MSVR Starter Day 19th March.

[White flag man]

Just a note to say thanks, to all, for a great day yesterday, despite the continuing Arctic conditions.
First time I've marshalled down the Hatch and can't wait to get back there, 750 MC weekend, 2 weeks time. Very professional, very well organised, lots of experience and very friendly.
I have to give a special mention to Mildred and Steve for their help on my arrival (despite all my questions), and to Nigel, our post Observer.
Hope all the guys (including drivers) were alright on post 3 and 5, you were told not to play with magnets. Hope the 2 marshals who came over from Antwerp, got home safe.
Thanks again, credit where credit's due, and see you soon

[Stephen Green]

Hi and great to meet you yesterday. The driver from the biggie at post 5 was fine (as were we, given he hit the post dead on and shook us up a little). One of the Antwerp marshals is our very own Eddy V so you got to meet several 10-10thers

[Novice]

All was fine on Post 3, warmed up a little bit in the last race. Driver was ok, his first meeting with 2 accidents. He was more worried about what his dad was going to say.

Thanks to all the guys on post 3 and 4a for an excellent job.

[Stephen Green]

Aaaaaaah young Mr Brundle.

[Eddy V]

Duh, Antwerp, me?

WFM, I guess you were the man in black?
Yes, we got home okay, around 10-ish and no speedtrap flash in France that way.

coooold, coooold,coooold,

[Stephen Green]

Nope that was a sillystone marshal. This was your novice marshal for the day Eddie.

[White flag man]

Originally Posted by Eddy V

Duh, Antwerp, me?

WFM, I guess you were the man in black?
Yes, we got home okay, around 10-ish and no speedtrap flash in France that way.

coooold, coooold,coooold,

Hi Eddy,
I'm pleased to hear that you thought I was that good and efficient , but as Steve has already pointed out, that wasn't me though I hope I can get as good and confident as Robert (sorry Rob, should have given you a special mention with the other 3). I was the guy paired up with young Benny. Hope to see you soon.

[danccooke]

It was a great day, had fun round on post 10, special thanks to whoever the T Car Mechanic was who made a special point of thanking us for marshalling on such a cold day, as we walked through the pit in the morning, I did point out that we look silly on the side of the track with no cars so thanks for racing.
Special thanks go out to the driver of the Avensis. Sweeping concrete into 400yards of oil warmed us all up

Hooooraaahhhhh the seasons started again

[ascarmarshal]

Originally Posted by Stephen Green

Aaaaaaah young Mr Brundle.

He had an off at 23 on Saturday as well. Made me dive for cover

[Mike Kelly 1]

An excellent day apart from the artic like conditions. It was even colder than Mallory the week before. Tried to keep the brain from freezing by coming up with autosport style headlines for young Mr Brundle. The best we got was "Baby Brundle bends both!" All the racing was fantastic with decent sized grids (well, apart from the kiddy cars). My highlights were watching both of Mr Challis's charges from the back of the grid in the saloon races (took me back to the hey days of super tourers) and my local team (Juno racing) who took the lead in the first sports and GT race with two laps to go.

Thanks to MSVR for the morning tea, £5 and the beer after the meeting. Could have done with a pint of tea instead of the beer!

Thought I had a good run back to Preston as I got home at 22:45, then I saw Eddys post (below) Was he in a tardis?

Originally Posted by Eddy V

Yes, we got home okay, around 10-ish and no speedtrap flash in France that way.

coooold, coooold,coooold,

Finally I'd like to say goodbye to Steve Collier who is emigrating to New Zealand in 6 weeks time. It was a fitting way for us to spend a day on the bank together as I met steve when we were both marshalling at Lodge corner at Oulton back in '98. Good luck down under and keep us 10/10thers up to date with motorsport down under. Hope to see you at bathurst in 2007.

[jonbryant]

Steve's leaving Blighty's sunny shores? I'm glad you mentioned that Mike. I'll try and ping him at the 750MC meeting...

And I'd also like to thank everyone involved. Very entertaining meeting and good racing. Thanks aswell to Mildred and all the Chiefs for all their usual sterling work. Special mention to those on 4a and 3 for the handling of the fire and also to Snapper Baz who disappeared 2 laps before Master Brundle fell off, thereby costing himself several £00's...

Although can I put a small comment in? I have to say that on a freezing cold day, I for one could have done without the 15 minute gap between sessions. I agree with building in gaps for clear ups etc but surely they should have been rubbing their hands and saving whilst it was available? Not to mention we could have saved an hour over the day.

