Event date: 15 June 2024
The day started for me at 7 am in the light fog – was there going to be any racing?? BMW cars appeared and I was marshalling at the intersection between the Thunderdome and the pits. A pile of cars in various states entered left to the Thunderdome and the good-looking tidy cars (mostly BMW’s) turned right to the pits. An interesting selection of cars and really appreciative people made the job exciting and interesting. BMW cars were joined by a couple of beautiful Porsches, Mazda MX5 and even a Subaru. The steady flow continued to around 8 am.
Briefing for the Flag Marshalls took place outside the office – what a great professional group that look after all the racers.
The main briefing started at 8:15 with all the information given to all the officials. A drivers’ briefing followed that.
Jo had a great team helping with the registrations of competitors and officials.
If you stand back, you can see the hours of work that goes on behind the scenes by Jo and Graeme (and others) to ensure that everything is well prepared for a successful event that is extremely well organised and just flows! How lucky is the BMWDC to have these people!
My next job was to direct the cars down pit lane to the starting marshals waiting for them to organise them on to the Calder track. But before they even got to me a group of scrutineers has checked that every vehicle is safe for track use as is the driver!
The cars enter the track and another group looks after them – timers, flags, race control, safety car, recovery, medics – all amongst the people behind the scenes ensuring the event flows along without you realising it. What a great job these people do – thanks to them.
As the cars leave the track, I try to make sure that they can head back to the pits without being hindered.
This happens for each group of racers and each time they go on and off the track.
At lunch time there is a special chance for us mere mortals to have a parade lap which was actually laps to have a drive around the circuit. Graeme leads this after a briefing so we all know what to do = no passing and enjoy yourself. I enjoyed my drive and really appreciated being able to sample the track – thanks for organising this.
Back to the sprints – the cars came and went till around 4:30 pm.
The pack up was next. Graeme and Jo are still there as many leave, making sure that all the required items are completed, all the equipment packed up and taken home. Helpers are there as well and are excused to go home.
The day is over. It was cold at times but I appreciated the sun that appeared at times. The day was so interesting that you didn’t notice the weather.
My final thoughts – come and have a go at these days. The come and try driving is an excellent way to sample motor sport and the parade laps a great way to see what it is like to drive on a track. Being an official is interesting and flag marshalling is a great way to be up close the racing. BMWDC is a great club and the members make the day very enjoyable even if you turn up in a Mercedes. Thanks to the organisers for a great day – I will be back again!
Chris Houghton-Allen | Member #770
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne
