Question about volunteering

[Charlies]

Hi,

I joined the BMMC earlier in the year and have finally found the time to volunteer. I just wanted to ask a quick question; if I submit the volunteer form on the BMMC website, do I need to inform anyone else, or is that all I need to do to attend an event?

[alexhall]

That's all you need to do. Other than turning up on the day

[Guinness2702]

Actually, for most events, just turning up on the day is enough. You'll usually be welcome and appreciated (although, so will advance notice - oh, and I'm not sure what cover the BMMC insurance would give you if they don't know in advance).

[HairyDJ]

most importantly, keep a record of what you've volunteered to attend. The various web based volunteering forms make life very easy to "apply", but not so simple if you forget what you signed up for months ago, or to be able to let organisers know if you need to drop out for any reason.

The only regrets I have when using centralised / circuit based volunteering forms is that some of the clubs that I support no longer realise that I'm still choosing them. That also can mean dropping off club magazine / email news lists?

[Dave Brand]

You should only volunteer once for each meeting!

Whenever possible try to volunteer in advance, as just turning up on the day may create problems getting into the circuit. It also helps the people doing post allocations if they know in advance who to expect - for the same reason it's vitally important if you find you can't do a meeting you've volunteered for to let the appropriate person (usually the chief marshal) know.

[Charlies]

Thanks everyone for all the advice. Hopefully I'll meet some of you in the near future.

[numbersix]

Originally Posted by HairyDJ

... some of the clubs that I support no longer realise that I'm still choosing them. That also can mean dropping off club magazine / email news lists?

A very valid point. I used to be a member of BARC but not at the moment, so I volunteer direct through the BMMC system. However I find that BARC's system does seem to pick up when I have attended a meeting (I assume via the day's sign-on sheets), but not always, and apparently I have attended several races at circuits I've never been to in my life!

One of the (many) nice things about the system at Oulton Park is that 'they' issue a volunteer form at the beginning of the year for all that year's events, irrespective of which club is running it. So if you join another club, such as BARC, and look at their volunteering form, you will only find BARC events.

The reason I put 'they' in apostrophes is because one of the things I didn't understand when I first started marshalling is that different clubs have their own marshals, and those clubs issue volunteer lists for their own events. (So, when I first started, I thought that Oulton Park only ran 2-3 races per year! I even travelled hundreds of miles to attend BARC training days before I realised that both OP and Donington [my local circuits] ran superb training days too.)

By looking at BMMC information on volunteering, you discover that there are both official and unofficial marshals 'clubs' dedicated to a circuit, not to a particular racing club, who provide you with all the information you need on a particular circuit.

Hope this makes sense.

Phil