Meeting: Leinster Motor Club
Competitors: Legends, Formula Ford, Fiat Uno & Punto, Porsche, Historic GTs
==========================================
Well, you can't say we weren't warned about the weather. There were severe weather warnings in place in several parts of the UK, and Anglesey certainly had it's fair share. I've not marshalled the Legends in ages and was really looking forward to the close, hectic racing that they always bring. I left work at lunchtime Friday (for a change!) and headed south that afternoon. Just as I got on to the isle, it started to rain and I just knew it was going to be one of those weekends. After the long drive, I wasn't in the mood to put a tent up in the rain so I sat in the car for a while, watching the various teams turn up and get their cars ready. Eventually I gave in, realising the weather wasn't going to get any better any time soon, and put the "Portable Pleasure Palace II" up. It's the first time out for this tent, and have to say the thing is so much easier to put up than my last one, as the poles are already installed and all you have to do is fold it out, fix the knuckles and peg it down. 20 seconds it ain't, but less hassle it certainly is. Money well spent.
This was probably one of the most disappointing meetings I've marshalled at, mainly because I was really looking forward to it and we got let down for all sorts of reasons. Nothing major went wrong, it was just a combination of many little things that mounted up and started to get to people. It started with an admin cockup which meant we had no tickets or instructions. No biggie, the circuit soon sorted that for us although all we got told was "be at the circuit for 9am to sign on". On Saturday morning, it was still pissing down as it had been all night. It'd been so heavy I woke up at 4am as it was pounding so loudly on the tent canvass - I'm not a happy bloke without a decent amount of sleep, so it doesn't take much to get to me during the day.
The next problem was signon - no one knew where it was. Usually we do it in the club house, but although we gathered there no one turned up with the sheets. After hanging around for a while I decided to venture in to the drivers signon hut and ask there. Lo and behold, that's where the sheets were - nice to be told :S They had already pre-allocated posts, but that got screwed up as they had no idea how many people were needed where. It took some help from one of our guys to help them sort that out, and I got posted to the Hairpin - a fantastic place to marshal and always lots to do.
As the rain was still coming down, I went back to the club house. Too much water was on the track and they delayed the start several times, until we finally got going at 12:05. Due to the delay we had no lunch, but that was understandable and we got "fed up" (words of the chief marshal!!) before we went on circuit. That was when we found out the biggest problem of the weekend would be communication. The Irish guys brought their own radios, which are unlicensed in the UK and use a different frequency to the normal MSA sanctioned ones. No one knew what frequency they used, so our scanners were useless and the only people who knew what was going on were the observers on each post. Scanners are not necessary, but they are handy especially when flagging as I was. On the Saturday, our obs wasn't all that forthcoming with info such as "the cars have left the paddock" and "chequered flag", so it made the task a little harder than normal. Nothing serious, just another niggle.
The Saturday actually went OK once we got going. The rain stopped, everyone got their sessions in and we saw some great driving and a few races. The Legends were up to their usual tricks including a spectacular roll for one on Douglas. Car was broken, but fixable (although not in one night) and the driver was fine. A few sore limbs but raring to go the next day. Enjoyed the day and was hoping for more dry weather the next day...
...Shame the forecast was right then! Sunday was the opposite to Saturday where the weather was concerned. It started to rain lightly at about 6am and go t steadily worse as the day wore on. Again, no one knew what time signon was and this time the sheets were fucked up, so I wasn't down and had to add my name as an extra. How something like that can go so wrong I'll never know (lots of us were missed out, nit just me). Anyway, got on circuit and away the cars went. Today we had far more problems with communication - our obs radio just didn't work. It seemed to transmit OK, but receiving from control was impossible as it was constantly breaking up. Despite complaints, there was no working spares and we had to put up with it. They tried to blame it on the weather, but other radios at the same point were working fine, so we simply had a shit radio and had to hope we didn't have any serious incident that was made worse by our issues.
Our worst fears were realised when about 5 laps in to the formula ford practice, in heavy rain, one car aquaplaned on the standing water as it braked for the hairpin and slammed in to the tyre wall. I throw the yellow, and our obs takes a look at the situation. It's only just off the track, in a very dangerous position and the driver isn't moving. Due to the way that part of the track is laid out, we can't get to him without crossing the track, and in these conditions there is no way we'd risk our lives doing that. There was no option but to ask for a red flag. That's where we get in to difficulty - we can't hear if control have received our call and have no idea what's going on. 3 laps later, I see the red go out on the back straight and we know it's been received. Our obs is rightfully pissed off, and the incident marshals go to sort the car out. The driver was fine, I'm guessing he stayed in the car in case anymore cars came off as it's the safest place to be, a shrewd move on his part considering the conditions.
At this point there is so much standing water on the track, it'd be too dangerous to continue with the meeting. The stewards agree, and the rest of the day is cancelled. A disappointing end, but completely understandable & by this point (dinner had already been cancelled with no warning) most people just wanted to dry off, get warm and go home. It was by no means anyone's fault that the overall feeling was "unhappy" with the way the weekend went, but motorsport is like that and you have to take the great days with the not so great.
I've now got a few weekends off, until the big one - F1 @ Silverstone. 100,000+ fans and I'm starting to get nervous. Lots of people watching you, but once the action starts I'm sure I'll forget all about 'em and enjoy the experience.
