Quote Originally Posted by Oldfart View Post
In the "good old days" the way into motorsport was to be a support person, it used to be called flag marshalling. In recent times I have volunteered to help when I can't compete, only to be turned down as I " don't have the training".
I have then been forced to watch, what I consider as a sometimes competitor, as barely adequate marshalling. In my humble opinion, there are plenty of volunteers being sidelined by a small minority of the old "give a man a title" type people who make this an unpleasant place to be. If they do turn out to man a post they are often belittled, and for sure will not return. I reckon that even people who have driven round a circuit as slowly as I, have more idea of what is needed by the competitors.
I'm really sorry to hear that any volunteer would be made to feel that way and certainly hope it wasn't any of our team. We're constantly on the look out for volunteers and have several racing drivers who come to meetings they're not competiting in to help out.

You're absolutely right about drivers being excellent marshals - they can 'read' a race in a way that takes us mere mortals years to learn and are excellent in passing this skill on.

If you'd like to come out and volunteer at one of the events we man, I'd be very pleased to see you - or any of the other forum users - on the "other side of the armco" for a day.

Deb