How to get there - Kirkistown circuit is situated Southeast of Newtownards on the beautiful Ards Peninsula, take the A20 from Newtownards and it is approximately a 20 minute drive, or, if coming from the south, take the A25 to Strangford, then the ferry to Portaferry, which is five miles south of the circuit.



(information copied with thanks to http://www.kirkistown.com)

Check in at Sign on (see below) and then head to the Debtors Diner for a fab brekkie!

Sign on for Marshals is at the base of the Control Tower.

Sign on times vary, but usually they would be around 8:30am in the morning unless otherwise informed.

Contact details to follow

For cars, the circuit as it stands is the configuration.

Debtors - The first bend/corner in the track after leaving start finish.

Great views of the Start/Finish line and the first big corner at Colonial One

Flag post is with the Incident Post

Speed should be slightly slowed for the bend, but isn't always!

Quote:
"Things rarely happen at Debtors - but when they happen, they happen BIG!"
Rescue Crew Chief

This is absolutely true!

Colonial One/Colonial Two - Sharp right hand corner.

Effectively two posts as it's such a large corner, but Incident control post is usually on the inside, which is also a spectator area.

Opposite the Incident control post is a large run off area which allows cars to slow down and rejoin if they overshoot - or retire if necessary.

When moving cars to a safe position, wherever possible, get them into the centre at the Incident control post as they can then be retrieved by their own crews and return to the pits without interfering with racing.

This is also the place where Rescue Unit leaves the track after chasing starts.

Excellent view coming up from Debtors and going around to Fishermans.

Competitors should be slowER and there is usually lots of fun in the practice sessions when competitors are trying to play with braking points!

Flag post is on the outside of the track at Colonial One.

BEWARE - behind the flagpost is what can only be referred to as a bog!

On dry days, or when it hasn't been raining heavily, there is about a foot of standing water in the grass. When it has been raining heavily, this can get a lot deeper!

Quote:
"it's not fair - everyone brought a chair except me"
Me!

Bring a chair for resting when there are breaks!

Fishermans - Another sharp right hand bend.

Tricky corner this - cars have a tendancy to either come off instead of taking the corner (large run off on the left hand side), slide onto the grass on the far side - or even bounce their way down the straight.

Flag post is at the left hand side deep in the run off just before the corner. Marshals post is run from the bank on the drivers left just past the corner.

Word of advice - if cars come off in the long grass on the other side of the track - take a foam! Hot exhausts have a tendancy to set the long grass on fire - even when it's damp!

Spectacular racing view with some rather nerve wracking dices going on into the corner. Great racing when they go right......and some scary stuff if they go wrong!

Chicane - A chicane!

Put into the track to slow competitors down slightly as the straight between Fishermans and Hairpin is a long one.

Marshalled from both sides of the track.

On the outside of the track there is a flagpost and this is usually where the Incident control post is located as well. There is a large run off area here where cars can be put for safety during live traffic. There is also rumble strip here which is sloped and quite high.

On the inside of the track there is a concrete spectator area (which is the far end of the same area at Colonial) There are two gaps here where cars can be moved into the spectator area, and as with Colonial, cars can then be moved directly to the paddock without interfering with live traffic.

Whilst the chicane is designed to slow competitors down, the usual approach seems to go through it in as straight a line as possible - which leads to a lot of flying grass and the occasional spectacular spin!

Brush up on your hand signals if you're going to be marshalling this post as you won't always be in contact with your radio operator!

Also a post to bring a chair to!

Quote:
"oh no don't do that"
Me - every time a car comes past and either climbs up onto the rumble strip on the inside and looks like it's going to launch or starts sliding on the grass on the other side....(so far they've all been lucky!)

"Do you like my flag post - I built it"
If you're lucky, you'll get Jim as a flagger. And he really DID build the flag post! :)

Hairpin - Very sharp right hand bend and the last corner before Start/Finish

Broken into Hairpin Flag and Hairpin, with additional flag cover provided at the Hairpin Incident control post when necessary. Incident control post is run from the outside of the track near the entrance to the circuit. There is a bank here running up to the run off at the corner which is where you are most likely to have "customers"!

View of circuit is not brilliant but if you like fast cars then this is the place to be!

Competitors come into this corner at speed, and misjudging the braking point can cause serious problems.

Large run off area on the outside of the track where cars can be put for safety during live sessions.

Quote:
"holy £$%^"

Everyone on post in response to a V8 hitting the tyres at about 150mph (driver was ok - car wasn't!)

Lunch

There is a small canteen known as "Debtors Diner" that does a very passable line in burgers, sausages, chips, hot dogs etc.

Lunch is provided - you simply go to the priority queue at the Debtors Diner, select your food of choice and off you go again!

There are no shops within easy reach of the circuit, so do ensure that you bring everything you need with you! You can get fizzy drinks from the Diner, but water, fruit, chocolate bars, cigarettes etc. are not available.

There is also a bar! :)

Customs
Don't worry if you see a red haired youth hanging out the back of the Rescue Unit making rude gestures when passing you. He does this all the time (Hi Keith! :) )

Fire Extinguishers are the heavy thick ones so make sure you do some weight lifting before you go if you're not used to them!

Kirkistown is a very fast exciting circuit and great fun to marshal.

BMMC (NI) is the marshalling club for cars and welcome marshals of all levels. If you are a member of a UK marshals club, bring your card as the majority of marshals are qualified to give you a signature.

The marshals are friendly and welcoming. The majority of the Kirkistown marshals have many years marshalling experience and are happy to pass on what they know to anyone willing to learn.

Marshals are respected and well treated by the marshals club, organising clubs and drivers alike.

If you are a connoisseur of good breakfasts, make sure you get to the circuit a little early - Debtor's Diner does a great fry up!

All in all - highly recommended! :)

Given a radio for the first time at Kirkistown, first radio message "We're in position, clear and ready to race".

Second radio message "Priority, require session stop and rescue unit" A Formula Vee had went straight into the bank at high speed (the driver was OK, and eventually got out with minimal assistance)

Just proves that the old still works!

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Richard Young
Telephone : (028) 4277 1325