A Flag Marshal's Journey: 2014

Sunday, 7 December 2014

HQ 4 Hour Winton Raceway Dec 6th & 7th

Well last event of the year and it may not be V8 Supercars but we had it all HQ's or (V8 Supercars) 2 x 2 hour races Super TT or (Touring Car Masters) and Super Mini's or ( Aussie Race Cars) may have been only three categories but did they put it on the Minis were awesome great racing all w/end and we had the storms and rain just like Sydney with marshals being pulled off track Saturday afternoon for over an hour while a large storm passed through put us behind for the day but still finished on track by 530pm.
I was on Post 7 and also looking after the lights at Post 8 from 7. Post 7 is on a big RH turn good spot for action even though Saturday I only had some wides and no reports Sunday plenty of spins hits and some into the wall between posts 6 and 7 so ended up with 5 reports with post 6 also writing some. The Super TTs were a mix of some old V8s and TCM cars and others so was great to watch Mini's also ranged from some old classic to the newer models dont know what some of those older ones were running but they sure gave the new models a run for their money. HQ's we had about 27 on the Grid so once again they put on a great show in both wet and dry conditions.
Winton Raceway looked after us Marshals well like always with a nice packed Lunch Saturday and a beer or two at end of sessions. Sunday they pulled us off track for an hour no storm this time but instead they put on a nice xmas lunch with plenty of food for all, well what can I say but a great way to finish the year. No photos of cars this time but instead of Happy Team members enjoying the last round of the year.
The Bunkhouse to is such a great asset for anyone who travels up to stay.
Thanks everyone for reading my post look forward to next year when it starts all over again Stay Safe enjoy the Break with family and friends sort out your kit bags ready for next year. Look forward to meeting some of you track side in 2015 till then BYE.
Paul Kelly

Post 7.0

Nice and cosy

Light controls

Me relaxing between events

Looking Back to 6.0

Saturday lunch

Inside Bunkhouse

Bunkhouse

looking over to 8.0

Sunday, 30 November 2014

Island Magic November 29th & 30th 2014

Well drawing to the end of another motor-racing year and Phillip Island put on its best weather for this event Island Magic previously know as (The Victorian Championship meeting) which has been running for 24 years. With around 250 cars entered for the w/end we were in for some great racing I was posted on Start/Finish doing Coms With Rebecca and we had a Different driver each day to help out on Flags who were doing their 8 hours for Lic.
Car categories were Improved Production, Porsche 944, Formula Fords & 1600, Sports Sedans, Formula Vee, Historic Touring Cars and Sports Cars.
The w/end provided some great racing with plenty of spin offs and cars finding walls with the Sports Cars just not getting it right on Saturday with Red flags for both driver Qualifying and Co Driver Qualifying sessions and bringing out Safety car a number of times for their 1 hour race on Sunday.
Formula Vee finished off the weekend with a 10 lap race with 52 cars entered was great to see these lined up on pit lane before the race.
All races got off to a good start so we did not have to much work to do at our point though got to see some good action with cars going wide at 12.5 coming flat out along the grass before re-entering on the main straight. Flag points 9.0 to 9.6 seemed to be getting all the action with plenty of radio calls coming from them also 6.0 and 2.0 got their fair share all in all a fantastic way to finish off the year only have one other event to go and that is the HQ 4 hour at Winton raceway.
Look forward to starting off the new year at Bathurst 12 Hour. Stay safe until next time Paul.

Start/Finish and flag point

Add caption

Formula Vee lined up for last race

Thanks for reading

Sunday, 16 November 2014

Phillip Island 400 Nov 14 - 16 2014

Well another V8 round done and dusted the last one for me but still have two smaller events to go before the year finishes. Was placed at Flag Point 9.0 for the W/end this is the last point before they go up and over lukey Heights. The Team consisted of Judy on Coms, Gary Sector Marshal, Ian, Paul F and myself on Flags.
Other categories included Aussie Race Cars, Touring Car Masters TCM and Longford Revival Festival Sports GT which was made up of a mixture of cars from Evos, Skyline GT-Rs, BMW E36 and E30, Porsche 928 & 944, Mazda RX 7 has well as some Aussie Muscle SS Commodore, Torana, Falcons and HQ Monaro.
Over all a good racing w/end with very little incidents to mention I think the best was the Aussie Car roll over near turn Two. Red Bull Driver Jamie Whincup Secured his Championship over the W/end with Mark Winterbottom FPR Managing two 3rd places to hold off Craig lowndes Red Bull for second in the championship so the battle will continue in Sydney for those two.
Scott McLaughlin Volvo secured two wins over the w/end with an unexpected Win on Sunday when race leader Garth Tander Ran out of fuel 100m from finish line to roll across for second allowing Scott to pass for the win.
Results were Race 33 1. Scott McLaughlin 2.Craig Lowndes 3. Jamie Whincup
Race 34 1. Jamie Whincup 2. Craig lowndes 3. Mark Winterbottom
Race 35 1. Scott McLaughlin 2. Garth Tander 3. Mark Winterbottom

Flag Point 9.0

Looking back to 8.0

Looking up to Lukey Heights

Muster

Thanks to VIP and Darrell Lea for Gifts to the Officials

Next event for me is Island Magic at Phillip island in two weeks time Stay Safe and enjoy your motor sports where ever you are

Tuesday, 14 October 2014

Bathurst 1000 race days Thusday to Sunday 2014

Well up early 5.30am sign on and Briefing at 6.30am Today is all Practice With Support Categories which included Touring Car Masters,V8 Utes, Aussie Racing Cars, Dunlop Series V8s, Porsche Carrera Cup and of cause V8 Super Cars. I have been Assigned post 19.2 Chief at point for all four days which is near the top of Conrod straight and also a black flag relay point.
Today we have three on point myself, Paul G and Tania with Stewart our Sector Marshal looking after 19.0, 19.2 and 19.5.
The next three days up at 5am with Briefing at 6am we have Kate and Aaron Join us so a lot easier to do flags, coms and black flag relay. All I can say is What a great team we had lots of fun and worked well together shared the radio between myself, Paul G and Aaron the girls were happy just to do flags. Not a lot of action at this point but still can get busy with flags V8s going past in 5th gear great to watch. Also Tania done a Great Job of running a 100 yards down an hot track during Safety Car to retrieve the light bar that fell off the Medical car well done.
Friday consisted of Qualifying and Practice, Saturday all races and Sunday we had three smaller races before the 1000 kicked off.
Some of the entertainment on track included Hot Wheels Utes and Bikes, Minardi F1and in the sky RAAF Roulettes display, F18 fly over, Sea Hawk Helicopter and a 737 Passenger Jet low Flyover. The Drivers Parade on Sunday before race Start was great to watch with plenty of fans coming out of their homes to give them a wave.