Volunteering as a marshal or official is a great way to be in the thick of the action. You will interact with the rally crews at the stage start and finish controls or ensure everyone's safety as they whizz past you at high speed on the stage.
Check out some footage from the Forest Rally stage at the 2025 Festival of Speed:
At Southern Car Club, we have an active rally marshalling group with experienced level 3 marshals and qualified officials up to the level of Clerk of the Course and MSUK Stewards. We provide a pathway for those new to motorsport to gain experience, including running rally stage arrival, stage start and stage finish controls.​​
​​We run the Forest Rally Stage at the Festival of Speed every year but also attend a range of events:
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from grassroots to a round of the European Rally Championship​
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from nearby events to Wales and Jersey​
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from 12-car navigational road rallies to special stage rallies
​​Apart from the Festival of Speed, recent events we have attended include Rally Ceredigion, Rally Jersey, South Downs Stages, the Bovington Stages, the Roger Albert Clark Rally, Kent Targa Rally, Brands Hatch Stages and many others.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
There are different ways to volunteer in Motorsport, but by far the most common - and where to start - is marshalling. Check out other ways to volunteer here.
When you are a marshal at an event, you are there primarily to ensure the safety of yourself, your marshalling colleagues, spectators and competitors.
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You may be stationed in the middle of a rally stage, maybe at a junction, and will take control of any incidents as they arise. This may mean reporting an incident over the radio, slowing down the next rally cars, pushing a stricken rally car, ensuring rescue and recovery crews have access or managing spectators. In any incident, competitors will be looking at you for instruction.​
Or you may be running an arrival or stop control where you will be assigning an arrival time to each rally car as they arrive and interacting with the crews. Or you may be running the start, setting off the countdown procedure to launch the cars into the stage.​
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​Whatever your role, you will always need to be ready to make swift decisions if any incident unfolds.
GETTING STARTED
Join Southern Car Club and let us know that you're interested in Marshalling on the form. Our Volunteer Co-ordinator can add you to our dedicated Marshal WhatsApp group and give you guidance.
We marshal as a group and will make sure you are paired with an experienced marshal if you marshal with us.
Register with Motorsport UK by using their online process to become an Accredited Rally Marshal - it's quick, simple and free - and you will be receive an Accredited Marshal licence and MSUK Marshal hi-viz tabard.
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Marshals must be 16 to be Accredited, however Motorsport UK run a Cadet Marshal scheme for younger marshals from the age of 11.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Caitlin has marshalled at a wide variety of events over the last 5 years. She tells us what to expect when starting off.
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Marshalling is about working as part of a team; without marshals, events simply couldn’t happen. And it’s the best way to get the best seat in the house! The thrill for me is being a few feet away from a rally car as they pass you at full chat.
We keep the spectators safe as well as the competitors when they have a little ‘whoops’ moment. When they do have an incident you do need to be calm and give it a couple of seconds for the dust to settle and then think about what your next step is. You have to keep yourself safe and then your team, spectators and the crew in the vehicle.
As a marshal you will get to meet people from all different walks of life. You will always have something in common with your team, and that is the love of motor sports.
For any new marshal, getting started can be a bit daunting, but clubs like Southern Car Club make it easy. They have people to guide you and marshal as a group, so you will always be buddied up with a more experienced marshal. We also have a number with experience of rally driving and co-driving who can give advice if you’re looking to progress to competing.
There are many different types of rallies you can marshal at, on forest stages, closed roads through country lanes, based around race circuits or on military land. And there are smaller events targa rallies, 12-car navigational rallies and AutoSolos. They are all different, exciting and entertaining in their own ways.
The most vital bits of kit you need to take with you are your high-vis tabard (Motorsport UK send you one when you complete your online Accredited Rally Marshal application) and a whistle to alert anyone of a car approaching at competitive speed.
Wear sturdy walking boots and take extra layers and gloves – especially with stages that go into the night as it can get very cold very quickly – waterproofs, sunscreen, a hat, plenty of water, food and snacks as you never know how long you will be out on stage for.
Some people like to bring ear plugs, but you will find out the extras you want to bring along with you through trial and error – I am still learning after 5 years!
The best thing to do is just to try it and find out!
The extras I like to take with me are a small folding chair, a small rapid boiler to heat water up quickly if you want a hot drink or a cheeky pot noodle. I have a Leatherman multi tool in case I need to help the drivers get out of their vehicle or to cut anything that I see as being a danger to the competitors, myself or spectators.
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OTHER WAYS TO VOLUNTEER
It's always best to have marshalling experience to give you an understanding of how events run, but there are several pathways available to you. One is to progress up Marshalling levels by undertaking 'First on the Scene', fire and communications training. This will allow you to become a sector marshal or stage commander.
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Some specialist roles naturally build off the marshalling pathway, such as becoming licensed as a Clerk of the Course (ultimately responsible for running an event in its entirety), a Safety Officer or Radio Controllers & Coordinators, Timekeepers or Stewards.
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Other specialist roles build of skills from people's working life, such as Club Safeguarding Officers, Medical Officials, Rescue & Recovery Crews.
If you have skills in these areas and would like to apply them in Motorsport, then get in touch by filling out our call-back form.
