BMMC Marshalling Taster Day

Hey all!

Hope this post finds you well and enjoying this lovely sunshine we've been having. Last weekend (13th/14th Aug), I attended a marshalling taster day ran by the BMMC at Donington Park. It's not technically bike related but it is motorsport so I'm hoping you'll forgive me.

The event that weekend was the MSVR GT & Formula Car races with 16 races over the course of the two days, all of which I was on post marshalling for. There were about 20 people on the day and I was one of 5 girls but a surprising number of the marshals were actually female which was good to see.

On the Saturday morning we went through a cars journey visiting the scrutineering bay, pits, paddock and garages. We also had a look around a couple of the race cars whilst the two people running the day showed us where the kill switches could be and where the fire extinguisher could be (every car has them in a different place, so not as simple as a bike!) and how to move a car should the driver happen to crash out.

Some of the cars in assembly

I also got to go up to race control and see how they work and what they do. I'd never been to a race control room before and I was really surprised by how big the room was and how many people actually worked in there, I thought it was going to 3 or 4 people! I hadn't realised either that the entire track was covered by cameras to help race control determine whether incidents are racing incidents and things like that, there's basically nowhere that is a blind spot and the cameras have got impressive zooms on them as well. After a quick walk through the media room full of laptops, phones, cameras, leads and coffee, we headed to the medical centre at Donington.
The medical centre is apparently one of the best in the country and the only thing they can't do on site is open heart surgery as they don't have a bypass machine. Pretty impressive for a race track I think. They even have a little mini ward if anybody (racer, marshal, team member or member of the public alike) can rest in if they need to. Luckily, there were no major incidents over the weekend and the highly qualified trauma consultants from Queen's Med in Nottingham and Derby City hospitals weren't needed.

In the afternoon, I went out on post between McLeans and Coppice for anyone who knows the track and I had a go at some flagging of the 8 races that were running. Luckily, nobody had any incidents opposite our post and anybody who did wasn't injured so I didn't have to go out on the track whilst it was live for any reason.

On Sunday, I was on post at the Melbourne Loop all day for the qualifying, warm-up and race sessions. I practiced my flagging skills during the majority of the races, and due to several occasions of the safety car going out, the yellow flag spent a fair amount of time in my hand! This also meant that we actually only got about 15-20 minutes for lunch (we were originally allocated 40 mins) which just happens at some meets apparently.
When all marshals have to be standing and concentrating when the track is live and with sessions only 5 minutes apart and running from 9am until about 6 or 7pm, it's a long time to be stood on your feet for and trying to eat and keep hydrated during those times can be quite tricky. My lunch was spread out through the day and I know many of the other marshals' lunches were the same.

Despite this, you can tell the marshals love what they do, they seem a bit like a family with everyone laughing and joking. Yes, they have a serious job to do but if you're with only 2 other people for an entire day and you can't have a chat and a laugh, it's going to be a tough day. The main advantages are pretty obvious; marshals are super close to the action, as they are volunteering and working the event, it's free entry for them and it's probably one of the best ways to be involved in motorsport - I think I'll definitely go back and marshal again when I get the chance!

Ride safe all,
TFB

MCE BSB Test Day - Donington Park

Hi everyone!

Sorry I haven't blogged until right at the end of the month, uni work once again is going mad! But on Thursday (31st March), I got the chance to go to the MCE British Superbike test at Donington Park and with free entry, why would you not go?

I arrived just after the first lot went out on track at about 9:10 and decided first to have a wander around to see what was going on where. After having a quick look at the bikes on track down at the Melbourne Loop (my favourite place for photos as you'll see later on!), I headed to the Paddock Suite where lots of the riders were having promo photos and team shots done. There was even an ePayMe Yamaha bike in there along with a JG Speedfit Kawasaki one.

In the Paddock Suite

One of the ePay Me bikes

As that area started to get busier, I went over to the garages where a lot of the teams had the garage door open and some even had the back shutters open so people like me could have a nosey and take some photos!

The team trucks all parked up by the pit garages

 A quick visit to the main grandstand before the BSB/Superstock 1000 riders took to the track for the first time of the day and for that, I went back to the Melbourne Loop.

The start-finish straight from the grandstand

83 - Danny Buchan

7 - Michael Laverty

99 - Filip Backlund

24 - Christian Iddon

20 - Jenny Tinmouth

94 - Sam Hornsey

2 - Glenn Irwin

After grabbing some lunch, it was back into the Paddock Suite where James Rispoli was having his photo taken with his bike before heading to the pits ready for the pit lane walk. This was an amazing experience for me, having only been in the pits on open track days and it was also a really good opportunity to have a look at the teams working on the bikes.

James Rispoli and his Anvil TAG Yamaha bike in the Paddock Suite

Be Wiser Ducati Team Garage

Tyco BMW Team Garage

Two mechanics working on Dan Linfoot's bike in the Honda Racing garage

Quattro Plant Kawasaki Team Garage

Team WD-40 Kawasaki Team Garage

Tarran MacKenzie's bike in the Team WD-40 garage

Having a nose inside Quattro Plant Kawasaki's garage

For the third BSB/Superstock 1000 session, I moved to the infield and set up at the entry to the first corner of the track, Redgate. After fiddling with some of my camera's settings, I managed to start taking some decent shots!

94 - Sam Hornsey

67 - Shane 'Shakey' Byrne

24 - Christian Iddon

99 - Filip Backlund

71 - James Rispoli

After the session restarted (it was red flagged), I moved back over towards the exit of the Melbourne Loop to see the riders on their final few laps, racing to finish top of the timesheet for the day and the test. A flying lap from Shane Byrne put him squarely at the top only to be knocked off in the final two laps by Tyco BMW's Michael Laverty who went on to finish top of the test.

By this time, it was nearing the end of the day and a lot of people started to go home but I decided to stay for the 600s final session of the day which saw Andy Reid take the top spot after some fantastic riding.

I didn't get any photos after the session restart as I decided to put away my camera and live the experience by watching the bikes rather than looking through a viewfinder! I had an absolutely fantastic day at Donington and my only regret is not really getting any chance to speak to the riders or their teams. I'm not sure if this was because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time or they weren't really speaking to people! Maybe next time, eh?


Until next time, ride safe
TFB