Competitors: Legends, Formula Ford, Fiat Uno & Punto, Porsche, Historic GTs
==========================================
Well, you can't say we weren't warned about the weather. There were severe weather warnings in place in several parts of the UK, and Anglesey certainly had it's fair share. I've not marshalled the Legends in ages and was really looking forward to the close, hectic racing that they always bring. I left work at lunchtime Friday (for a change!) and headed south that afternoon. Just as I got on to the isle, it started to rain and I just knew it was going to be one of those weekends. After the long drive, I wasn't in the mood to put a tent up in the rain so I sat in the car for a while, watching the various teams turn up and get their cars ready. Eventually I gave in, realising the weather wasn't going to get any better any time soon, and put the "Portable Pleasure Palace II" up. It's the first time out for this tent, and have to say the thing is so much easier to put up than my last one, as the poles are already installed and all you have to do is fold it out, fix the knuckles and peg it down. 20 seconds it ain't, but less hassle it certainly is. Money well spent.
This was probably one of the most disappointing meetings I've marshalled at, mainly because I was really looking forward to it and we got let down for all sorts of reasons. Nothing major went wrong, it was just a combination of many little things that mounted up and started to get to people. It started with an admin cockup which meant we had no tickets or instructions. No biggie, the circuit soon sorted that for us although all we got told was "be at the circuit for 9am to sign on". On Saturday morning, it was still pissing down as it had been all night. It'd been so heavy I woke up at 4am as it was pounding so loudly on the tent canvass - I'm not a happy bloke without a decent amount of sleep, so it doesn't take much to get to me during the day.
The next problem was signon - no one knew where it was. Usually we do it in the club house, but although we gathered there no one turned up with the sheets. After hanging around for a while I decided to venture in to the drivers signon hut and ask there. Lo and behold, that's where the sheets were - nice to be told :S They had already pre-allocated posts, but that got screwed up as they had no idea how many people were needed where. It took some help from one of our guys to help them sort that out, and I got posted to the Hairpin - a fantastic place to marshal and always lots to do.
As the rain was still coming down, I went back to the club house. Too much water was on the track and they delayed the start several times, until we finally got going at 12:05. Due to the delay we had no lunch, but that was understandable and we got "fed up" (words of the chief marshal!!) before we went on circuit. That was when we found out the biggest problem of the weekend would be communication. The Irish guys brought their own radios, which are unlicensed in the UK and use a different frequency to the normal MSA sanctioned ones. No one knew what frequency they used, so our scanners were useless and the only people who knew what was going on were the observers on each post. Scanners are not necessary, but they are handy especially when flagging as I was. On the Saturday, our obs wasn't all that forthcoming with info such as "the cars have left the paddock" and "chequered flag", so it made the task a little harder than normal. Nothing serious, just another niggle.
The Saturday actually went OK once we got going. The rain stopped, everyone got their sessions in and we saw some great driving and a few races. The Legends were up to their usual tricks including a spectacular roll for one on Douglas. Car was broken, but fixable (although not in one night) and the driver was fine. A few sore limbs but raring to go the next day. Enjoyed the day and was hoping for more dry weather the next day...
...Shame the forecast was right then! Sunday was the opposite to Saturday where the weather was concerned. It started to rain lightly at about 6am and go t steadily worse as the day wore on. Again, no one knew what time signon was and this time the sheets were fucked up, so I wasn't down and had to add my name as an extra. How something like that can go so wrong I'll never know (lots of us were missed out, nit just me). Anyway, got on circuit and away the cars went. Today we had far more problems with communication - our obs radio just didn't work. It seemed to transmit OK, but receiving from control was impossible as it was constantly breaking up. Despite complaints, there was no working spares and we had to put up with it. They tried to blame it on the weather, but other radios at the same point were working fine, so we simply had a shit radio and had to hope we didn't have any serious incident that was made worse by our issues.
Our worst fears were realised when about 5 laps in to the formula ford practice, in heavy rain, one car aquaplaned on the standing water as it braked for the hairpin and slammed in to the tyre wall. I throw the yellow, and our obs takes a look at the situation. It's only just off the track, in a very dangerous position and the driver isn't moving. Due to the way that part of the track is laid out, we can't get to him without crossing the track, and in these conditions there is no way we'd risk our lives doing that. There was no option but to ask for a red flag. That's where we get in to difficulty - we can't hear if control have received our call and have no idea what's going on. 3 laps later, I see the red go out on the back straight and we know it's been received. Our obs is rightfully pissed off, and the incident marshals go to sort the car out. The driver was fine, I'm guessing he stayed in the car in case anymore cars came off as it's the safest place to be, a shrewd move on his part considering the conditions.
At this point there is so much standing water on the track, it'd be too dangerous to continue with the meeting. The stewards agree, and the rest of the day is cancelled. A disappointing end, but completely understandable & by this point (dinner had already been cancelled with no warning) most people just wanted to dry off, get warm and go home. It was by no means anyone's fault that the overall feeling was "unhappy" with the way the weekend went, but motorsport is like that and you have to take the great days with the not so great.
I've now got a few weekends off, until the big one - F1 @ Silverstone. 100,000+ fans and I'm starting to get nervous. Lots of people watching you, but once the action starts I'm sure I'll forget all about 'em and enjoy the experience.
