This is going on the old system. Since I don't understand the new one. if you do understand the new one. Enlighten us!

So... What roles are there.

Lets start with trackside roles.

Broadly speaking there's 2, Flagging and incident.

No prizes for guessing what the Flag Marshal does. The incident marshals are the ones who do all the running around. These guys put out fires, assercertin if the driver is still alive or not, and generally dash around like an orange arsed fly all weekend.

Trackside grades are:

• Trainee Marshals (although trainees could be anything and everything) Everyone starts off as one of these.
• Course Marshals. More advanced trainees basically. Similar to...
• Incident Marshals - See description above.
• Flag Marshals - Self explanitory
• Incident Officers - The marshals in charge of the other incident marshals. leads the handling of the incident. I know we've got a couple of I/Os around here, could you guys elabourate?
• Observers / Examining Observers - The head honchos. Run the post and it's activities and report back to race control viat phones and radio. Again we've got Observers (in fact we've got 2 Examining Observers) so I'll invite them to go a bit further on this.

Now to the world of the Specialist marshal. Not found on the trackside are the Pits marshals (no prizes for guessing which part of the circuit they inhabit), Startline marshals (who do work on the track. Ed would you elabourate please?), Paddock marshals who sort out the Paddock (see a trend here?), Assembly marshals who pre-grid the car ready for them to head to the main grid and sort out which order they should be in.

These guys all fall under the umbrella (and silver badge) of specialist.

Then you get other roles...
Rescue teams drive around in a large van which is part fire engine and part ambulance...
*The STIG is allergic to rescue units, and avoids them at all costs.
Clerk of the Course : usually singular - Runs the meeting, what he or she say invariably goes. also tells naughty drivers off, demands red flags or saftey cars upon advice from the Observers. not sure we have any...
Recovery pick up the pieces afterwards, and are sometimes from local garages!

And that's it in a nutshell.

A quick word about circuit vehicles...

The course car carries the clerk and stewards around for a track inspection before racing can start or continue after work on the track has been carried out. Usually makes an appearance between races to pick up reports.

The Fire Car, or Cars, Usually make an appearance at the start. Heavily modified vehicles, they may take a lap of the circuit at the start, or they may not. Various circuits have different ones - Donington and Silverstone use Jaguars - Pembrey has a Honda, and Mallory has a brace of rovers!

The Rescue units, I've already mentioned. usually marked up as ambulances.

Ambulances are normally provided by St John.

The Pace car or Safety car is self explanitory

Recovery vehicles are also self explanitory. Can be anything from a Land Rover to a 16 ton heavy wrecker!

And there's various others as well which occasionally turn up.

Please, anyone pitch in and help on this topic!!

Stiggy dear, you've forgotten race phones <whistle>

Startline marshalling


Roles include:

1) Placing cars in their correct positions on the grid.
2) Using row boards to aid cars in returning to their positions after the Green Flag lao.
3) Using yellow flags to alert the starter and other drivers to stalled cars, incidents, etc on the grid. Also used are yellow flags at the grid to stop the leading cars and a green flag at the back of the grid used to inform the starter when the grid is complete.
4) Depending on the circuit a variety of other roles can come into play. These include pitlane buzzer, car recovery from pitlane entry, grid clearup, etc.
5) Dealing with the cars in the event of a red flag.

As an Observer, it is generally expected that you have a good few years experience of Marshalling "On The Bank". You will have progressed through the grading system from a Trainee Marshal, taking in course, fire, flag and ideally (IMHO) the role of an IO.

(The "System" has changed since I graded, so some of my story may be out of date).

As an Observer you are effectively in overall charge of the marshalling team on your post and (Where the is no IO) will organise the team in order to provide a competent level of safety cover on your post.

As well as being a mentor and a trainer on post, you are also the link of communication between your area of the track and race control.

The Clerk Of The Course cannot see everywhere on the track - even CCTV won't give him a great view - so the Observer is his "Man on the spot" and will report any infringement of the rules, as well as report on accidents and advise the Clerk as to what actions/responses are required.

To become an Examining Observer you need to have a couple of years proven experience as an Observer. You may then apply to your regional council for an upgrade.
Normally two referees are sought (From other exm Obs) and the results then go to National Council (And The MSA?) for ratification.

An Examining Observer (At Present) is the only person able to give upgrade signatures.

Ideally an Observer will have a sound knowledge of the rules of the sport.

From the grade of Exm Observer you cannot upgrade further - you're at the top of the tree now!
(By invite only, a Gold Badge may be awarded (BMMC) - but generally not before your 90th birthday!)

Generally the next step up from Observing is Chief Observer (Not a grade) for an Organising Club, or to train as a Clerk Of The Course.

I should add too, that at some tracks there is a role of "Assistant Observer" - formerly known as telephonists.

Oulton is the only track I know that still uses them......although I think they number about 1 at the moment.......so, a dying breed!

The AO's are sort of like a secretary - and a good one will mean that you have an easy day.
They will do the telephoning, a lot of the writing, lap charts, coffee making!

I personally don't like them, but they can be useful at times!

PIT MARSHALS AND WHAT WE DO

I'm the Pit Lane equivalent (grade wise) of Shadowman, which means I generally run what goes on in there.

Because our tasks are so many and varied I can really do no better than to point everyone in the direction of my Training Guide

ASSEMBLY AREA MARSHALS

Wearing another hat, I'm also an Assembly Area marshal.

During practice, it is up to us to make sure that the drivers are strapped in, helmets fastened, belts fastened and pins out of fire extinguishers. We also check that the cars have been scrutineered and have the correct label affixed to the vehicle before they are allowed to practice. Another task is to check that bonnet clips and wheel nuts are correctly fastened.

Prior to racing, we line the cars up in a "dummy grid" i.e. in the correct position for the race, as well as carrying out the checks referred to above.