Marshalling
- Marshal cars how you would expect to be marshalled yourself.
Your full attention should be on your part of the track, not the leader, your friend, your phone, your cup of coffee or anything else. We understand marshalling can be a chore, but everyone has to do it and it’s much better if everyone has a hassle-free race.
Safety First
If a car is on its roof and spinning its wheels, you don’t have to marshal that car until it is safe to do so. To let the racer know that you aren’t going to marshal his car until he stops his wheels, raise your arm(s). This just lets them know that you’re ready to marshal their car when they have calmed down. Sometimes beginners don’t have their cars correctly set up so they have no brakes or they require to rev the engine to make sure it doesn’t stall. If you recognise this, then just be careful when handling the car.
Protect your hands
I’d always recommend wearing gloves when marshalling. Although it won’t protect you from everything, it’s just an extra layer to make you feel a bit safer when handling cars. The last thing you want is a nasty burn or cut when you’re racing. Also a exhaust blocker is handy for the rare run away you might encounter.
Be fair
When multiple cars crash on your part of the track, try to make sure you marshal the car that crashed first. This is just a guideline because you may encounter a car that has crashed after someone but right in front of you. In this case it just makes sense to marshal that car whilst travelling to the other car. There’s nothing like having to wait for a marshal to pick up cars that have crashed after you.
Damage isn't your problem
If a car has visible damage to it, when you notice this damage, perhaps raise your arm, this may alert the racer that there is an issue. If he continues to race then don’t worry, he may not have realised or he may just want to continue, either way it’s not your issue to get involved with, just let the car carry on.
Track-side maintenance
If a car stops by you and is still running, then it maybe that the racer requires quick assistance, pick up their car and glance over to the rostrum and see if you can spot the owner. Check if he is giving you instructions. If not then have a quick check over the car to see what is wrong. If there is an obvious unrecoverable issue, then just let the racer know using a dead hand signal. If they are coming down from the rostrum then place the car to one side, if not then place the car back onto a safe part of the track so that he can return to the pits. If there is a small issue such as ball joints popping off then try and get them back on. If not then don’t worry, try and wave someone from the pits to come fix it. Remember that your attention should be on the track, so if there is another more immediate issue on track, then leave the car and continue with your duty.
Stand your ground
You shouldn’t leave your marshal point mid-race to return a car to the pits, whether it has stalled or broken. Leaving your position means that other marshals have to cover twice the area of track and cars may be unmarshalled for some time. Put the car by your marshal position for someone to come collect. If you see someone leave their marshall position, try to cover them for aslong as possible.
Be seen
If high-visual vests are provided then you must use them. All clubs will have health and safety procedures to follow and all clubs should provide you with one.
Watch your fingers
When flipping a car over from its roof, try to keep your hands and fingers away from the flywheel and exhaust. Touching the flywheel or blocking the exhaust will stop the engine. There’s nothing worse than unintentionally stopping someone’s car. Try to be quick and always try to put the car facing the correct direction. Putting a car facing the wrong way will just take the racer a longer time to turn around and cause an issue for oncoming traffic.
Safety, again
In a race you need to look out for yourself, safety is a number one priority. If marshalling a jump, only jump when the jump is clear, if not then just wait until it is. The racer that requires marshalling should understand why your waiting, but some don’t. Just try your hardest to find a space in the traffic to get that car.
Line of Sight
If you are marshalling in the middle of the track, try to keep as low as possible. Standing up can sometime cause you to block the view of apex’s or jumps. Before a race, get to marshal as soon as possible and make sure that in practice nobody has any issues before the race begins. Usually marshal positions will be placed in such a way that you should free from apex blocking, but that sometimes isn’t always the case.
If there are issues with the track mid-race then you may be required to do some emergency track repairs. Try to fix the issue as quickly as possible. If it can’t be fixed, or the issue (piping etc) can’t be removed entirely then see if someone from the pits is free to assist whilst you get back to marshaling.
Eyes open
Before putting a car back on track, make sure you’re not about to put the car in front of someone else’s car. Just wait for the cars to pass or put the car down off the racing line. It’s bad enough breaking one person’s car, but breaking two people’s cars just because of poor marshalling can be very embarrassing and annoying for the racers involved.
