ok just to lighten things up around here, was just wondering what are your top 5 most memorable marshalling moments...good and bad!!!....heres mine!


1) marshalling at long beach, seeing champcars coming down the pit straight the first time
2) marshalling at stevelot at spa, seeing rooster tails off le mans cars in the wet was awesome as they flew past
3) seeing the silk cut jags and c11 mercedes at donington this year, life long dream completed for me
4) silverstone classic WSM race a couple of years back, full grid with 10 T70s, ferraris etc racing into the night, simply awesome!!
5) my first meeting!!!! 2 roll overs on my first day...1 in my first ever session....gotta love stock hatch!!

[Pete Howarth]

1. Fun Cup at Rockingham with Joyce & Chris Swan
2.The look on your face on your first meeting with the XR2 over your head
3. Phoenix Park

[Joyce George]

Originally Posted by Pete Howarth

1. Fun Cup at Rockingham with Joyce & Chris Swan
2.The look on your face on your first meeting with the XR2 over your head
3. Phoenix Park

My sides have never recovered from so much laughing in one day. A truly memorable day of good company, silly incidents and ever decreasing floppys!

[Steven Humphrey]

1. Britcar 24hr 2010 - Did more marshalling in 24 hrs than I'd done in previous 2 years! Terrible weather, no sleep, more mud than you could shake a (muddy) stick at but great team and great experience.
2. LMS Silverstone 2009 - Posted at Ped Bridge so got on grid before the race. Then being feet away from 40+ cars for a rolling start!
3. Goodwood Revival 2010 - Just a fantastic weekend!
4. 750 MC at Snetterton 2009 - First time at The Esses, 40 stock hatches right under my nose, Locosts running 5 wide down the Revett straight, a Sax Max rolling on it's first warm up lap, Norfolk's finest hospitality.
5. In 9 days time, Silverstone, new pit straight.................

[Ian Briggs]

Lordy, where to start..

Nurburgring 24hrs
Britcar 2010
both wetter than an otter in a washing machine and muddy as mr waters and manic with action

First time SC Ardtun stage on Mull, got within 5 mins of canning the stage because the number of accidents put us up against the road opening,
Same stage two years earlier when the fog killed the comms and an entire rally was working through one CB that could talk to one rally radio that could talk to the raynet bod that could talk to HQ, oh, and then the stop timekeepers lost contact with the FF

Grizedale in the snow, put 22 cars into a 8 mile stage before one of them emerged at the other end, nerves were a bit shredded then...

Last saturday, watching 2 f5000s tag one another at 140 mph

John Price in the 6R4 going off the startline of Gribun

Rolling the course closing car was pretty memorable

Lewis getting pole at silverstone in 08 in a car that really didnt deserve to be there.

Fazz calling for the cavalry and a certain "gent" refusing to send the recue.....

I could go on,

Old rally marshals saying, "its the ones that go wrong that you talk about in the pub for years"

[gravel_monkey]

as mr briggs said were to start, serious ones first
my first ever meeting with nadine at oulton, baily bridge, 2 major accidents in the first morning (set the scene for my marshaling career)

getting to go round the rally course at oulton in a rs200, thanks to mr briggs

getting a letter of thanks from carl breeze for helping him with his slightly large accident at oulton a few years ago (very touching thought)

jokey ones

gettin the monkey on the touring cars start and end credits,

gettin breakfast made for me at britcar by shane lynch

finally, shaking hands with eric clapton and totally blanking him to talk to damon hill as i didnt know who he was

[Woolley]

1) Rockingham, 2nd Champ Car event, black flag board inside turn 3. Awesome.
2) Champ Car again, Surfer's Paradise. First time on a street circuit and made very welcome by the locals, plus 30+V8s about 3 feet away.
3) Either trip to Mondello. The best hospitality at 10-tenths towers, hard to choose the most enjoyable of the two between the first year barbecue and the second year toilet incident...
4) Being on the grid for the British GP, courtesy of being posted to Woodcote inside.
5) Meeting Graham Hickman at Shelsley, 10 years to the day after being first on scene to his rolled Jordan F1, the injuries from which very nearly took his life. Very much reminded why we do this crazy hobby.

[saddelbags]

birmingham super prix old paddock at combe in 70s and 80s with dave vass and crew eurocars at mallory park 3 different circuits in one day! silverstone old club circuit dunlop tower for ff unforgetable

[White flag man]

1. Abu Dhabi GP, a fantastic experience.
2. VLN Nurburgring this year, a magical circuit, 200 cars and no wimpy run offs!
3. Pushing Le Mans legends (cars) around the Royal Chelsea hospital last year, didn't wash my hands for days!
4. Silverstone LMS 1000kms (2009 & 2010), my favourite meeting.
5. MR2 crash at post 3 Brands Hatch this year, far too close for comfort.

[Norbert]

1. Dubai 24 hours.
2. Any FoS - Top Turnaround.
3. GP Masters in Qatar on 'fast response' Honda scooters!
4. European GP at Donington and that Senna lap.
5. My 1st time on Post 12 at Thruxton.
6. Every other time I have done Post 12 at Thruxton!

[Stephen Green]

Ahhh the rapid response scooters

[Bodysnatcher]

good memorable
1 - Korea setting up/ training guys with no English
2 - being hooker to get Alesi out of gravel trap at Indianapolis & being asked to teach the septics how I did it.
3 - Dubai 24hr (real dark racing)
4 - driving into Chemin De Tertre
5 - the view from the bottom of Paddock Hill bend the first time on 4a

Bad memorable
flying Seat Cupra - knowing who it was flying at
flying MR2 - as above - same person catches it again
mud Silverstone GP when Bernie showed the BRDC who was in charge
mud Donnington GP
cold 1st DTM visit Donnington

[Dave Brand]

For me, not just a moment but a whole weekend.

