This season seems to be racing ahead quite literally and I can’t believe we are into June already!
The beginning of May saw our clubs’ 25th Anniversary Sprint at Curborough. The weather wasn’t too kind on the Saturday but the rain was not as heavy as elsewhere! We also celebrated the King’s coronation with a veritable feast of sandwiches, trifle and cake.
It’s a great little venue and if you’ve never been along, please think about giving it a try – we have another club event in August. Thanks to Steve and Julie Hill for all their efforts over the years to run this successful event – we even managed to surprise Julie by presenting The Shadow Trophy regional award at the end of the day too.
Reis are sponsoring the Sprints at Curborough this year and we are grateful to all of the ongoing support from our sponsors. Some of them have their own milestones to celebrate too. Ginetta Fest at Silverstone (2 – 4 June) will see the 65th anniversary of this marque and MG are celebrating the week after (10 – 11 June) with Triumph for their centenaries.
Lille have been in touch to advise a few delays to proban overall orders. The new owners send their apologies and are working hard to get back on track but have had a few setbacks meaning orders are delayed – but being processed in order of receipt. Please be patient – and remember you can still marshal without overalls – just make sure you have an orange tabard / coat available until they arrive.
The first of the Krazy Races was held in Stockport last weekend – a fun event with no engines we are supporting around the country. Over 15,000 attended this free event and they even had a fabulous fly-past from the Lancaster Bomber. If anyone hasn’t volunteered for these events and wants to help out please do get in touch.
We have also had a few volunteers supporting the Blair Project – developing the next generation of innovators, technicians and engineers to fuel the green industrial revolution. Retrofitting petrol go-karts into electric go-karts and racing them against each other. Thanks to those who have supported these events.
Lights vs flags update – I have had further conversations with Motorsport UK where they have reassured me that there is no drive or desire to move to a “lights only” scenario at any licenced events and that last years “trial” is ongoing until all venue implementations are completed. The expectation is that lights are to be triggered in the first instance and flags as support during this trial and where required flags only used to display certain signals (white and red/yellow). This doesn’t seem to be completely clear in the instructions given so ongoing work necessary to ensure this is understood. Please continue to provide your feedback to the Chief marshal on the day and also to dan.carter@motorsportuk.org – constructively and respectfully!
Lastly following a period of community consultation, on 1 June, some detailed changes will be applied to Motorsport UK’s Regulations regarding track limits. Please follow the link below to read a letter from Hugh Chambers, Motorsport UK Chief Executive Officer, with a full explanation on the amendment, accompanied by visual examples and the amended regulations.
The BMMC Barrie Williams national trophy for 2022 was awarded to David Dray at the recent 750mc meeting at Brands Hatch at post 6 where he was post chief.
For those that know David’s story, to see him back marshalling is a testament to what epitomises us as marshals. This award recognises from the national level David’s courage and continuance in the sport we all enjoy given traumatic events several years ago.
David or “Magnet” as he is affectionately known lived up to his name several practices later with a serious incident at his post with the driver walking away without injury. David as ever the professional was there with reports ready and supporting his team as I was part of the rescue team attending.
On behalf of the South East region, national officers and all the marshals we congratulate David on this achievement.
Responding to receiving the award David said: “I want to thank you Andy, and the whole of the BMMC for the nomination and receiving the Barrie Williams Trophy for 2022. You caught me right on the back foot when you presented me with the trophy on post 6 at the 750mc meeting.
I said at the time I did not go into marshalling to win Trophies, and since starting back in 2007 I have won 4 and every time I get presented with one, I do get very emotional. And this trophy I got very emotional indeed over.
But I do want to say that, without the support of the top officials, my marshals on post, the Rescue units and Doctors that have come not only to my incident, but to all incidents that are maybe caused by my magnets. I would not be the marshal I am today.
A really big thank you, to you Andy and the SE committee for the work you all do for us marshals.”
April was a busy month with most venues seeing some form of activity – including stage rallies at some of the circuits.
I was out and about at Oulton Park, Donington and Goodwood and May looks set to be a busy month too.
There have been a few big incidents at various venues already this year – thankfully all injured parties are making full recoveries. A couple of scary ones at Oulton where the roll hoops have collapsed were dealt with impeccably and some amazing responses from the drivers involved thanking the “sea of orange” that came to help. Well done to everyone involved.
Unfortunately there was an incident at the Goodwood Members Meeting where a marshal was hurt – bruised thankfully – but I will take the opportunity to offer some advice.
