How many people does it take to organise and run a track day?
31 August 2015 / Words by David Lawler, photo by Mark Palmer
No, that isn't a trick question, but something I asked a few drivers after the last MX-5 Club track day at Sydney Motor Sport Park. They were surprised when they learnt the answer, and so I think you may be surprised too!
Let me introduce you to all the officials who were involved in the MX-5 Club track day on 29th August.
First there was Barry Luttrell the event secretary, taking care of your event entry and the many queries, with me assisting.
At the track, Warren and Tammie Hotz were there early (6am!) to deliver and prepare the gear that would be needed.
At driver registration you would have met Lesa Bunn, Pam Estreich, Gillian Fletcher and Gaynor Lawler behind the desk.
Then Zane and Chris provided a timing transponder for your car.
Next in scrutineering, Lester Gough and six club members checked your car preparation, to help safeguard both your safety and that of other drivers and officials at the track.
Up in the control tower, Ian Williams the Clerk-of-Course and Craig Durrant as his deputy were controlling the whole track day process to ensure a smooth flow of traffic on and off the track, while Jean Cook watched that everyone behaved on track. The typical time betwen run groups entering the track was just over 10 minutes, which includes their 6 minute run time plus warm-up and cooldown laps. Quite an achievement.
When you got to the grid area, Joe Kovacic was there, doing his usual great job of organising and re-organising the run groups. I must note that Joe spent the whole day organising our grids even though he had got less than 3 hours sleep after working a night shift. Now that is dedication!
Out on the track you would have seen flag marshalls at five points around the track. James Cook is an experienced flag marshall who attends many of our events, and he brought along Sue, Derek and Hayden with him. Those four, along with Greg Perry, spent the whole day at their flag posts. Assisting them were Diann Miller, Sandra Reid, Mark Kavanagh, Richard Martin, Andrew Lawler, Gaynor Lawler, Lesa Bunn, Pam Estreich, Steve Green and Barry Luttrell. Karen Davies from Victoria also helped with flagging, and she spent most of the day at the start-finish flag point. Dan Szwaj and Heather-May Koorey had an issue with their car in the first run, with the result that Heather-May didn't even get a run, but they decided to also put in some time at a flag point.
When you finished for the day, Sandra Reid was there to accept back your transponder and mark you off the list.
There was also a crew of six rescue personnel and two paramedics on standby, but fortunately none of them were needed.
So, how many people does it take to organise and run a track day?
The answer is 46.
I counted 46 people to organise and run the track day, of whom 36 were volunteers receiving nothing other than your thanks, and maybe a bottle of water and a lunch pack.
Many MX-5 Club members don't realise how great our track days are compared to many other similar events, but it is people like these that make them great.
If you aren't driving at one of our track days and you have some time available, please consider offering to help so we can keep running great track days. Next time you are at the track as a driver, take a minute to say hello to a flaggie, a scrutineer, or even the Clerk of Course, look them in the eye, shake their hand and say thanks. It will make their day.
