There are plenty of different types of volunteering that is needed to ensure that motorsport can happen.
Without volunteer Marshals, motorsport events wouldn’t be able to take place each weekend. Marshals are vital to the safe and smooth running of events all over the United Kingdom and perform a range of vital duties, from manning posts on track and responding to incidents, to manning time controls on rallies. Recognisable by their orange overalls or tabards, Marshals are a passionate and friendly part of the motorsport community. Motorsport UK registered Marshals are highly trained and often sought after to perform duties at events overseas.
To begin your marshalling journey, please visit the Motorsport UK website and obtain a log in by clicking here. Once you have signed up and logged in, please visit the Learning Hub by clicking through from your Member’s Area. The Learning Hub is Motorsport UK’s online learning platform where you will find some useful resources for Marshals, including the Registered Marshal Accreditation Course which needs to be completed by all first-time applicants for a Marshal registration.
The British Motorsport Marshals Club (BMMC) offer taster days, so you can experience a day in the life of a Marshal, which is a great way to find out if it’s something you’ll enjoy. Other clubs offer similar experiences, and it is best to contact them directly about this. You can find more information within the Volunteers section on the Motorsport UK website.
Becoming a Registered Marshal (Accredited) is your first step on the grading scheme ladder, and allows you to experience all of the different disciplines on offer before you select which area(s) of the sport you wish to develop in. After that, the Motorsport UK Marshal Grading Scheme provides a development pathway in the Race, Specialist, Kart, Speed and Rally & Cross-Country disciplines.
We recommend contacting a club local to you, to see what marshalling opportunities are available. You can find a club by either searching online or by using the ‘Find a Club’ search tool on the Motorsport UK website.
By marshalling on events, gaining on-event experience and speaking to other volunteers with a great deal of history in the sport, you’ll be able to figure out what events and disciplines you’re interested in. You can of course maintain your Marshal grade, or you can work towards the grading scheme for the specific discipline you’re interested in, which is explained in more detail below.
The Marshal Grading Scheme is a training route for Marshals to work towards senior marshalling roles. The grading scheme comprises of gaining event experience, on event assessments and completion of training modules, specific to each role. Completion of this upgrade criteria is recorded as signatures in a Marshal’s Personal Record Card (PRC) which will be provided once you upgrade from Registered Marshal to a discipline-specific Marshal. The PRC also outlines the criteria that needs to be met for each upgrade.
This is also where being a member of a club comes into play, as clubs need to endorse each Marshal’s upgrade application. Upgrade applications are then sent into Motorsport UK to review. All upgrades are reviewed by an external panel of highly experienced motorsport volunteers.
Signatures used for an upgrade must be recorded in a certain period of validity – all event signatures must be recorded in the last three years, with training event signatures needing to be achieved within the last two years. This is to ensure that our volunteer Marshals’ experience is recent to enable them to perform their role correctly, not only for their own safety, but the safety of their fellow volunteers, competitors and spectators.
The Examining roles in each discipline are the top grade a Marshal can receive. The responsibility of an Examining Marshal is to assess and mentor other Marshals working through the same grading scheme. Examining Marshals sign off on-event assessments for upgrading Marshals, should they have met the criteria. Marshals are ordinarily required to attend a minimum of 4 events every year and a training event
Useful contacts include:
In fact the majority of local and national motor clubs will be looking for a range of volunteers. Find yours here.