Club Arnage

i did some marshaling yesterday for the first time at summit point for a SCCA event which included i think 9 classes of cars including a ton of miatas, small formula cars, and a radical. I thought I knew most of the basics but i have a lot more to learn. I was also confused by some of the instruction including the use of the black and blue flags. they used the black flag to bring the field back to the pits due to an incident and then restarted the race after a 10 minute break or so. I thought that a black flag ended the race outright. i was also given some confusing instruction about the blue flag. i had thought it was only for lapped cars but someone told me its for any slow moving cars that are being passed. then at the end of the day someone said it was only for lapped cars.  i was surprised how much responsibility i was given on my first go at it. i had to wave yellow and black once and blue a bunch of times. fun stuff. i will try to do it again.

Hi Goodduck,
                  They do not usually let the rookies flag so you were in a bit deep for your first event.
Sounds as though you pulled it off without incident though well done. Flagging rules do sometimes change for different series.
Phil

i was definitely in a bit deep for my first event. I was supposed to get a half hour of instruction in the morning. I arrived at 730 am. its a 90 minute drive from my house. they were late registering everyone so i got a ten minute instruction while riding in a van. i was then put on my corner and given the blue flag. its an interesting system and i would be curious to know if it is universal. the blue flag guy looks upstream facing the yellow flag guy. the yellow flagger looks downstream facing the blue flagger. if yellow flagger sees something he turns around to face upstream and blue flagger positions himself in front of yellow flagger to let him/ her know when it is all clear to stop waving yellow. they called it "the dance"


as i said above, i was given some conflicting instruction on blue flagging and i wish someone had given me a definitive answer. i always thought blue flags were for lapped cars to get out of the racing line but they seemed to use it as a courtesy to let any car know that there is a fast car behind. it was not an instruction to get out of the way. then later someone told me it was only for lapped cars. i definitely gave some superfluous blues that day which probably annoyed some drivers. they told me i was doing well and i think i got good marks on my evaluation. at the end of the day they offered to let me be on the radio for our corner for the final race. i declined as i felt i was not ready for that.

some pics
(http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6145/5919977415_9aa8600ffa_z.jpg)
(http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6136/5930425150_cfb87ccd26_z.jpg)

i was at a local hillclimb on sunday and one of the marshalls missed an off on the next bend up.you couldnt see it,but we all heard it.the marshall was texting and it took the crowd shouting to get her to wave the yellow.she was a bit late the next car up had to spin to avoid an accident.there were marshalls on the track helping the first car.it brung home how easy it is to make a small mistake which could have terrible concequences.she woke up after that.ask fartmiester if you need any points on flagging.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racing_flags (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racing_flags)

There was plenty of debate about blue flags immediately after LM2011

Some say that it's to warn of a faster cars approaching, and some say that it's an instruction to allow a faster car to overtake.

All we know is that it varies from series to series.

And at LM, wether or not it's a French teams car approaching.

Waving a blue flag at a Peugeot is simply patriotic isn't it?

It's also invisible if your name is Quesnel

Goodduck, sounds like a good session, and you were lucky to get to flag.

In the UK a marshal wouldn't be allowed to flag without many years experience and grading up the ladder, so to get to do it on your first time, certainly a baptism of fire. Hopefully you had a good day.

In European racing, a black flag is only shown on the startline to inform a driver he is being removed from the session/race. And a session stop is a Red shown on each post, cars to return to pits/grid as per rules.

Blue flags should not be used when it is 2 cars fighting for position. At that time it is for the car to pass/defend within the rules, and should never be shown at the same time a yellow is out as they mean opposite things.

As said, some series have slightly differing rules as to what can be shown when, but normally the rules are fairly stable per country/organiser, and road or oval.

You need your wits about you, not moving your concentration during the session, especially if you're on the yellow.

Good for you giving it a go, I hope you enjoyed Marshalling and will be returning on another weekend

i went into the day determined to be super alert. the last thing i want is to be injured or killed doing this. when i was not on flagging duty but on the outside of the sand trap for the corner we were right in the firing line for the turn. there was a tire wall but i felt a little vulnerable. i was ready to run if i needed to. i also kept my eyes upstream the whole time and didnt watch any cars exit the corner.