Flag marshalling at Sandown VSCRC 
21-22 July 2018

A few thoughts on my experience as a trainee flag marshal.

I thanked Eric Rigg, David Thornbury & William Gaff (who all came & spoke at our BMWDCM meeting).

After expressing an interest, and before the meet, Eric was very helpful in walking me through the process of signing up, training as a flag marshal and getting a CAMS licence.  Arthur Cooksley also followed up to check if I had any problems or questions.

On arrival, all went out of your way to welcome me on my first day, introducing me to who I'd be working with and letting me know where I'd be going.

Brian and Glenn, who I flag marshalled with were equally friendly and welcoming.  Glenn arranged for me to have an extra headset so I could hear how the meet is managed and what was going on around the track.

Brian and Glenn were more than happy to answer all my questions and give me helpful advice on what I was supposed to do on the day plus helpful tips on how best to do it.

There is more to flag marshalling than just waving some flags.  Having the opportunity to listen over the radio and actually doing some flag marshalling, I now have a better idea, how professionally an event is run. In particular:

• the systems and training in place to make the event as safe as possible;
• the systems and training in place to run multiple qualifying sessions and races, manage any unplanned events and still stick to the planned program;
• the structure and record keeping in place so that, if after the measures above, there is an incident, it is effectively managed & can be followed up afterwards and learned from.

Not just at the induction but throughout the day and at the BBQ after, I felt welcome and well looked after.

Overall it was a lot of fun to be doing the next best thing to be in a car racing in a given race and maybe better as we were involved in each session or race, on the day not just one event.

David Ebeling  |  Member #24
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne