Oulton Park 5th Aug SATURDAY
Discussion
chassis 33 said:
know if i can go marshalling?
To add to what lazyitus has said, yes, of course you can! It's a bit late now, but if you phone the chief marshal this evening (I've emailed you her phone number) you can have tickets left on the gate - it's possible to just turn up & get the person on the (left-most) gate to radio race control & establish your marshalling credentials, but if you're not a regular marshal that may be difficult.
Edited by Dave Brand on Friday 4th August 17:12
chassis 33 said:
Wasn't planning on it but that sounds like a great lineup...
Indeed, might well pop along. What's the score with marshalling too? Something I've thought about doing but never actually got off my backside and really looked into. Seems like you need a licence, so what's involved in getting one and how often do you have to go to actually be a help rather than a hinderance?
d-man said:
chassis 33 said:
Wasn't planning on it but that sounds like a great lineup...
Indeed, might well pop along. What's the score with marshalling too? Something I've thought about doing but never actually got off my backside and really looked into. Seems like you need a licence, so what's involved in getting one and how often do you have to go to actually be a help rather than a hinderance?
Very easy to get involved. No license is needed nor is experiance, just enthusiasm. I've been marshalling since March this year, and thoughly enjoy my time on the bank - to the point the wife has joined the orange army too.
Background to the license thing is that it is there to help give a method of showing how much experiance a marshal has - run by the MSA - but only recognises marshalling at circuits, but not speed events like hillclimbs, tho the grading system is run in conjunction with the [url]British Marshals Club|www.marshals.co.uk/[url] There is also a guide to marshalling on there. another good resouce is the Marshals forum at ten tenths.
Basically you hae a grading card - at you pass it on to the observer on post who may or may not sign the card depending on how you perform that day, and weither or not you had to deal with incidents, some obs will only sign if you dealt with incidents satisfactorly, and wont if you where an orange suited spectator because there was nothing to do. other obs will sign any way as time on the bank is time on the back. You start off as Trainee, and after gaining the required you upgrade to Course - from there you can train to be a flag marshal or incident officer (the one who directs the incident marshals during an incident) and then above that is the obsever - generally the most experianced marshal, and runs the post
Dont forget theres are other events other than at circuits - i see your in the north west so around here theres of course circuit racing at Oulton and Angelsey and hillclimbs at Loton Park nr Shrewsbury, Harewood Hill nr Leeds and Aintree in Liverpool on the old GP Circuit that runs alongside the Grand Nation track and tree sisters in Wigan
Theres also kart and rallys that need marshals - and in all disaplines - new marshals are always welcome.
Theres a hillclimb on tomorrow at Harewood as well if you want to come along either to watch or to have a chat.
Classic Car Club at Oulton next saturday and a 2 day hillclimb at Loton on the same weekend.
you dont need anything really to start, and you cna start anytime, i would recommend starting at a hillclimb, but theres nowt wrong with doing your first day at a circuit, in both situations you'll be placed with other experianced guys on the bank.
Only reason i say give a hillclimb a try is that you can be getting used to dealing with incidents without having to worry about other cars on the track. And that the 4 dutys at a circuit are split between 2 of you - so you can get a bit more involved.
copied from the email i got from the chap at harewood when i first started:
Dep. Chief @ Harewood said:
When you do come can I make a few suggestions of what to wear and what to bring with you.
Try to wear as many natural fibres as possible, on very rare occasions we do have to deal with fires, but it is very rare.
Wear strong shoes or boots, not trainers, something, if possible that can give some support to your ankles.
Gloves, pair of cheap gardening gauntlets from B&Q are fine. Needed when pushing cars as parts can be hot.
Wear lots of thin layers, it helps you keep warmer that a few thick layers.
Waterproofs are an essential including, I would advise, leggings.
Wear a Hat!!! Most heat in cold weather is lost through the head, in summer you get very bad dandruff after 8 hours in the sun!!!!!!
Sun Tan Lotion high factor. Use even if not sunny the wind does more damage.
Towels 1 large to get dry on and one small to put around your neck it stops the rain going down your back.
What to bring re food and drink. Food for the whole day, there are catering facilities on site, BUT, it is not guaranteed that we get a lunch break so be prepared.
High energy food such as chocolate is useful later in the day. Most people tend to graze through the day rather than wait for lunchtime.