Don’t ever feel obliged to do something you are not comfortable with or had training on. We have a system at my place of work called a “Stop Work Authority”. This means anyone (and yes “anyone” could be the newbie) can say that something is not right and the work needs to stop. If it doesn’t look right, feel right or the wrong equipment is being used – stopping the work prevents an incident and potential injury. There is no harm in applying this to a marshal situation too. Nobody should feel obliged to do something – on the say so of another – if they don’t feel comfortable doing it.
Sometimes in the heat of the moment – a driver being particularly vociferous – needs a diplomatic approach to calm the situation and wait for assistance. Even telling the driver that help is on the way recognises their needs but ensures you are comfortable to continue.
I also need to note that Lights were used as priority over flags at the recent first round of the BTCC at Donington Park. I can assure you that there has been substantial correspondence with Motorsport UK and I await further updates before I am able to share anything with you all. I have kept the Regional Chairs and National Officers informed of the communication accordingly.
We have started our Taster day programme for the year and great to hear (and see on ITV4) Paul O’Neill give our recruitment stand a mention – which has generated interest online too. Great work from everyone involved in these important activities to spotlight our hobby for others.
*Please note that due to holidays any subsidy and expense claims could be delayed in May – our bookkeeper Colin is taking a few weeks off but will ensure everything is processed as quickly as possible for you.*
Take care out there and I might see you out and about.
BMMC are recruiting for the position of National Training Officer to serve as an Executive Officer of the National Council. The primary objective of the role is to provide members with appropriate training in line with Motorsport UK and BMMC requirements, in a timely way. The National Training Officer will be the single point of contact for training related matters .
A full role description can be found at (insert link).
Expressions of interest are to be forwarded to nat.secretary@marshals.co.uk , together with a covering letter advising why the role is of interest, and a CV detailing relevant experience.
Applications should be submitted by 5pm on Friday 5th May 2023 .
Very soon the new Pathway Grading Badges will be available from your Regional Regalia Officers. (RROs).
Each member is entitled to one free badge for each grade they hold across each discipline, therefore some members might be entitled to more than one badge.
When you next see your RRO make sure you ask for your current grading badge(s).
If you are due to upgrade your new grading badge will be issued once your upgrade has been approved, RROs will not issue upgrade badges.
Equally, if you require to purchase additional badges they will be available in due course but for the initial roll out each member will only get one badge per grade they hold across each discipline.
At the North East committee held on 20 March 2023, Lynne Kendall advised she has decided to stand down as North East Chair and National Training Officer with immediate effect.
Lynne has been on the North East Regional Committee for 16 years undertaking a significant number of roles including Newsletter Editor, Media Officer, Grading Officer, Volunteering Coordinator, Cadwell ES rep, Recruitment Officer, Training Officer as well as Chair. Lynne has also been a member of BMMC Council for over 10 years.
We would like to thank Lynne for her service to BMMC NE and Council and wish her well in her future marshalling activities.
We will shortly be advertising for a new National Training Officer to sit on Council – please keep an eye out for this advert for this crucial role in developing our future training programmes for our members.
The start of March is the time for first meetings of Committees at Motorsport UK. A number have taken place and it’s good to see some of our membership have stepped forward to become new members of these committees. Our voice gets broader and louder!
My first day on the bank this season tomorrow so I’ve double checked my kit and reminded myself of where I need to be! Just made sure my pens work and I have plenty of paper and report forms – it’s only wall-to-wall Caterhams.
One note to finish – reference grading and the new Pathway. The extension to end of June for upgrades by Motorsport UK is for anyone who is missing a training signature and assessments to fulfil their upgrade under the old scheme. Any signatures you have carry over and you will be now registered with Motorsport UK under the new scheme – Grade 1, 2 etc. So there’s no rush to squeeze in dates and assessments as you can still upgrade in the new scheme at any time.
HERES THE IMPORTANT BIT……. Motorsport UK a need to process your upgrade by end of June to qualify under the old scheme. The BMMC process means it needs to go to Regional Grading Officer then to National Grading Officer before sending to Motorsport UK……so our deadline to your Regional Grading Officer is 30 April to give us enough time to process but don’t wait! Once you’ve got your final signatures done – photocopy / scan your PRC and include the Motorsport UK registration form (MRF – https://www.motorsportuk.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Motorsport_UK_Marshal_Application.pdf) when you send it off. If in doubt ask your regional grading officer to check it’s all in order so the process isn’t delayed.
So good luck to everyone going for assessments – hope you have a busy post to get your upgrade…..although be careful what you wish for!
Training days are well underway and more planned across the regions. I attended the training day at Oulton Park where I assisted the training team with a record fifty plus new marshals! Great interactions with our longer standing members too and acceptance of the new Pathway modules.
We also had Lille Racewear in attendance to help take measurements – and they were the subject of our second Sponsor spotlight. The new owners are looking into new initiatives and supporting our members requirements.
