Motorsport and the Coronavirus

[Paul D]

Originally Posted by Derwent

I think there will be massive changes this year. You only have to read the various marshals forums and FB pages to see that many are retiring or at least not returning under the new rules. Marshals, organisers and competitors are generally more senior people and thus more vulnerable.
I've been involved in the sport since I was a kid and my parents were heavily involved so the past ten week is the longest that I've not done some sort of motorsport activity. Strangely I am not over bothered. Partly due to the good weather I've been very busy with other things. With no motorsport and holidays cancelled the bank balance is very healthy!
In what ever capacity I do events in, it's a social activity and that is killed with social distancing. I do the odd hill climb these days and the thought of being at a venue for 8 to 10 hours for four minutes track time and not being able to chat to fellow enthusiasts makes it pointless.

Everybody has their own reasons I suppose. For most of us, the social element is important - but I'd still go racing even with social distancing in place. We can still interact with our friends after all, just from a safe distance. Agreed it won't be quite the same, but the alternative is doing nothing isn't it?

I do think the situation re lack of marshals is more concerning though - we can't go racing without the orange army, social distancing or otherwise, so if a lot of them are thinking of throwing the towel in, then that could be a big problem for many meetings.

I remember a few years ago at one of our meetings at Oulton, a guy pitched up in the paddock next to us with his Seven on a trailer. He was on his own, unloaded his car, did his qualy followed by his race, after which he loaded up the car and disappeared! During the day, we never saw him speak to anyone, and we saw no one come over to speak to him, and as far as we could tell, he spent the entire day pretty much on his own - or, at least, as much as it's possible to be on your own in a crowded paddock.

Now, there's a guy who won't have a problem with social distancing!