Hot and Cold Drinks. Hot Drinks are supplied at Signing On as is bottled water part way through the day but again bring plenty.
Have a complete change of clothes and I mean complete!!! In the car just in case.
Carry your stuff in one bag and either have a waterproof bag or have a bin liner to put it in to keep it dry.
One thing that is very important for Harewood is not to wear RED. It’s the same colour as our flags!!!
If you decide to go on to do Circuit Marshalling then that extends to Blue, Yellow and Green as well. Hence why we generally wear Orange. Once / if you decide you want to do more then investment in a set of Fire Retardant Overalls is recommended and whilst not absolutely essential, and we don't insist on them at all, but some circuits do.
All the gear can be bought through BMMC (British Motorsport Marshals Club) at discount prices. One important thing is to remember is that if in doubt ask people around you have all had to ask the seemingly daft questions at some time, that how they have learnt. Sorry to ask this last question but it's to do with age. Can I assume you are over 18 if so no problem? You are only allowed to be on the bank from 16 and then between 16 and 18 we need a letter giving parental consent. Some of the above may seem a bit strange but believe me having been doing this for 30+ years you learn a few things over the time, both from experience and from others around you, and now as an MSA Trainer I am passing this on myself. As you will have seen we do have a few 2 day meeting on these weekends we do tend to camp up at the Hill from Friday evening. The camping is free and there are Showers available. On and evening we all tend to get together and have a glass of lemonade or 2!!!!!. The July meeting we have a big BBQ with Disco in the Barn. There is a charge at this for food but you bring your own lemonade. If you let me know when you are able to come up then let me know so we can get tickets etc to you prior to the meeting. Assuring you of a very warm welcome I look forward to meeting you sometime soon.
Keith
Try to wear as many natural fibres as possible, on very rare occasions we do have to deal with fires, but it is very rare.
Wear strong shoes or boots, not trainers, something, if possible that can give some support to your ankles.
Gloves, pair of cheap gardening gauntlets from B&Q are fine. Needed when pushing cars as parts can be hot.
Wear lots of thin layers, it helps you keep warmer that a few thick layers.
Waterproofs are an essential including, I would advise, leggings.
Wear a Hat!!! Most heat in cold weather is lost through the head, in summer you get very bad dandruff after 8 hours in the sun!!!!!!
Sun Tan Lotion high factor. Use even if not sunny the wind does more damage.
Towels 1 large to get dry on and one small to put around your neck it stops the rain going down your back.
What to bring re food and drink. Food for the whole day, there are catering facilities on site, BUT, it is not guaranteed that we get a lunch break so be prepared.
High energy food such as chocolate is useful later in the day. Most people tend to graze through the day rather than wait for lunchtime.
Hot and Cold Drinks. Hot Drinks are supplied at Signing On as is bottled water part way through the day but again bring plenty.
Have a complete change of clothes and I mean complete!!! In the car just in case.
Carry your stuff in one bag and either have a waterproof bag or have a bin liner to put it in to keep it dry.
One thing that is very important for Harewood is not to wear RED. It’s the same colour as our flags!!!
If you decide to go on to do Circuit Marshalling then that extends to Blue, Yellow and Green as well. Hence why we generally wear Orange. Once / if you decide you want to do more then investment in a set of Fire Retardant Overalls is recommended and whilst not absolutely essential, and we don't insist on them at all, but some circuits do.
All the gear can be bought through BMMC (British Motorsport Marshals Club) at discount prices. One important thing is to remember is that if in doubt ask people around you have all had to ask the seemingly daft questions at some time, that how they have learnt. Sorry to ask this last question but it's to do with age. Can I assume you are over 18 if so no problem? You are only allowed to be on the bank from 16 and then between 16 and 18 we need a letter giving parental consent. Some of the above may seem a bit strange but believe me having been doing this for 30+ years you learn a few things over the time, both from experience and from others around you, and now as an MSA Trainer I am passing this on myself. As you will have seen we do have a few 2 day meeting on these weekends we do tend to camp up at the Hill from Friday evening. The camping is free and there are Showers available. On and evening we all tend to get together and have a glass of lemonade or 2!!!!!. The July meeting we have a big BBQ with Disco in the Barn. There is a charge at this for food but you bring your own lemonade. If you let me know when you are able to come up then let me know so we can get tickets etc to you prior to the meeting. Assuring you of a very warm welcome I look forward to meeting you sometime soon.
