The good & bad side of marshalling

[gainsy]

Yesterday i encountered some of the best & worst marshalling i have ever seen
In my second heat my track rod came clean off, not only did the marshal go & find the trackrod but had me back in the race within 30 seconds thanks dude

In the final a similar thing happened but just 1 end came off, a different marshal picked my car up & attempted to put it back on, not a racer but someones father i think, he shouted at me to stop reving the car, not what i was doing, it was just suffering from interferance as i had to use my old 27mhz set up, now instead of turning the car off my car was flung into the nearby fence/bush, not placed there but flung, couldn't believe what i was seeing to be honest, i know at least 2 other club members saw this from the look on their faces as i went to collect my car from the bush, to say i was furious was a understatement but as there were kids racing & watching i didn't say anything, upon inspection of my car i found that where the car was flung to the fence there is a post there that has cracked the top front chassis on my car now even more unimpressed
What irk's me a bit is i caught this guys sons car earlier in the day as it rolled out of control at full speed towards the same poxy post thereby saving it's front end
I have never shouted at a marshal yet but that was as close as i have ever come
Will have to be more careful next time & only crash near the good guys
Venting over now

[Si Coe]

Hmmm!

Technically:

1) Marshals aren't supposed to fix cars.
I know lots do, but thats not actually what they are there for. If the marshal was faffing with someone elses trackrod and he crashed nearby you'd be fuming that you weren't turned over promptly. Can't have it both ways....

2) Marshals aren't supposed to turn over cars that are still revving.
It doesn't really matter why the wheels are turning, intentional or not - you still don't what to get your hand in there!

3 ) If your radio gear is glitching that badly, the car is not in your control and should not be on the track.

Admittedly flinging your car in a fence is a bit off, but considering all the above I suspect he was as annoyed with you as you seem to be with him.

[gainsy]

Then i guess he should have just left my car alone as i wouldn't expect him to fix my car if someone else needed marshalling, all i expected was it to be put down with a bit of care not launched
Also my car was only suffering interferance at that part of the track, it was fine round the rest of the track

[lordnikon]

As a newbie to racing (in many years) and the etiquette (sp) of marshalling I wouldn't even dream of messing with someone elses car. If its broken and withdrawn then take if off the racing track and leave it on the side. At most i would turn it off if safe to do so.

I have no idea if this is right or wrong but i know i wouldn't like someone messing with my car so treat them the same. If it means i dont finish the race then so be it.

It does sound in this instance that it might have been alittle harsh, but without being there its impossible to know/say tbh

[Skye]

I was there and it was definitely a little harsh. I take on board Si's comments but when marshalling if a ball joint just needs popping back on then we all do it, don't we?? I know I do....

I also get he may be a little annoyed if he thought the car was being deliberately but it's inexcusable to throw another drivers car under any circumstance.

[OneKiwi]

agreed with most of the comments but any day racing with not the greatest marshalling is still a good day racing.. you guys have mid week racing and Im sure you can race nearly every weekend, thats a dream for me

[Darren Wales]

From what I have read here, it is my professional view that the action of said marshal could easily be construed as criminal.

Whilst I note Si's points, I feel he has misread the point raised by the initial author, yet in doing so, he has also agreed with him.

I too would never shout at a marshal, as it is mostly my fault they are needed. But to throw another persons property so recklessly as to cause damage is criminal and the oaf that did so, what ever his reasons, should look to remunerate the cost of repair.

[racingdwarf]

simple as this,at big meetings nats etc

If the car arrived at his feet broken, he should be looking for the off switch or the plugs, The whole idea of not fixing the cars is you may miss another car in need of marsheling while you are trying to fix the one in your hands,Put the shoe on the other foot, if you rolled, and the marshel was not looking as he was trying to sort a broken car...would you be shouting? think I would in the heat of the moment!

If the car is reving AND broken,,,well again, should be turned off.
A driver/marshel with any experince would soon know if the reving was interference or malis.

there is NO way the car should have been thrown, at a large meeting this should have been penalised,

as a marshel/stand in marshel you should be able to deal with the problems that come to you.. runaway cars (rallyx),broken cars, smoking cars etc, if a car is out of control,you don't just throw it in the bushes.

BUT at small club meeting etc I will always try to fix a car if poss, as at club all should have a good day, including begginers who may well have poorly preped cars..I want them to come back,not go home fed up and not come back

if in this case you put your car on the track with worn ball joints, expect not to make it to the end, If you put a car out knowing you had interference probs, thats not fair to marshels or other racers, but still the worst that should have happened is it gets switched off and you take the long walk...we have all done it LOL

[Si Coe]

I should point out I have had my car thrown in the bushes by an over-zealous marshal.
We'd just got out new Astro, already had one lipo fire at the track that day, and my car stopped at his feet with smoke coming out, so he launched it as far from the track as possible! In the end the problem was just a dead motor, and disconnecting is the correct approach, but the marshal in question saw the car as a danger and removed it.

