North West Centre
Marshals
Join a skilled and dedicated team, and get close to the action!
Do you want to know more?
Please contact the Chief Marshal for North West events, Margaret Simpson:
6 Elkstine Close
Winstanlet
Wigan
WN3 6LQ
Telephone: 01942 217339 (Evenings only)
Please include your full contact details in your letter, i.e. your address, phone numbers, e-mail etc
We would like you to join our Team!!
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Scenes from the Rescue Unit Training Day preparing for 2008 |
Marshals and the BARC - an effective Partnership!
If you haven't got either the cash or the desire to be a Motor Sport Competitor, one way of becoming actively involved in Motor Sport is to be a Marshal or Official.
Raw recruits are provided with on-the-job training to a high standard, and are carefully looked after by very experienced and more senior marshals. The annual Marshal Training Days ensure that new recruits receive effective and well structured training, whilst existing marshals look forward to attendance at these training days in order to sharpen up their skills.
Marshalling as a hobby can be extremely enjoyable, as you can get close to the action and you perform an essential and worthwhile job; in fact without sufficent trained marshals there would be no motor racing at all.
Marshals are unpaid volunteers, who obtain free entry to events, and receive complimentary copies of event programmes. Another spin-off from being involved is that many friendships are made, and the marshalling fraternity enjoy a wonderful "Esprit de Corps."
Some of the Officials at Motor Sport Events are licenced or nominated by the MSA, while others are also unpaid enthusiasts who achieve great satisfaction from being involved in the organisation and administration of a successful meeting. Many of them travel the length and breadth of the country officiating at all types of Motor Sport Events, such as race meetings, rallies, hillclimbs and sprints, and in doing so, provide an essential service to the sport.
Current regulations require all marshals to be over the age of 16 years, and if under the age of 18 years, will need a letter of consent from a Parent or Guardian.
BARC NW Centre Rescue Unit - an effective Team!
Colin Whitter is the BARC NW Centre Rescue Unit Chief and has built the unit into the highly effective team that it is today. He started 'on the bank' as a marshal around twenty seven years ago and four years later was asked to work on the rescue unit, which was used at the time. Here he gives an insight into the running of the unit.
The NW Centre developed its own fully equipped rescue unit with help from Thruxton. Eventually sponsorship was sought for the unit to find the means to acquire more upto date equipment that is now needed. This mainly came from Dave Gledhill some time before his company (Ace Vehicle Deliveries) sponsored the championship and Dave Williams through his Keyline company.
The Rescue unit does about fifty days per year attending events. This includes club meetings, the British Grand Prix and BTCC meetings. On top of this there are between five and seven days training each year. Some of these days are spent in a scrap yard in Winsford, cutting up crashed cars and a number are spent in the Hyperbaric, Resuscitation and Training Centre on the Wirral acquiring the necessary medical knowledge.
The unit attends all the meetings run by the North West Centre and as many as can be fitted in for BARC Headquarters. The diary is then filled with events for the BRSCC and any motor club which may request its attendance. This service is not provided for free of course and the hire fees earned generate a significant amount of income for the NW Centre. In fact it is a larger income for the club than from any other source!
The crew are volunteers like all marshals and officials, but putting the unit together in the first place and then maintaining it in top condition is a very expensive business. There is a laid down specification for a rescue unit and its crew, which should have a minimum of three crew and cannot operate without a qualified doctor or paramedic. The regulations governing rescue units require the crews to attend a minimum of two training days per year. Also, every three years the unit is assessed by the MSA when the crew is put through a mock rescue scenario and checked for its rescue and medical competence.
There is a team of nine people available to staff the unit, six normally being used at a time. I organise the bookings, training sessions, servicing of vehicle and equipment and general paperwork. I start to organise the next year as soon as the present one finishes. Equipment and the van have to be serviced. Consumables purchased and new equipment assessed. I then receive most meeting dates before the end of December and start booking accommodation for the away days. This is normally in some licensed premises, so that we can sample the local brews! I then send availability to the crew and put names to dates.
The most typical accident that we attend at the circuit is where a car has hit the barrier, the race is stopped because the driver is still in the car and drowsy but eventually he is fine and walks away and thankfully that is it. We call it 'shaken but not stirred'!
Some years ago we had a driver of a historic car at Donington who broke both his legs and who we thought it best to cut out of his car to avoid aggravation of his injuries but when he saw the cutting gear he said 'you're not cutting my car!' and slowly hoisted himself out with his arms.
One of the nastiest incidents we attended was the Paul Warwick crash at Oulton Park. No one knows how you are going to react emotionally in such a situation until you actually try it and I have been very impressed with the way the crew has handled incidents involving serious injury in a very professional way. Then there are incidents like the touring car meeting at Oulton when Russell Spence went over the barrier at Lodge right in front of where we were parked. The Unit also had some very high profile activity, which has been seen on TV all over the world, when it attended Michael Schumacher's crash at the British Grand Prix.
The BARC NW Centre Rescue unit has probably visited every circuit in the country and is very highly regarded by those clubs which hire it for its high standards of competence and presentation.
If anyone likes the idea of working on the Rescue Unit they can contact me at most Oulton Park meetings. But remember that this involves a huge commitment as we need marshals that can attend numerous meetings, most being at remote circuits that require nights away from home.
Marshals Training and Incident Handling
We have put together two pages of images about Marshals Training and Incident Handling.
To access the page containing images of a Marshals Training Day click here
To access the page containing images of Marshals dealing with a Race Incident click here
Marshals are covered by Insurance
Whilst officiating at MSA approved events, all signed-on marshals and officials are protected by Insurance. For details of the cover, please click here
Trauma Counselling for Marshals and Officials
The BARC have also contracted with a professional Counselling Service in order to assist marshals or officials who suffer emotional trauma as a result of being involved in a Motor Racing accident. For details of this free yet professional service, please click here