As soon as Historic Winton had wrapped up the 49th event, Michael was on a plane to the Philippines for work. Michael had tried to find some motorsport events at either Clark International Raceway or Batangas Circuit last time he went there, but due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the associated fuel supply issues in the Philippines all racing had been cancelled. This time things were a bit different, and a few days before the event, Michael got a response from the Makabayan Endurace Challenge Race Series on Facebook to say they would love him to come along.
As Michael had tried to work out how to get involved in motorsport within the Philippines he’d found hurdles at almost every point. It wasn’t too hard to determine that the FIA affiliated body in the Philippines is the Automobile Association Philippines, and their website was easy to find, but that’s where the trail went cold. AAP’s motorsport section of their website has been “undergoing maintenance” for over 3 months. Attempts to contact AAP went unanswered. Michael reached out to the circuits, and again, silence. It was only stumbling across the Makabayan Endurace Challenge Race Series that led Michael to get trackside.
Initially it seemed strange that it was so hard to get trackside. Most countries do everything they can to find marshals; volunteers are hard to find. After a few weird looks when Michael was introduced to the other marshals as a “volunteer from Australia” it didn’t take long to work out that in the Philippines the marshals are paid. This led to a few interesting observations for Michael. The first was that marshals don’t get to choose the roles they want; the person at pit exit was directed to do the job one weekend, showed he had some skill at checking for scrutineering stickers and keeping the required records and has now been doing that role for 11 years. Another observation is that the marshals seem to consider their role as a type of customer service; if a team photographer wants to come into the starter’s box, that’s fine as long as the starter can do his task; if a competitor has a question they will ask the closest marshal who will make radio calls to get the answer.
Throughout the whole event Michael didn’t have a radio. This was in part because the marshals all have their own radio, but also because the entire event was run in Tagalog. Because of this, Michael was introduced to the concept of “making my nose bleed” which is local slang for when someone has listened to too much English (the translations going on in their head have broken their brain).
During the event Michael was told that CAMS (now Motorsport Australia) had sent some representatives over a few years ago to assist with training of the marshals. This led to many of the trackside rules being familiar to Michael, but also some situations where a rule or procedure was applied globally but in Australia is more localised. The most obvious different in marshalling was the use of only one yellow flag; this led to some moments Michael would have been screaming into the radio abut in Australia; and also the lack of protective wear for the fire marshals. Throughout the event Michael had to remind himself that safety standards in the Philippines are much lower than in Australia; there was a hot recovery (by a lift tow) at the end of the main straight in wet conditions under only a localised yellow; remembering that there are no double yellows, this seemed extremely risky. In Australia this recovery would only have been performed under a full safety car. There were also several occasions when a flag marshal left the protection of their post and walked down the track waving their yellow flag as the only form of protection.
With the restriction on radio use and the length of the Sunday races (a 2hr enduro and a 4hr enduro) preventing Michael from being able to move between different flag points and roles he was stationed at Start/Finish and Pit Exit on Saturday and Start/Finish on Sunday.
Saturday was a great chance to see the practice sessions and qualifying for the enduros mixed within the track day sessions that were available for new and potential drivers. As the day came to an end the heavens opened resulting in the last two track day sessions being combined and a wet qualifying for the enduros.
Sunday was an early start. With non engine curfews to worry about the only thing louder than the race engines at 7am was the blaring of AC/DC through the sound system to test it. Both race events had a full championship start (although the lights and sirens didn’t conform to FIA regulations for timing) with cars given approximately 15 minutes on the grid before doing their formation lap. Although Michael didn’t get to start the actual races (this was done by the chief marshal), he ran the lights and sirens in the lead-up to the start and was responsible for the chequered flag and a few black flags.
Based on his experience at Clark International Raceway, the ability for the Philippines to host international marshals definitely exists. There is some fantastic racing, friendly teams and a great track layout. international marshals could share much of their experience with the local marshals and if AAP, the circuits and the marshals want to lift safety standards to international levels this would not be a big stretch. Michael hopes that AAP will work to get their motorsport website back online, that the marshals will set-up a reliable way to contact them so others can get involved and some more support material can be made available to attract visiting marshals and help them get trackside. Michael hopes to get trackside in the Philippines again soon, as long as here’s there when an event is on.
Given the right opportunity and involvement in motorsport in the Philippines, Michael thinks there is potential for the implementation of the different start types used in Australia and ensuring the primary race for the weekend is given the championship start whilst the others get a non-championship start. The is a huge opportunity for the increased use of a safety car, especially when there are recoveries in dangerous locations. Finally, Michael would focus on marshal safety, with the implementation of double yellow flags and ensuring appropriate coverage is given when a marshal does need to go near the racing surface.