The Federation Internationale de l’Automobile in collaboration with the FIA Volunteers and Officials Commission (VOC) is launching a campaign aimed at raising awareness of safety issues among our group of marshals and officials who give their time freely at events the world over (read the full story here https://www.fia.com/news/campaign-launched-safeguard-fias-volunteers-and-officials)
Here are the 10 Golden rules (all sound advice!): 1. Make sure you are standing up, fully alert and facing oncoming traffic while the track or special stage is live 2. Be prepared for any situation even during Safety Car procedures, a formation lap or after the chequered flag. 3. Always have an escape plan in place. You must protect yourself from danger. Be ready to help anyone else. 4. Do not lean on any guardrail, concrete blocks, or debris fences. They are designed to move when hit by vehicles. 5. Do not move in front of barriers unless instructed by the Clerk of the Course or your Senior Marshal. Only remain trackside for the minimum time necessary. 6. If in doubt at any time, seek advice from your Senior Officials 7. Always check and double check the status of the circuit or special stage before leaving your post to assist a competitor 8. Protect yourself from extremes of weather, hearing damage, dust and dirt in your eyes. Wear suitable footwear and gloves for handling hot or sharp debris. 9. Attend all safety and operational briefings and follow instructions from Senior Officials 10. Be careful when climbing over barriers or climbing up or down from earth banks. Check that flag signals are being shown for your protection.
So on that note now’s the time to check your kit is ready for the season – which for some is already underway! And don’t forget to check for that forgotten apple and half eaten sandwich at the bottom of your box which may have grown a life of its own!
We had a great 4 days at Autosport in January. Well done to the Midlands team for organising the stand and cars – it looked great! Thanks to everyone who visited us and helped out – we took a number of names of people interested in marshalling and also gave out leaflets to prospective new members. We also were honoured to get a photo opportunity with Sir Jackie Stewart in support of his Race Against Dementia charity. Great also to get support and invited to speak with Downforce Radio, Motorsport UK and Silverstone Interactive Museum to plug the BMMC and all the positives of volunteering.
By now you will have no doubt started making plans for your volunteering this year. The volunteering system is populated for Race, Sprint and Karting events and Jon Cordery has produced a calendar of all things Rally related on BRMC. There’s a few Krazy Races to get involved in and an event in October over a number of days where separate information will follow. For those itching to get started we always wait until after Autosport in case there are date changes to correct – but now it is … go, go, go!
We would be grateful if you use the volunteering system so that we can obtain some data on how many days our members are attending. A number of organising clubs are offering deals to join their club and attend their events – as well as ways to volunteer direct – we have no problem with that! But please ensure that if you do volunteer direct that you just put “volunteered via club” in our system to register your attendance. And remember some events may require you to volunteer direct but most events won’t give you priority if you do that! We ensure your details are passed to organisers accordingly and you are treated exactly the same no matter how you volunteer.
Hopefully I will get to see some of you at training events coming up. Our trainers have worked hard to ensure these events cover the old grading scheme and the new Pathway to gain your signatures accordingly so please put every effort in to attend and support these where you can.
We are running a new series of Sponsor spotlights as they reach certain milestones this year….CSCC up first for their 20th Anniversary Year a rather special event at Anglesey. We thank them for their continued support for the club and hope you will enjoy their entertaining events!
I was delighted to receive the BWRDC Goldstar Volunteer of the Year award at Motorsport UK last month at the Bicester Scramble. Note to all female members – you too can join this organisation (free in year one and £10 per year going forward). I will be attending their lunch and book launch in a couple of weeks to recognise their Diamond Anniversary.
I also was honoured to be invited to the Royal Automobile Club for the Motorsport UK Night of Champions on Saturday. Congratulations to Steve Tarrant who was presented with a Lifetime Achievement award. A veritable plethora of stars were recognised alongside championship winners.
Sadly we have already said goodbye to three members of the North West community this year – condolences to the families and friends of Brian Hayes, John Watt and Jason Breeze. All of them long standing supporters of the club and passionate about our hobby.
So time to dust off the overalls and tabards in anticipation of new grading patches coming soon – and look forward to seeing you out and about.
We are please to announce on the first ever Race against Dementia Day (#RADDay) on the 21st January 2023 that at our Council meeting in December 2022 it was agreed to continue to support RAD as our Charity of the Year for a further year.
We were delighted to also deliver a cheque to Sir Jackie Stewart at the recent Autosport International Show for £500 raised in 2022 by club members which was received with thanks.
If you want to help or support RAD today head over to #RADDay here
Thanks for your support to date and we are proud to be supporting such a great cause.
