​The Glamour of Motorsport Marshalling

The sight of a weary marshal slumped against the side of a dumpster at 2pm on a crisp July afternoon, his eyes closed, head weighing heavy, was one of my most enduring memories from the Spa 24 Hour race.

The man didn't stir as I took his picture on my way back to the media centre, but then I could hardly blame him. 22 hours in, having braved rain of biblical proportions on Saturday afternoon, the long night hours, and maddening early morning as mist slowly gave way to light, this man's moment of downtime – as much as it could be said to be downtime with the drone of engine noise unrelenting – was richly deserved.

But what is it that compels these unsung heroes to don the orange boiler suit and give up their weekends to go marshalling for no financial remuneration, in all weather conditions, and at not inconsiderable risk to their personal safety? In a sense, it's much like working a festival – only one with a very different kind of music.

"I can get as close as you can possibly imagine; there's next to nothing between us and the cars," says Matt Dolan, 40, who works for a pharmaceutical company. "Where a spectator is sat six feet behind the catch fence and another 12 feet from the edge of the track, at Le Mans on the Mulsanne Straight we're six feet away from the racing line, where they're doing 200-plus miles per hour. You just can't get adrenaline like that unless you're behind the wheel, except this gets you 20% of the adrenaline for zero cost."

Frankly, it sounds crazy, and indeed it sometimes is. Trackside marshals are the first responders to incidents and must be ready to face any number of eventualities, possibly including life-threatening scenarios.

"At the end of the day, you need an understanding family," says Roger King, who has been marshalling at Brands Hatch for over 40 years. "If anything happens, you're right there and getting involved. You have to mix with other people and get on with them, because you could be out there with them saving a life."

"It could be something simple, you could see someone acting up in the crowd that you then have to report to race-control, or it could be a fire on a vehicle or a five-car pileup," Dolan adds. "There are an awful lot of things that can go wrong around the track, and after eight years of marshalling you do see quite a bit; you see the best of it and you see the worst of it. When you start out, you're very eager and desperate for something to happen, but then you have a weekend when you're absolutely shattered and you just wish they'd leave you alone. That's the turning point."

But in such dark moments, the famous orange army camaraderie can be relied upon to shine through.

"It's a very enjoyable pastime. You get to meet a lot of people, there's hardly any bitching and everybody is very friendly," says senior startline official Bryan Degerlund, who first marshalled in 1961. "I do Silverstone for the Grand Prix, I do the Goodwood meetings, I was at the first Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the first Austin [U.S.] Grand Prix and I've been to Spa and Zolder a few times as well. It's never too late to get involved, you look round here and there are certainly plenty of older marshals, some of whom have only just started."

Roger Miller is one such example, having taken up marshalling four years ago following his retirement. Having tried all the different roles on offer as a trainee, he decided to base himself in the pits.

"I've been coming to Brands since the 1960s, so you can tell how old I am!" Miller laughs. "Marshalling in the pits means I can see these cars from my youth up close and talk to the drivers and the mechanics; they don't mind at all and are happy to talk about them. I'd recommend it to absolutely anybody who wants to get closer to the cars than the spectators can, and all for free."

At the other end of the spectrum is Daniel Herlihy, 17, who credits Lewis Hamilton with inspiring his involvement in motorsport.

"I'm not spoiled rich or anything and can't afford to go to a Grand Prix with my parents, so I felt marshalling was the best way to get involved," he says. "I'm not allowed on-track until I'm 18 so I'm thinking of dabbling between track, pits and the assembly area, just to see what it's like, because I don't think I've had the full experience yet."

A recent study by AUTOSPORT found that whilst 4,910 marshals are male, only 842 are female – roughly equating to one woman for every five men – but there are more joining all the time, including 18-year-old trainee Alice Turner.

"I used to come down in pitlane all the time because one of my best friends was a marshal, so I saw it from this perspective and really wanted to try it for a hobby," she said. "Hopefully it will be a very easy day!"

Dawn Boyd, 43, has raced a variety of machinery from Caterhams to Minis, a Golf GTi, Fiesta ST and Honda Civic Type-R, but wanted a taster of life on the other side of the barriers and was hooked.

"There's not enough of us, but girls are always welcomed and treated like one of the gang," posits Boyd, a marshal for two and a half years. "Some people may think it's all men and that they wouldn't feel safe, but everyone has a good laugh, we're all here for the love of the sport. Come along on a taster day and they will look after you all day."

"More ladies are always welcome, I've never had a problem with being a female in a so-called man's world," adds Leicestershire-based Rachel Dale, who volunteers in the pits alongside partner Jules at SRO events. "In fact, a lot of the drivers and the teams tend to respond to females better, so it would be great to see more girls out there."

Regardless of gender, the core fact is that without the marshals' passion, the sport as we know it would grind to a standstill – a fact which they relish.

"We do give our time for free, but we love doing it, it's not a chore at all," agrees dyed-in-the-wool motorsport fan Alistair Durrant. "Without us the racing couldn't happen and we all take pride from that."

"They couldn't run the races without the marshals, and that's not just us saying that; it's the management and the clerk of the course as well," adds Miller. "We could always do with more marshals and sometimes we're very short. The other week we had a club meeting where there was only four or five of us in the pitlane, which makes things a little difficult."

But it was 71-year-old Post Chief Roger Morris, a 50-year veteran who runs a crew of around 20 people at Snetterton, who summed it up best.

"Put simply, without marshalling, motor racing would find it very difficult to function," he said. "There have been various attempts to automate elements of marshalling over the years and at some meetings to reduce the number of us by having fast-incident response vehicles based around the circuit. But I think these days we are appreciated a lot more than we used to be.

"If you go back a number of years, marshals were viewed as a necessary inconvenience, but that attitude has changed and the organisers are very good to us; they will contribute towards petrol costs and MSVR meetings give us a free breakfast in the morning to set us up for the day. It's definitely very rewarding."

Roger, on behalf of all motorsport fans, we salute you.

If you would like to get involved in marshalling, contact the British Motorsport Marshals Club, who will direct you to your nearest club.

@james_newbold