Marshall your comments

[MAX_THRUST]

Was disapointed in Steve Neal's comments about Marshalls. He did apologise later but it had already been said. Good job the car didn't catch alight again as I think they would have left it to burn.

[christophulus]

It could've been worse, he could've put it on Twitter.. :P

I agree though, it was out of order. Not sure I'd leap off a 6ft wall towards a burning car too quickly.

[F1boat]

It was quite nasty...

[AndySpeed]

Whether he should have said it or not, Marshall's shouldn't take it too personally believing that they are on another level. If you sign up to do a job, you should do a good job, not cower behind a concrete wall and flail your hose around.

Yes, you volunteer for your sport. Get over it.

This man's assets were cooking! £££!

[MAX_THRUST]

I loved the fact that when Neal went off in the next race they sprayed his car with extinguisher and it wasn't on fire. Clean that up if you think we cr*p.

It was a high wall to jump down. Worse when you are holding a heavy extinguisher. Neal knows the risks that his car might burst into flames. The Marshalls are there to help not put there own lives in danger for the sake of a car.

[wedge]

Was disapointed in Steve Neal's comments about Marshalls. He did apologise later but it had already been said. Good job the car didn't catch alight again as I think they would have left it to burn.

Steve Neal should pay for the bills whenever Matt and Flash damage their opponents body panels.

[Tixy54]

Steve Neal should pay for the bills whenever Matt and Flash damage their opponents body panels.

What a silly comment. The thread was about his comments toward the marshals not about damaging someones precious body panels. Surely, if you want to comment on a thread please keep it on topic, or, keep quiet, or, post a new thread.

[MrJan]

Whether he should have said it or not, Marshall's shouldn't take it too personally believing that they are on another level. If you sign up to do a job, you should do a good job, not cower behind a concrete wall and flail your hose around.

Yes, you volunteer for your sport. Get over it.

This man's assets were cooking! £££!

The man's a charmless c***. It's not the job of the marshalls to risk their own safety to save a f**king car, they are there to keep the drivers safe. From what I saw the marshalls got there very quickly (quicker than the time it took Neal to stop after the thing caught fire, do Honda not have radio?) and the fire was put out within seconds. Yes one chap tried just spraying from the wall, but it was a 5ft drop and he was holding a bloody great fire extinguisher. He also jumped down within about 1 second anyway. Perhaps if Steve Neal's assets are so important then he should make sure that he doesn't fit dodgy components that fail two weekends in a row.

Maybe he should also bear in mind that the 3 layer suit, Nomex underwear and £1000+ helmet that his boy had on provides a damn site more protection than the Proban suit that the marshal was probably wearing. And failing that, perhaps he could do the training and don the orange overalls himself and see how he reacts when there's a fire in his face, the ****er.

[BDunnell]

Maybe he should also bear in mind that the 3 layer suit, Nomex underwear and £1000+ helmet that his boy had on provides a damn site more protection than the Proban suit that the marshal was probably wearing.

If so, do we consider that acceptable?

[MrJan]

If so, do we consider that acceptable?

Yes, I think so. As far as I'm aware the marshals buy their own suits, to force them to buy 3-layer suits that start at £200 just isn't right (and would result in many no longer volunteering. The risk is also lower, the drive is more likely to be affected by fire so should naturally have more protection.

[tintin]

The man's a charmless c***. It's not the job of the marshalls to risk their own safety to save a f**king car, they are there to keep the drivers safe. From what I saw the marshalls got there very quickly (quicker than the time it took Neal to stop after the thing caught fire, do Honda not have radio?)


You're pretty charmless yourself.
Why did Matt take so long to stop the car? Because he wanted to park it where there was a marshals post so they could put the fire out more quickly.


and the fire was put out within seconds. Yes one chap tried just spraying from the wall, but it was a 5ft drop and he was holding a bloody great fire extinguisher. He also jumped down within about 1 second anyway.

Five feet isn't far. If a marshal doesn't feel comfortable climbing over a wall with a 5' drop, perhaps he should ask to be put on a post which doesn't have a wall with a 5' drop.

[BDunnell]

Five feet isn't far. If a marshal doesn't feel comfortable climbing over a wall with a 5' drop, perhaps he should ask to be put on a post which doesn't have a wall with a 5' drop.

I must say, I would tend to agree with you. While, on the whole, marshals do an excellent job, this and their volunteer status should not mean that they are exempt from criticism. The way they dealt with shifting that beached Motorbase Focus (I forget whose) at Brands at the start of the season was not great, for example. And I thought the days when excuses had to be made for marshals not wanting to go near burning cars were long gone.

[MrJan]

You're pretty charmless yourself.
Why did Matt take so long to stop the car? Because he wanted to park it where there was a marshals post so they could put the fire out more quickly.

I'm perfectly charming, just not when it comes to someone like Steve Neal.

The car was on fire going down the straight, he must have driven past 3 or 4 marshals posts before he stopped.




Five feet isn't far. If a marshal doesn't feel comfortable climbing over a wall with a 5' drop, perhaps he should ask to be put on a post which doesn't have a wall with a 5' drop.

It was a spur of the moment thing, if you're on a 5 foot wall holding a fire extinguisher then you'd probably think twice too. All in all it was 5 seconds that the bloke stayed on the wall, hardly life and death for the car and hardly a reason to say sarcastic, ****ty comments about a bloke that volunteers his time.

Of course all this is pointless anyway, as I said before it isn't the job of the marshals to just look after the cars, their primary concern is to keep drivers, themselves and (sometimes) spectators safe.

[BDunnell]

All in all it was 5 seconds that the bloke stayed on the wall, hardly life and death for the car and hardly a reason to say sarcastic, ****ty comments about a bloke that volunteers his time.

For which what I thought what was a pretty fulsome apology was given.

[Iain]

For which what I thought what was a pretty fulsome apology was given.

It was better than I thought it would be. I was expecting an Alan Partridge v the Norfolk Farmers Union style apology. "Yeah...erm...sorry."

I think we should have expected Steve Neal's reaction. How many times has a microphone been thrust under the nose of a driver or team member in the heat of the moment (no pun intended) and the wrong thing been said?

[Eurotech]

As a marshal myself, I would just like to say that yeah we do "volunteer" our time, but we don't get forced into it. We get to go to the race meetings free of charge and watch from the best places. Thats why we do it, not because we're super-human do-gooders who are giving up our very special time to do something that we hate but have been forced into.

That said, its not right that marshals get criticized by Steve Neal who is hardly a slender man himself.

I think more should be said about the safety gear that marshals are given. I personally believe the circuit should provide at least one fireproof suit for each post so you can have one fire marshal at every point. But thats just my opinion.