Phillip Island 300 Cancelled

[Sultan]

This, from the PIARC website.


Phillip Island 300 - Postponed

Due to circumstances beyond the control of the Phillip Island Auto Racing Club Ltd., its management and its members we are sorry to announce the postponement of the Phillip Island 300 Race Meeting, and the associated support events, that was to be run of the weekend of the 9th and 10th of July.

Unfortunately, our dedicated fire response partner have notified us that they are unable to provide their service to this event and, despite exploring all options, the organisers have been unable to secure suitable alternative fire response services in the time available.

We would like to thank the support of the competitors that have entered and the officials that have worked tirelessly on this exciting concept. We will advise if a suitable alternate date can be found for 2016 and will announce the 2017 event date with our event calendar later in 2016.

Regards,

Phillip Island Auto Racing Club Ltd.


This was to be an event for sedans & production sports cars, like the successful 300km races at Winton, Wakefield, QR, and soon to be at Lakeside.

The question is, why have the fire volunteers backed out??? From what I've heard, it has nothing to do with the event itself, more so outside forces..

And without volunteers, where does this leave our sport??

Very sad & frustrating.

[anthony81901]

Possibly related to the ongoing dispute between the firies and state government.

[Scrut]

Have heard its a Victorian Worksafe issue over the Keith Kassulke
fire at Phillip Island late last year. The VFRS (Victorian Fire & Rescue
Service) have been charged supposably been over OH&S issues.

[Scrut]

Could effect more race meetings in the future.
The following is from the VFRS webpage-

Upcoming events
09-07-2016 Pi 300 CANCELLED 2 days to go

22-07-2016 VSCRC Sandown squad passed on the event

30-07-2016 6hr relay phillip island Squad not attending

[bludvl_x19]

Originally Posted by anthony81901

Possibly related to the ongoing dispute between the firies and state government.

Nope, doesn't have anything to do with it at all.

[leothedrummer]

Wasn't this only announced on really short notice? The Lakeside 300 I've known about for many months, but I went from first hearing about the PI300 to it being cancelled in what felt like barely a week.

[Woolley]

How are things set up there, then? Here, marshals are marshals and give fire cover as part of the normal response. I remember from Surfers the Firies being separate, but didn't pick up a clear idea of exactly how things were provisioned across fire/course/flag/first response medical.

[Scrut]

Originally Posted by Woolley

How are things set up there, then? Here, marshals are marshals and give fire cover as part of the normal response. I remember from Surfers the Firies being separate, but didn't pick up a clear idea of exactly how things were provisioned across fire/course/flag/first response medical.

The incident in question was on a Friday private practice day before the
race week-end. The circuit was minimally manned by other drivers on flag points, with extinguishers, with the fire and rescue vehicle positioned at the start finish line and called as soon as the situation became serious.

[bludvl_x19]

Originally Posted by Woolley

How are things set up there, then? Here, marshals are marshals and give fire cover as part of the normal response. I remember from Surfers the Firies being separate, but didn't pick up a clear idea of exactly how things were provisioned across fire/course/flag/first response medical.

Generally speaking...

*Flaggies flag
*Comms talks
*Track Marshals do cleanup
*Sector Marshals are like an assistant Clerk on the ground, reporting back to Race Control and being the eyes and ears.
*Fire/Rescue Vehicles are at strategic points around the track and drive to fires
*Medical Intervention are at strategic points around the track and drive to incidents

There are extinguishers at each flagpoint, but they are pretty much there just in case the car pulls up at the point.

On the particular "private practice" day, the circuit was manned to a minimal level. Instead of three fire tenders, only the one was 'required.'

[Denosaur]

Originally Posted by bludvl_x19

Generally speaking...

*Flaggies flag
*Comms talks
*Track Marshals do cleanup
*Sector Marshals are like an assistant Clerk on the ground, reporting back to Race Control and being the eyes and ears.
*Fire/Rescue Vehicles are at strategic points around the track and drive to fires
*Medical Intervention are at strategic points around the track and drive to incidents

There are extinguishers at each flagpoint, but they are pretty much there just in case the car pulls up at the point.

On the particular "private practice" day, the circuit was manned to a minimal level. Instead of three fire tenders, only the one was 'required.'

I think Woolley is referring to how at Surfer, more than likely maybe the old Indy round, a lot of the firies were actual paid fire fighters placed at the event to work with the regular volunteer group.

In Victoria you've got a number of providers for marshaling services, at one event you'll have the Victorian Flagmarshalling Team, VFRS, one of 3 or 4 medical groups, PIARC running towing and track clean up.....as you can see, many fingers in the pie as such.

