MARSHALS’ The newsletter of the South East Region of the British Motorsport P OST Marshals Club SPRING 2020 SPRING 2020 Chairman’s Thoughts As we enter a new motor racing season, I’m reminded of one of SE Region’s objectives; one we have struggled to achieve over the past few years, but I’m pleased to say it’s one which we are making some significant progress within the past 12 months. I’m referring, of course, to broadening our interests beyond simply Brands Hatch, and to other road racing circuits and other racing disciplines, of which when you look at the BMMC Volunteering site, there are several. I’m pleased to announce that, at long last, we’ve recruited a Snetterton Representative. Tony Lacey has agreed to represent our colleagues at the Norfolk venue via regular articles in this journal, a presentation at the region’s AGM, and monthly reports to SE Committee. Together with Paul Bardwell’s leadership of Taster Days at Snetterton, I trust that our members at Snetterton will feel that they are inclusive members of BMMC (SE). I leave Tony to introduce himself, elsewhere in this issue. Once a new date for the recently postponed marshals’ training day at Lydden Hill is announced, I will endeavour to attend to discuss with relevant parties how BMMC (SE) can raise the profile in a similar way to which we are doing at Snetterton. Anyone seen a chimpanzee flagging at Brands Hatch, late last year? He’s not only been flagging, but eating lots of roasted peanuts…..and simply depositing a mound of peanut shells where he has stood and flagged….and I mean a mound! At Post 22, I shovelled one such mound into the rubbish bin….fully 6 feet away from the flagging point. Other observers of wildlife have also reported similar evidence at Post 7. Mindful that this could be a motor-bike loving mammal, it might be that we can’t identify this specific mammal, but just in case he is “one of us”, could I ask that if you (especially Post Chiefs) see this “thing” simply scattering his discarded shells on to the ground around him, please point him in the direction of the nearest rubbish bin. Personally, if I had a gun….. Thank you. Autosport International is done and dusted for another year. BMMC enjoyed its usual share of good publicity, whether that be announcing new Ambassadors for the club, new (and very necessary branding) for the BMRC wing of our club, or signing up potential new and unsuspecting marshals. I didn’t make it to the show, but I’m sure many members did. Between Snetterton and Brands Hatch, we have almost 20 Taster Days lined up this year and I know we can rely on your making these raw, potential recruits very welcome. SE Region, as I have said before, is expanding its membership far faster than any other region in the UK and as well as the background work to which my colleagues in SE Committee commit themselves, that is very much down to YOU, our current members, spreading the news and encouraging others to join BMMC SE. Let’s see if we can continue this growth and aim, in 2020, to increase that from just over 500 to 550. That means if only 1 in 10 of our current members recruits just 1 new member, we’ll achieve that! Have an enjoyable and very safe 2020 racing season. Neil Stretton Chairman: BMMC (SE Region) - [email protected] BMMC (SE) Spring 2020 - Page 1 And Another Thing… (An Editorial) Well, here we go again… I’ve enjoyed a little break from things motorsport related recently and sometimes that is just what’s required to re- ignite the passion. A new season fast approaches and diaries are being filled as we speak. Whether you venture near or very far, I wish you enjoyment and safety in equal measures. I’ll be starting my year in Florida again at the ‘Super Sebring’ IMSA/WEC double header, so looking forward to that !! Statistics can be manipulated to mean almost anything, but recently I was watching the 2015 film ‘Hitting the Apex’, which followed the world of Moto GP racing. One of the senior medical staff produced a statistic which I found quite an eye opener. He spoke about the 2013 championship year, across the three Moto GP classes and revealed that there had been a total of 690 rider accidents that season. Play with the numbers any way you wish, but that is a lot of falling off…. I wonder what the F1 Grand Prix meeting stats are by comparison…. (I’ll let you find out !) Now that you are starting to re-pack your kit bags, consider your overalls.. Looking a bit tired? If you haven’t replaced them for a while (3 years) you could be eligible for a whopping 2020 subsidy of £86.50 against a new shiny pair of sponsored overalls supplied by Lille Racewear. For more information, click on the image opposite to visit the BMMC Regalia page. Last month’s BMMC (SE) ‘One Question Quiz’ was won by Paul Pini. The answer to the question was: ALFA ROMEO. In a slight change from previous arrangements, I’m aiming to get a minimum of 25 entries before a prize is released. That’s only about 5% of our electronic circulation, so let’s aim high !! For your chance to win this month’s ‘One Question Quiz’ please turn to page 11 Some new articles are included in this issue to encourage more contributions from members, so have a read, have a think, I’m positive there are many stories and experiences out there ready to share and entertain. I must also thank our fellow marshal Georgina O’Hara Smith for another thought provoking and eloquent item. Please take a moment to view it on page 9..I won’t spoil the surprise! Enjoy your sport and I hope to see you at a track very soon. Bob McEwan – Newsletter Editor – [email protected] Know Your Cars ? Just for fun.. Can you identify the silhouetted beauty below… ? No peeking, but the answer can be found on page 8 BMMC (SE) Spring 2020 - Page 2 OUR MAN FROM SNETT - Tony Lacey That old adage that marshals come from a diverse range of backgrounds is definitely true. You can be on post with colleagues whose usual daytime work can range from lorry drivers, to office managers, electrical engineers, printers to operations directors. Its part of the reason that makes marshalling such an interesting pastime – as if the racing wasn’t enough to keep you entertained! When I tell people what I’ve done it could easily take as long as a 24hr 2CV race! Born in Leicester, I started my working life as a professional musician playing keyboards in summer seasons, hotels, cruises, musical director at the Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds for 4 pantomimes. I moved onto television production having worked in front of the camera on a live late night TV programme. Starting as a researcher, I became a producer in factual television working around the world from the USA to Vienna. I’ve made programmes about the history of the British submarine which included filming at sea in a nuclear submarine, to filming with the ASPCA on the streets of New York – guns and all! Several years later I took redundancy and went freelance and continued to travel, working for a year in India with the country’s largest television production company. In my spare time (!) I represented my fellow musicians and sat on the Executive Committee of the Musicians Union and was chair of my local village hall charity trustees. Alongside all of this and since I was very young, I’ve had an interest in motorsport on two or four wheels. In fact in my teens, our house was opposite the Leicester Speedway stadium so I often got a ringside seat, albeit from my parents bedroom. I used to regularly go to Mallory Park and Donnington to see the likes of Graham Hill and the British Saloon Car Championship (the forerunner of the BTCC) and I think that’s where the seeds of my later love were sown. After my television career slowed down, I settled down in the wilds of Norfolk (I moved to run a recording studio) and made a home with my family. I decided that travelling around the World had to come to an end. I started a food business and street food enterprise, as well as doing some driving (not in the motorsport world, more light commercial vehicles!) My eldest daughter had been working for MG and, one year, as an anniversary present to my wife and me, she got us two tickets to see a Touring Car meeting at my local circuit, Snetterton. My interest in the sport was re-ignited and I researched how I could get involved. It wasn’t long before I’d signed up with BMMC and was at a taster day. The rest, they say, is history and I now spend my marshalling days between Snetterton and Brands, with the occasional Silverstone and Goodwood thrown in for variety - well, you know what they say! After a successful year last year increasing the number of taster days, three of us, Paul Bardwell (taster days), Ricky Hawkins (recruitment) and myself (rep) have teamed up to help with taking on the overall promotion of Snetterton to the outside world and our fellow marshals.