[Stephen Green]

Don't forget that this was the first MSVR meeting and as such, had to run according to the timetable. The point of the meeting was to prove to the MSA that they are capable of running proper meetings and are ready to do the same for the larger internationals such as WTCC and DTM.

[jonbryant]

Ah. Yes that would make sense. Prove they can do it etc. Which I think they did. I was just offering constructive criticism from a cold marshal. At least I could pour and drink my coffee in the same break!

[Stephen Green]

I think we all suffered from the cold Jon and I expect the next few meetings to have a similar timetable. It was nice to hear JP on the PA at the end of the meeting thanking all the marshals.

[Tim Falce]

As a racer I thought the 15 minutes downtime seemed to be a bit of a drag but at least the big plan came together. I thnk MSVR could teach a couple of the clubs a thing or two, it was very well organised.
Cold wasn't the word for yesterday, I was even glad the second Sports & Gt race didn't go back out after the red flag.

[jonbryant]

Well I must confess I wasn't as cold as some were. We were a bit sheltered down in the cave...

And I didn't actually hear JP. Was picking bits of T-Car up so wasn't listening to the PA but it's nice to know that he thanked us. Always helps! And I agree with Falcemob in that it certainly was well organised.

[Piglet]

I don't think there was a deliberate attempt to wait the 15 minutes between races.

Where there was a gap as far as I'm aware it was to allow for recoveries and to give drivers time to get to the assembly area.

The biggest problem was that there were a number of drivers who didn't show up for races and hadn't advised that they were retiring. This makes it difficult to move too far ahead of time - if you start early and then find that a driver was struggling to make the start you get an unhappy driver!! If you're waiting for 30 cars in the assembly area and only have 25 there will be a gap whilst everyone waits to see if the missing drivers are going to show up.

[Ian Sowman]

Oh come on, all drivers know to be in the assembly area at least 20 minutes before their session or race, and that they are responsible for monitoring the progress of the day. If organisers are waiting around for latecomers, they probably shouldn't be.

[Piglet]

Originally Posted by Ian Sowman

Oh come on, all drivers know to be in the assembly area at least 20 minutes before their session or race, and that they are responsible for monitoring the progress of the day. If organisers are waiting around for latecomers, they probably shouldn't be.

...if only life were that simple Ian.

[Happy Snapper]

Originally Posted by Ian Sowman

Oh come on, all drivers know to be in the assembly area at least 20 minutes before their session or race, and that they are responsible for monitoring the progress of the day. If organisers are waiting around for latecomers, they probably shouldn't be.

Most off the drivers were in assembly area by end of the previous race, a few were in the previous race, as luck would have it they were on the podium also! I don’t think there we had any real delays, we had some repairs to tire walls and re-laying some grass (green side up), which was completed very efficiently and this kept things more or less on schedule.

A cold but enjoyable start to 2006, the competitors I spoke too appeared happy especially as they had plenty of tack time. It’s a pity the last race ended with young Brundle in the wall, he had the throttle pedal come adrift and then wedge its self under the brake pedal, which wasn’t conclusive to getting round Paddock Hill.

Thanks to all the marshals especially those at the Pit Lane entrance, I think I got everybody to the podium (eventually) and some people several times.

[Novice]

Originally Posted by Happy Snapper

It’s a pity the last race ended with young Palmer in the wall, he had the throttle pedal come adrift and then wedge its self under the brake pedal, which wasn’t conclusive to getting round Paddock Hill.

It wasn't young Mr Palmer it was young Mr Brundle.

[Piglet]

Originally Posted by Novice

It wasn't young Mr Palmer it was young Mr Brundle.

T'was indeed! It was not a good weekend for young Alex.

[Novice]

He was more concerned with what his dad was going to say rather than the fact that he had just crashed.

[Piglet]

Originally Posted by Novice

He was more concerned with what his dad was going to say rather than the fact that he had just crashed.

Sounds like the right attitude for a driver! You'd not want to phone your dad in Malaysia and say "crashed the car twice Dad - it might need a respray!" Poor lad.

[Happy Snapper]

Originally Posted by Piglet

Sounds like the right attitude for a driver! You'd not want to phone your dad in Malaysia and say "crashed the car twice Dad - it might need a respray!" Poor lad.

Only after we get the fire out!