At its final meeting of the year (2022) the British Motorsports Marshals Club National Council approved a new draft Environmental Policy and launched a search for each region to nominate its own Zero Hero.
The policy aims to set out some clear commitments the club will strive to achieve in the coming years and is in the process of developing a clear action plan to reflect its objectives.
Each region of the club has been invited to nominate its own Zero Hero who will help raise awareness of the policy, share good practice to their local members and be the key point of contact for the newly appointed Sustainability Officer, Northwest Chair Mike Broadbent.
Commenting on the development Mike Broadbent said: “I’m delighted that Council supported this proposal and invited me to lead on the roll out of this policy. I look forward to helping us to build a sustainable future and working with the team of Zero Heroes to implement this initiative.”
BMMC Chair Nadine Lewis added: “As a club we need to recognise, along with all of our members, that we have a role to play in the sustainable future of our sport and to aim to achieve FIA accreditation. This is the first step on that journey.”
The FIA Environmental Accreditation Programme is aimed at helping motor sport and mobility stakeholders worldwide to measure and enhance their environmental performance. By introducing a clear and consistent environmental management system, it provides stakeholders with a three-level framework against which to accredit their activities.
The key objectives the BMMC has set out in order to meet the commitments are:
Use this policy as a framework for setting objectives and targets for environmental improvement
Operate a procurement policy that conforms to these objectives
Operate effective management of environmental impacts
Communicate the requirements of this policy to all members, suppliers and partners
Make this policy publicly available and actively report our environmental performance
“This is an exciting opportunity to play our part in the environmental future of motorsport and we look forward to driving this forward,” Mike Broadbent added.
I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year – taken time out, had some relaxation time and a little bit of fun! Time to start thinking about 2023.
Event calendars are coming together and we hope to launch the volunteering system soon – a few dates to iron out but some interesting events to look forward to. Don’t forget to check your details and update any changes by logging on to the website. Some members have issues with their grading which remains unresolved and will hinder your ability to volunteer through the system so please do get in touch with your regional grading officer who can help this to be resolved.
And can you do us a favour? Check with your mates they are getting these blog posts please? We are concerned that some members are not receiving emails as they have unsubscribed from MailChimp. So if you are reading this then all is ok – if your friends can’t see it we don’t know!! But do tell them to check their details and then contact your regional committee for support to fix it. And no – you don’t have to read my blogs – but other important information also comes out via MailChimp and we don’t want you to miss it.
We can confirm we have a stand at Autosport from 12 – 15 January. We are combining BMMC with BRMC on stand 2580 in Hall 2. We will have a rally car and race car on the stand too so if you want to pop by please come and say hello. It’s the first time back since COVID so not sure how busy we will be but hope to sign up a few new recruits too.
Training dates are published now for most regions and disciplines so I hope you are able to attend. The Pathway comes in to effect this year but previous attendance dates can be attributed to achieving grades under the old scheme. But remember signatures are only valid for so long – even taking COVID in to account.
I look forward to seeing some of you out and about over the course of the next year. And for those members who aren’t as actively volunteering as you once were – I hope these blogs keep you entertained and your regional newsletters informed of the club and members antics.
Finally, thanks to Downforce Radio awards sponsored by Clapham Motors who announced myself as Marshal of the Year for 2022 for my podium visit at the British Grand Prix! Honoured and still humbled to represent all our marshals.
Yesterday was our final National Council of the year and our annual club AGM – thank you to everyone who attended in person and remotely. We were finally able to get back together face-to-face for some constructive dialogue in the surroundings of our governing body. Thanks to Motorsport UK for the use of your conference facilities!
December 5 marks International Volunteers Day we celebrate the theme of solidarity through volunteering. “For the future of our planet, we must act together and we must act now. This is not an era to stand alone but together, as one, in solidarity with each other”. We at Council are in the process of putting together our sustainability aims and goals and will be looking for input and support going forward. And we thank you for all your volunteering at home and abroad.
I am conscious that everyone is saving their pennies this year but I hope there’s a little left to renew your membership which we have kept at the same price again this year – anyone on direct debit will note their payment will be taken in the first week of January.
If anyone has any issues renewing please contact your local regional membership secretary and we will ensure we don’t send you reminder messages. To be in with a chance of winning the Bedford Autodrome experience you will need to rejoin by end of January but we do hold off closing the renewal process to end of March to help out those members whose funds may not stretch that far in the early part of the year.
Our plans for 2023 are already in motion – starting with a return to Autosport in January and Race Retro in February. The new Pathway is being incorporated into our databases and volunteering dates are being assembled for updating early in January. Hope you’ve got your diaries ready!
Finally I will take this opportunity to wish you and yours a very Happy Christmas and best wishes for a healthy New Year. Hope you Winter well.