Essentially the point of my post was that when I've looked at complaints about marshalling, very often the problem actually lies with the driver. Everyone thinks their car is the only one that should get the attention, and it should be instant. This is unrealistic - especially if you are running a car so unreliable it needs the marshals assistance to finish the heat!

Throwing your car is inexcusable, but then running a car that is glitching with loose ballcups is asking for trouble too. The difference is you don't even see that you did anything wrong.

[Adam F]

I think criminal is taking it a bit far!

The marshal shouldn't have thrown it, but it sounds borderline if the car should have been on the track in the first place.

[gainsy]

Let's just make 1 thing perfectly clear here
The interferance i was getting was only coming in 1 tiny part of the track & only for a brief moment, not even a second & at no time was i in danger of loosing control of the car, i was running second in the final & the ball joints came off from being rammed from behind both times, all my ballcups are new & my car is not badly set up

[racingdwarf]

Originally Posted by gainsy

Let's just make 1 thing perfectly clear here
The interferance i was getting was only coming in 1 tiny part of the track & only for a brief moment, not even a second & at no time was i in danger of loosing control of the car, i was running second in the final & the ball joints came off from being rammed from behind both times, all my ballcups are new & my car is not badly set up

Easy tiger, Thing you need to take from this is there was no way your car should have been thrown, But I think what I and other people are also saying in general is that if your car is broken, playing up in any way the marshels textbook action should be to remove it from the track. so if you had only interferance you would have prob made it to the end of the race, but your balljoint was off and your car was mad in his hands, he should have looked for the switch or plug

[gainsy]

I agree with you racing dwarf 100%, dont get me wrong i would have been perfectly happy if he had turned the car off & placed it by the side of the track, i could see the ball joint had popped & didn't expect him to fix it, it would have been easy for him to do as there was someone standing next to him so he could have recovered any cars that might have crashed while he was turning mine off, the only bit i got annoyed at was the way it was launched
Apologies if i came across a bit strong

[rondoolaa]

at our track if a cars rod end or ball joint pops out the nearest marshall would normally pick it up and do a quick 3 second repair, i like it like that,

nobody at our track would ever concieve throwing someone elses car about, i would be right peeved if someone did it to mine especially if the chassis was damaged,

dont know how you held your cool but well done

[AfroP]

if i can see what's wrong with a car that needs marshalling I'll try to fix it as quick as possible, at times though i have encountered cars with bust arms and other parts where i have signalled to a driver that its dead and been shouted at for not putting it back on track

[discostu]

it seems to me the car slinging could have been avoided if you had sorted out the issues with your car ie ball joints that you said already poped off earlier that day and the inteferance that you knew about, im not being funny if i was trying to pop a ball joint back on as a good deed and it started to glitch up i would probaly sling it too before my fingers end up wedged in a drive shaft or wheel. also how can you be in control if its glitching even if its just one section of track.

[racingdwarf]

Originally Posted by discostu

it seems to me the car slinging could have been avoided if you had sorted out the issues with your car ie ball joints that you said already poped off earlier that day and the inteferance that you knew about, im not being funny if i was trying to pop a ball joint back on as a good deed and it started to glitch up i would probaly sling it too before my fingers end up wedged in a drive shaft or wheel. also how can you be in control if its glitching even if its just one section of track.

if you know what your doing,you don't sling it

[discostu]

yeah your correct i agree because a random glitch whilst your fingers are right next to the drive shaft and wheel would never catch the most experience driver/marshal out are you for real.

what im getting at if the problems were fixed in the first place it would have never happened.

[racingdwarf]

yes mate I am for real,simple pick up mad car,put it on it's roof if you can't get your hands in there due to time or worried about getting hurt,let the driver or pit man come get it and sort it,with rallyx things can get more hairy with a full on runaway and you may need the help of another marshal.

So what are you going to do? you have a broken car in your hands with what seems interference,yep lob it and see what happens...may even roar off across the track,taking out some other cars,but hey,least its not your problem any more, or you could just lob it in a bush,great work!

not that long ago before 2.4 interference was far more common,and could catch even the best prepared driver and car out with very little warning,this chap was on 27mhz

[kaszal]

I was watching the finals last Sunday (not officially marshalling) and I fixed a car that happened to come my way (the speed control got turned off) allowing the driver finish his final. It's good to help each other out at club meetings but of course not at the expense of good marshalling.

Sorry to hear about that, Gainsy. Each car is someone's pride and joy and should be treated as you would expect your property to be treated. Racing's a lot more fun when folks are friendly