Keith
As incentive clubs try to do as much as they can for marshals - for example Loton and Aintree do try to ensure you get a lunch break (Loton often enforced by stopping for a church service) and provide sandwiches and drinks.
hope that all helps,
Any questions?
Theres also training days at the start of the season Febuary/March time often including fire training
lord summerisle said:
Background to the license thing is that it is there to help give a method of showing how much experiance a marshal has - run by the MSA - but only recognises marshalling at circuits, but not speed events like hillclimbs,
Close, but no cigar! There is a separate grading system for speed events - upgrade signatures must be obtained at the relevant type of meeting.
lord summerisle said:
tho the grading system is run in conjunction with the British Marshals Club
BMMC is undoubtedly the club which best looks after marshals' interests, but the grading scheme is open to members of any club - in fact, you don't even need to be a member of any club, as long as you can find a club which is willing to act as your primary club for grading purposes.
lord summerisle said:
Basically you hae a grading card - at you pass it on to the observer on post who may or may not sign the card depending on how you perform that day, and weither or not you had to deal with incidents, some obs will only sign if you dealt with incidents satisfactorly, and wont if you where an orange suited spectator because there was nothing to do. other obs will sign any way as time on the bank is time on the back.
A few points here. Firstly, the observer must have Examining Observer grade - most have, but not all. If there's a non-examining observer on your post, or a flag/IO graded marshal acting as observer, you can't get upgrade signatures. Except for maybe the first couple of signatures as a trainee observers shouldn't give upgrade signatures unless you have actually done something. The purpose of grading is to demonstrate your ability to do the job - a signature just for turning up proves nothing.
lord summerisle said:
You start off as Trainee, and after gaining the required you upgrade to Course - from there you can train to be a flag marshal or incident officer (the one who directs the incident marshals during an incident) and then above that is the obsever - generally the most experianced marshal, and runs the post
You can't go straight from course to IO - you can only grade for IO of you've got incident grade.
lord summerisle said:
Theres also training days at the start of the season Febuary/March time often including fire training.
Oulton also runs a fire training session mid-season, often on the Sunday morning of the touring car meeting.
Dave Brand said:
lord summerisle said:
Background to the license thing is that it is there to help give a method of showing how much experiance a marshal has - run by the MSA - but only recognises marshalling at circuits, but not speed events like hillclimbs,
Close, but no cigar! There is a separate grading system for speed events - upgrade signatures must be obtained at the relevant type of meeting.
i know - was just trying to keep it as simple as possible - hence the link to the grading manual which explains it better plus i havent signed up to the any grading scheme, tho i've done around 15 days on the bank - something thats about to change now i've got my forms filled in
Dave Brand said:
lord summerisle said:
tho the grading system is run in conjunction with the British Marshals Club
BMMC is undoubtedly the club which best looks after marshals' interests, but the grading scheme is open to members of any club - in fact, you don't even need to be a member of any club, as long as you can find a club which is willing to act as your primary club for grading purposes.
lord summerisle said:
Basically you hae a grading card - at you pass it on to the observer on post who may or may not sign the card depending on how you perform that day, and weither or not you had to deal with incidents, some obs will only sign if you dealt with incidents satisfactorly, and wont if you where an orange suited spectator because there was nothing to do. other obs will sign any way as time on the bank is time on the back.
A few points here. Firstly, the observer must have Examining Observer grade - most have, but not all. If there's a non-examining observer on your post, or a flag/IO graded marshal acting as observer, you can't get upgrade signatures. Except for maybe the first couple of signatures as a trainee observers shouldn't give upgrade signatures unless you have actually done something. The purpose of grading is to demonstrate your ability to do the job - a signature just for turning up proves nothing.
lord summerisle said:
You start off as Trainee, and after gaining the required you upgrade to Course - from there you can train to be a flag marshal or incident officer (the one who directs the incident marshals during an incident) and then above that is the obsever - generally the most experianced marshal, and runs the post
You can't go straight from course to IO - you can only grade for IO of you've got incident grade.
Dave Brand said:
lord summerisle said:
Theres also training days at the start of the season Febuary/March time often including fire training.
Oulton also runs a fire training session mid-season, often on the Sunday morning of the touring car meeting.
I remember reading on 10/10ths of mid season fire training, but didnt hear of one this year so didnt know it was an annual thing
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