to be further increased

At the first Motor Sports Council meeting of 2007, which took place at the Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall last week (Thursday 15 February), the Council debated a request from the marshalling community to be granted a dedicated seat on Council.

Following lobbying by representative groups during the past year, notably the British Motorsport Marshals Club, the Council had agreed to debate the matter at some length, after which Council members concluded that marshals should indeed be more represented in the decision-making and legislative process.

The existing Training Steering Group, which is already predominantly concerned with representing marshals’ interests as well as those of other volunteers and officials, will be renamed the Volunteer Officials Advisory Panel to reflect more accurately its wider remit. The chairmanship will henceforth be undertaken by a member of the Panel (rather than an MSA executive), and this chairman will take up a seat on the Motor Sports Council to speak on behalf of volunteer officials.

In recognising the immense importance of the 10,000+ marshals to the sport, it was also agreed that a specific Marshals Working Group should be set up, reporting to the revised Volunteer Officials Advisory Panel, thus replicating the structure already in place for timekeepers, scrutineers and other volunteer officials.

In a further recognition of the vital work of the marshals, the Motor Sports Association has confirmed that every marshal will now receive a free copy of the MSA’s quarterly publication, Motorsports Now!, bringing them in line with the MSA’s other volunteer officials.