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First time at the track ?

Here are some of the things that we get asked most often by new team members.

Where do I go ?
For club meetings at Pukekohe or Hampton Downs come straight to the track and make your way to pit lane. For big meetings at Pukekohe we meet at the Bombay Motorway Services in front of Subway to hand out the tickets.

What should I wear ?
From the bottom up ... Closed footwear (boots or shoes), long pants (black if you can), a black shirt, and a hat to keep the weather out.

Anything I shouldn't wear ?
Yes. If you're going to be working on the start line don't wear anything red (hiviz orange is ok). If you're in the pits remember you're supposed to be neutral so don't wear anything that would suggest a bias towards any team or manufacturer - in other words, no ford/holden gear, and no racing team gear.

What should I bring ?

• a raincoat and sunblock At Pukekohe in particular the weather is treacherous and unpredictable. It is not unusual for it to be bright sunshine on the front straight and hosing down on the back straight. One day we had a marshall treated for sunstroke then 3 hours later another treated for hypothermia. People with specific jobs are stuck out in this with no shelter, general pit lane marshalls can generally find some cover but you should be prepared for almost anything.
• a bottle of water
• a whistle is always useful
• a PRS (40 channel) radio with earpiece if you have one
• a pen
• a watch for the big meetings where we observe pitstops - it must be digital, and you must be able to synch the seconds to whatever Race Control says is the official time.

You're also watching for people smoking in pit lane and in the garages, for open footwear and kids in pit lane (in the garages is ok), for public who have leaked into pit lane, and for certain things to do with refuelling - essentially, grab the one page fuel policy pdf from the downloads or fuel policy pages and look at the yellow bits. Again the teams know the rules, if they are going to use measuring jugs they will do it out of sight (that's why we walk along the back of the garages too), they're getting better at bringing extinguishers, most of them now find someone to hold the extinguisher while they're refuelling, and if they have spilt too much to pretend not to have noticed they will clean it up without being asked if you are standing there staring at the puddle.

At most meetings the top billed cars (e.g. the NZV8s) will have the pit lane garages, and when other classes are on the track their service teams will come into pit lane in a convoy and set up in front of the garages. Part of your job will be to encourage them to leave promptly when their race is over.

For big meetings you may also be observing pitstops. This is a lot easier than it sounds. Basically you fill out a form that records the car number, when it came in and out of the pit bay, how many tyres were changed, and anything else that was done (something like "crew worked under front of car" is good enough).

Can I take photos ?
Normally there are plenty of chances, especially if you have a decent camera in your phone so it's not obvious what you're doing. Club meetings are pretty casual, if you want to whip a camera out from time to time it should be fine. If you want to do a proper job of it ask if you can be excused and take your hiviz off. At the big meetings cameras are frowned upon once the day gets properly going and at the ITM400 you will be removed from pit lane by the security guards if they see you with a camera.