After the horrendous incident in the British Supersport race at Oulton Park last month, Saturday was another very sad day for motorsport in this country.  It makes you realise that, even with all the safety measures we have in place, our sport can still be very dangerous.

On the Jim Clark rally co-driver Dai Roberts died at the scene after emergency services were called at around 10:50 whilst his driver, James Williams, 27, was taken to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh with serious, but not life-threatening, injuries. The remainder of the closed-road event, held near Duns, was cancelled along with the Reivers Rally, scheduled for Sunday.

Julian Grimwade was competing at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s race event at Donington Park when he was fatally injured.  Known for his spirited participation and prowess behind the wheel of pre-war machines, Grimwade was driving his Oakland Romano Special in the Mephistopheles & Lanchester Trophy event but tragedy struck during the first lap, leading to an immediate red flag. The second and third races went ahead about an hour behind schedule but then a  simple announcement was made that the meeting was being abandoned.

To the families, friends, team members and others who knew Dai or Julian, we send our deepest sympathies and condolences.  We also hope James recovers fully and speedily from his injuries.  To those involved in dealing with the incidents we offer our complete support.

Whenever there is an incident, be it minor or major, simple or serious it is the marshals and officials who are called on to deal with the consequences.  All of us react in different ways – some can shrug off the incident, others find it more difficult to deal with.  Whether you are closely involved or just see or hear about it, if you feel you have been affected, we would implore you to talk to someone – a fellow marshal, a friend, your GP, Motorsport UK, anyone who will lend a sympathetic ear to help you realise your feelings.

BMMC, the organising clubs and Motorsport UK offer counselling services to all registered officials.  We encourage anyone who thinks they may benefit to contact us so we can ensure the correct support is in place. 

We also encourage all marshals and officials to attend a “First Marshal on Scene” training module, where you can acquire and practice the required skills needed in the event of a serious injury event.  Understanding what needs to be done and being confident in your actions helps enormously if you are involved in this type of incident.  The need for this module was discussed in a trainers Zoom call only last week – BMMC is ensuring our trainers are fully conversant with the requirements for this module to be given to all who want it.

Motorsport is a fantastic sport, we will continue to ensure that, wherever possible, all precautions and actions needed are taken to ensure your safety and enjoyment.  Please remember that your safety and that of your fellow marshals and officials is our primary focus alongside the necessity to ensure everyone from the competitors to the spectators can enjoy their motorsport in the safest possible environment.

Chris Hobson

National Chairman

 Tel: +44 (0) 7789 206 809

Prodrive have very kindly offered to provide a factory tour on Wednesday 16 July. We have two available slots, from 10-12 and from 2-4. Spaces are limited to 10 marshals per timeslot.

This is an amazing opportunity to see behind the scenes and to see some of the amazing cars that Prodrive have built over the years.

To register for the event, please go to https://forms.gle/12ZSq137xPyxtn4HA and indicate if you are available for either morning, afternoon or both.

We expect this to be a popular event, and if the slots are over-subscribed, we will randomly select the lucky winners once registration closes on 16th June.

The March 2025 newsletter is now available

We were delighted to learn that Catherine Smart has been awarded the Gold Star Award by the British Women Racing Drivers Club.

BWRDC says “The BWRDC GoldStars Award is an initiative conceived by our unique motorsport club to promote talented women in motorsport. Only two of the prestigious GoldStars Awards may be presented annually at the discretion of the Club, and the GoldStars are not always awarded. GoldStars Awards are given to Club Members to recognise their progress and to help them take their motorsport career to a higher level. The Volunteers Award recognises the many members who generously donate their time to our sport, whether as marshals, officials or in another capacity. The nominees are put forward by the BWRDC committee to an independent panel of judges who decide the final winners. The judges are Helen Bashford Malkie, Louise Goodman and Lorina McLoughlin”.

As Catherine was unable to attend the awards presentation Marion Quarrington presented the trophy on behalf of BWRDC at a meeting at HKRC at Kimbolton in early February. Catherine was the 2023 winner of the BMMC South Midlands Lesley Harris Trophy for New Marshal of the Year.

If you are looking for the MotorSport UK Marshal Application file, you can find it on their website under the Resource Centre. You can use this for renewal, upgrade or first time applications.

It is also included here for ease of use:

On the evening after the Birkett, we held the annual Get-Together at The Butchers Arms, Greens Norton. This year, the AGM was held separately via Zoom, but it was great to see a good turn-out.

During the evening, we marked the retirement of Chris Whitlock as the Regional Chair for South Midlands.

Finally, we also made a presentation to Andrew French as the Leslie Harris trophy winner for Best New Marshal of the Year.

We are holding our Regional AGM on line this year to allow more members to attend, but we would like to invite you to our annual End of Season Get-Together on

Saturday October 26th from 6:00pm

The Barn at The Butchers Arms, Greens Norton (10 High Street, Greens Norton, Towcester NN12 8BA)

The pub is community owned and prides itself on the selection of reals ales, craft beers, heritage ciders and a comprehensive wine list. This will be a very informal evening, Probans are welcome, so those of you marshalling at the Birkett Relay Race will be able to pop in on your way home! Why not drop by for a drink and meet your fellow marshals and Regional BMMC Committee. All BMMC members are welcome, we shall have a selection of hot snacks for you to enjoy from 6:30pm and our regalia will be on sale for those early Christmas presents.

As we need to pre-order the food we need an idea of numbers for the catering. If you are interested in coming along please email Marion by Monday 21st at the latest to let her know.

South Midlands Region BMMC have been looking to recruit some new members to our Regional Committee. The Regional Committee is responsible for planning and delivering all the BMMC events in our region, including Training days, Recruitment events and Taster Days. Committee members also manage the regional entries in the volunteering database, advise on and co-ordinate upgrade applications, support members who have questions and queries, manage club regalia sales, edit the bi-monthly newsletter, manage both the region’s pages in the national website and the regional social media, and co-ordinate the region’s activity in environmental and sustainability matters as it affects our sport, so there is role to suit everyone. After a first nomination period, during which four committee members were elected, there remained two unfilled vacancies, plus a further vacancy from the required resignation from the committee from our newly elected Regional Chair. A second nomination period was therefore opened for these three vacancies.

Nominations for the Regional Committee closed on October 5th at 5pm. At that time one nomination had been received, and it fully complied with all the requirements of the Club Rules. In accordance with Rule K.3.11, as the number of candidates does not exceed the number of vacancies, I can confirm that the following member has been elected to the South Midlands Committee without the need for an electronic vote:

Andrew French

I am sure you will join me in congratulating him on his success and look forward to his work on the committee.
Marion Quarrington
South Midlands Regional Secretary
sm.secretary@marshals.co.uk
October 14th 2024