Rally Marshalling 2015

West Midlands Police Motor Club's marshalling section has had a very busy and successful 2015, covering some 11 events, mainly special stage rallies, a mixture of forestry and sealed surface events including, Horbia, Severn Valley, Nicky Grist, Harry Flatters, Mewla, Cambrian, Rally Isle of Man, to name but a few. The marshals section attended the final rally of 2015 which was a regroup/service area in the centre of Newtown Wales, on the prestigious International Wales Rally G.B.

The most memorable event for 2015 has to be ‘Rally Isle of Man’ this event was perfect from start to finish, the team all worked tremendously hard and this was reflected by praise from the ‘Rally Isle of Man’ organisers. Planning for 2016 ‘Rally Isle of Man’ event is already well underway.  It is our aim to increase the number of club members attending this event in 2016.

We have again had several social events to include a visit to West Midlands Police Museum, Sparkhill, Birmingham. This was very informative seeing policing methods over the years. There were also various visits to car shows throughout the year, including, Race Retro show, Warwick, the Ford A.V.O. Escorts Owners National day at Hatton Country Park, Warwick, the Ford R.S Owners National day at Castle Donnington Race Circuit and the Classic Car show N.E.C Birmingham.

Mark Wakelam and Henry Adams had the pleasure and experience of a two day Classic Car tour around Mid Wales in Mark’s Ford Escort RS 2000 4x4; this was a very relaxed and enjoyable form of motorsport.

The marshal’s section of the motor club have for many years been involved in operating as rally timing crew at the ‘Flying finish and Stop, this is where times are given to the competitors at the end of rally special stage. We get involved with in stage marshalling duties, such as on ‘Rally Isle of Man’ the manning of service and regroup areas and more recently (D.S.O) Driving Standards Observers.
Request from rally event organisers for Driving Standards Observers increased during 2015 and early indications are that this trend is set to continue through 2016.

This year 2016 is already promising to be another busy time for the marshalling section, we have a number of rally events that we have agreed to marshal on to include Wales Rally GB. Due to fatalities on rally events in 2014, new legislation has been introduced, regarding organisation, competing and general running of a Rally within the U.K. This new legislation has some 29 major changes in all. These new regulations will naturally have quite an impact on the way the club and its marshalling section operate on rallies in the future, but we are well under way to implementing and adapting to the new regulations. We have our marshal licences up to date and a number of the team have already attended (MSA) Motor Sport Association seminars, training sessions and completed an online assessment.
For British Rallying to have a future under the new regulations then one of the most important factors facing the sport is the need for more marshals.