When standing by the side of a rally stage as a spectator, the focus is naturally on the fast cars whizzing by and the people driving them. Back at service, there’s the crews who make those cars run.
It’s easy to forget in all of the action that the people wearing the hi-vis bibs, the volunteers, are the only reason any of it can happen at all. The marshals, the stage captains, the timekeepers, all ensuring the rally is possible operationally.
That army of volunteers has a job to do. But they’re doing it for the same reason you and I are stood at the side of the road: the thrill.
At last month’s Tennessee Rally USA, Bryan Davey was volunteering for the very first time. Stood at the finish control of the second stage, he was immediately blown away.
“When you hear the cars in the woods and you sitting there going, ‘Whoa, one’s coming’,” recalled Davey. “They came around a flying finish on a turn so you’re wondering, ‘Are they going to make it? Are they going to clear the side?’ When they show up…it’s a stoke like nothing I’ve experienced.”
It's a long day, but a very, very fun experienceBryan Davey
In total, Davey’s experience covered three days. First, there was the initial briefing along with approximately 75 of his new colleagues for the weekend, then setting up and preparing controls, before being pressed into action when the cars began to flow through.
There’s no sugar-coating it: being part of the crew making a rally run means an early start, several hours before the first car passes through. But the experience is worth it.
“By the time we got to the setup and getting everybody organized when you went with your stage captains, it was probably 6am,” Davey explained. “And by the time we actually really started doing work, it was maybe 9am.”
Tennessee Rally USA was an initial dry-run for a proper World Rally Championship candidate event next year. Part of that effort meant onboarding a swathe of new volunteers; while June’s event had only 10 cars on the entry list, the expectation is this number would grow in future. That means preparing an army of volunteers like Davey to be ready to rally when the field swells in size.
“You’re experiencing the entire setup of a stage; coordinating all the people, including a lot of first timers like myself,” added Davey. “So everybody’s running around, running into each other and trying to get direction! It was tough for the organizers because they did have a lot of new people. But by the time we finished, I think it was maybe four in the afternoon.
“It’s a long day, but a very, very fun experience.”
Davey was thrown somewhat in the deep end from the very start. Indian Creek, the second stage of the rally, was his first on-stage as a marshal. And he was immediately thrown a curveball: spectators had parked too far up the road at the start of the stage.
Being placed at the stage end, rather than stage start, meant he wasn’t in the thick of it. But it was an insightful first experience of how to deal with an unexpected problem while the rally is already underway.
“When the cars were coming in to clear the stage, they explained there were cars and people just past the start of the stage. By the time the triple zero car came through, and then the fast sweep, they already had a plan of what to do. We moved the start beyond them to be safe to start with, which slightly delayed the stage start – but everybody felt a lot more at ease as opposed to worrying about these folks that could cross the track and so forth. For a first timer, I had no idea what was going to happen, but what they did made good sense.”
Davey got his first experience of marshaling at stage ends
Technology advancements also make it a little easier to get started when working at a stage-end time control. RallySafe, the timing systems provider in the WRC since 2018, made its debut on American Rally Association events in 2021 and its usage on Tennessee Rally USA, along with many other rallies around the world, helped ease the learning curve for new volunteers.
Stage times are now automatically relayed to Rally HQ, times are displayed to crews in-car and penalties are automatically applied, with volunteers acting as judges of fact rather than applying them manually.
“It simplifies the process and makes things a little more streamlined,” said Davey. “And so you just need to understand the other nuances, like where your marshal’s going to be, where the safety folks are, where the rescue crew is and so forth. So there’s a lot of little things that need to come together. It’s amazing with all the variables that they pull it off as well as they do.”
Hi-vis among the crucial items of equipment provided by organizers
So after a very early start, first stage drama and being blown away by cars flying through the finish, is Davey hooked on rallying and ready for more?
“I’d love to try another one. This rally was good to cut my teeth on because there was 10 cars basically, so It gave me a chance to have a little breather in between and learn some of the details. So next I’d like to get in one where there’s at least maybe 40-50 cars and experience that higher volume of cars, so maybe I’ll look at the Boone Forest Rally in Kentucky coming up in July.
“I’ve had a couple stage captains that were interested in whether I’m willing to come to an additional rally and check it out already. I think I’d still like to get some additional training in a bigger rally and then I might say, ‘OK, I’m ready.’ Third time’s a charm.”