I'm not aware of the details of the Friday in discussion, but from previous experience, Friday's usually saw 1 flagmarshall per point running the whole show, whilst 2 fire units in play and towing/recovery. I gave up on Friday's because working on your own all day, for the first of 3 days took a lot out, and was very fatigued at the end of day, not to mention work/personal commits changed over the years. The only time I remember having a decent Friday crew was at a Supercar round or the once a year State round run by the MG car club.

I hope the VFRS can work through this and come out the other side....

[Woolley]

Not quite sure what I was asking - in terms of what answer I'm expecting.

Here you tend to volunteer to the club, or in some cases to the circuit's own Emergency Services team. You can request a particular duty, although that's not necessarily guaranteed, and the majority of marshals are multi-skilled and can do most jobs. The exception is Rescue (Extrication/cutting out/etc) where you join a crew and volunteer directly to that crew.

The impression I get with Aus is marshals volunteer to a duty-specific team in the same way we do Rescue, and then that team 'provides' marshals for that duty to the event. Is that somewhere near?

[Denosaur]

It a mixed bag here in Australia.... If you're a member of a club and at a club based event, the club will organize a list of people to do what's required.

Here in Victoria, at State level and above, above being Supercar, Shannons and the like, you'll see specific clubs, such as the VFT looking after flags, VFRS looking after fire. There's usually a host club, which is usually a car club that the Secretary of the Meeting may have been involved with, will make up the numbers for the other parts. So in the case of the upcoming Sandown 500, you'll find VFT on flags, PIARC on comms/recovery/track. I'm not sure who provided medical last year, but fire would have been VFRS.

As for events like F1, Indy car (back in day), Gold Coast 600, Bathurst, Clipsal and the like, you volunteer individually requesting a particular position to work. You attend as individual and not as part of a club.

Don't ask about medical services, because that depends on price, and in some case with which faction the organizes are aligned to. Yes, it's very political....

[JABWOA]

Just a comment, but while there are clubs for the separate official teams, they are only providing equipment (ie flaggies supply flag equipment, firies provide fire fighting equipment and vehicles.) The actual personnel are individuals at the request of the race secretary (even if the relevant clubs control entry lists.) Very important delineation.

[Denosaur]

Originally Posted by JABWOA

Just a comment, but while there are clubs for the separate official teams, they are only providing equipment (ie flaggies supply flag equipment, firies provide fire fighting equipment and vehicles.) The actual personnel are individuals at the request of the race secretary (even if the relevant clubs control entry lists.) Very important delineation.

Not with the Victorian Flagmarshalling Team, you get flags and their members for the weekend. Same with VFRS....

In the case of the VFT, they spend a handsome sum of cash of making sure the flags are in good condition, equipment trailer is stocked, uniforms for members and all the rest. They attract a reasonable level of sponsorship as well which helps in a way to run the club, but the majority is in the fees.

From memory in other states, it's all in, and you could potential do anything and everything over the weekend....

[bludvl_x19]

Actually, JABOWA is correct. The event organiser pays for the equipment, the team volunteer separately. This is true for VFT, otherwise you run into many legal and tax issues...

[PVDA]

there are lots of comments being made on various social media which will continue until someone makes an official statement which Victorian Motorsport needs in a hurry to allow events to occur.

[Sultan]

I completely agree, this has potential ramifications not only for motorsport, but all sports where volunteers are involved.

IMHO it's political correctness gone mad..

Just as an alternate thought, by this very logic, would this mean that if the incident occurred because of poor preparation by the team, would that mean that they should be liable for the fire happening in the first place??

Just saying...

[275 GTB-4]

A worrying situation...hope it is resolved quickly

[Denosaur]

This is one issue that won't go away in a hurry.... trust me, not going to get resolved in a hurry.....

[ForumNick]

Can anyone give a brief summary, for those of us not privy to the actual scenario?

[275 GTB-4]

Hmmm the Island has been "quiet" on NATSOFT...are the problems ongoing?

[JABWOA]

From my source, it's back to life at normal down there.
VFRS are even back on deck for CAMS meetings.
There has been meeting results published approx every 2 weeks which seems normal, baring that quiet period in July.

[275 GTB-4]

Originally Posted by JABWOA

From my source, it's back to life at normal down there.
VFRS are even back on deck for CAMS meetings.
There has been meeting results published approx every 2 weeks which seems normal, baring that quiet period in July.

Well....that's a relief

Petty politics and Motorsport is not a good mix...nor is people who take advantage or disrespect volunteers...

[Sultan]

Ahh yes, but has anything come of it?

On the positive, the Lakeside 300 was mega!