Oulton Park Gold Cup, 2009, at Druids. Here's what I posted at the time, & I make no apologies for repeating it:

"If you're getting bored reading about how great the team at Druids was, move on to the next post. . .

. . . for those who are still with me, may I say, again, thanks to everybody who marshalled at Druids this weekend for three days of superb marshalling. Of the nine incident marshals who did Sunday & Monday, six are in their first season of marshalling (one had only done two days before this weekend) yet they handled everything that was thrown at them, and a lot was thrown at them, like a team of seasoned veterans - with the emphasis very much on "team". Time after time I was convinced that they wouldn't get a car out of the gravel; time after time I was proved wrong. Their efforts saved a significant number of safety car interventions or red flags.

Impeccable flagging at both the "in" & "out" flag points (well, almost - we'll forget the one missed yellow!) - lucky we had two on the "in", as the amount of yellow flag waving required would have overwhelmed a lone flaggie!

While it's very much a team effort, two people are worthy of a mention. Stack, the IO, for motivating & encouraging the Druids Gravel Squad in their efforts, while at the same time helping the newer marshals improve their incident handling skills, & numbersix, my Monday trainee Post Chief, who survived what can only be described as a baptism of fire - seven spinners in his first session as a post chief was a good initiation!

Of course the "team" extends to more than one post & I wouldn't wish to be seen to be singling out any one post as "better" than anyone else, but for me Druids this weekend was something special - marshalling at its very best. With people like that around the future for marshalling looks good."

[colincragg]

In nearly 40 years marshalling there have been many but these stand out in my
memory.

!. Champ Cars at Rockingham both years cars running at 200mph + wheel to wheel. Awesome

2. Birmingham Superprix I did all 5 but they all stand out as something special.

3. Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2009. special atmosphere under the lights.

4. Qatar Grand Prix Masters. Still being reminded I fell off fast response scooter.

5. Dubai 24 hours Race. Real in the dark racing, being left on post on my own the first year when locals thought they could go home to sleep.

6. Dubai FIA GT meeting.

7. Donington Grand Prix 1993. Ayrton Senna's awesome first lap.

[M Greenslade]

Landing Stage, Mallory Park, 1975 Radio 1 Fun Day!!!

Bladders....................

[RIXGE]

1- Elms @ Silverstone 1999
2- FIA GTS As above.
3- AD GP 2009.
4- AD Australian V8s Abu Dhabi.
5- Group C cars at Silverstone some years ago.

[exflagman]

Originally Posted by M Greenslade

Landing Stage, Mallory Park, 1975 Radio 1 Fun Day!!!

Bladders....................

Is that the Bay City Rollers one, where the girls where trying to throw themselves in the lake - If so I was there - abiding memory of PJ Balls trying to stop them getting across the bridge - grabbing one with his right hand, another with his left and stopping the third by using his chest/belly - at least she had a soft landing!

[LandieLad]

Receiving a hug from Chloe Mason many years ago at Silverstone

[M Greenslade]

Originally Posted by exflagman

Is that the Bay City Rollers one, where the girls where trying to throw themselves in the lake - If so I was there - abiding memory of PJ Balls trying to stop them getting across the bridge - grabbing one with his right hand, another with his left and stopping the third by using his chest/belly - at least she had a soft landing!

Yep dead right, we were pulling these wet young ladies out of the lake in their T Shirts by the score, wonderful day!!!!

Bladdders........

[schrammy]

First ever meeting at Donnington. Being under the watchful eye of Len Bonsal and watching historic F1's

First ever Mallory breakfast !

First (and every other ) visit to Cadwell

Trying to guess where the barrel rolling FF1600 was going to land at Post 1 at Mallory

Trying to calm Klaus Ludwig down at the old hairpin....... he could swear better than I could !

[Woolley]

Originally Posted by schrammy

First ever meeting at Donnington. Being under the watchful eye of Len Bonsal

Snap! I spent my first day on a circuit with Len at Donington. Post 6. Top bloke.

[Shelagh]

In no particular order:

Being driven around the perimeter track at Rockingham (just the other side of the debris fence) in a minibus, being overtaken on the left by Champ(Indy)Cars at godknowswhat speeds on the track proper - just feet away.

Any race involving Group C's - whether contemporary or now as historic.

Night Fire Patrol at Silverstone GP weekends - even after we got banned from driving through the F1 paddock - great fun as it was during the height of Mansell Mania so the campsites were .. interesting ..!

Meeting so very many wonderful people - marshals, drivers, etc - and then meeting them again anywhere in the world and you recognise each other and it proves what a small world we live in!

Having the privilege to know Mike Kelly!

[AndyMil]

First incident; first day(90-91ish), post 12, Cadwell. loud incident noise above us at post 5, turned round to find the marshals jumping down the bank and the offside wheels of a car running along top of armco!! when we got up the bank, there were 7 or 8 Wirth Multisports in varying states of disrepair scattered along Park Straight, come end of meeting, turned out 5 of them were from same team!

Most memorable; Harewood Speed Hillclimb 2008/9 700BHP Evo driven by Harewood Champion Karl Jackson passing us at Quarry at a rather rapid rate (reckoned to be about 80ish)on damp grass and dissapearing through the fence and into the trees 40ft or so, when I got there the view was, Hawthorn bush with Lancer rear end sticking out, forced my way along passenger side to find him removing his helmet, he dropped window and asked if he could get out, my response was yes, so he fired it up, did a 3 point turn within the trees and exited through the hole in the fence he'd made on way in!!!, only things broken were number plate, lower edge of front bumper and a sill cover, still amazed it wasn't wrapped round a tree and still look at the gap he made and think he was a lucky lad!!