A Day in the Life of a Race Maker

Despite either watching motorsports or attending events at Silverstone pretty much every weekend, I don’t near enough share motorsports content on An Ocean Glimmer. I am such a massive fan of Formula 1, World Endurance Championship and British Touring Car Championship, all championships that I fall in love more each time I watch. This passion led to me becoming a Silverstone Race Maker, I’ve spoken about this volunteer program just a couple of times here, showing my passion and exactly how much I love it!

I even shared an Introduction post here, before continuing this post you should definitely read this. I’m going into more detail about this program for this post. I haven’t done a post like this before, but I thought it would be good to share my typical day, including what happens and exactly what this program is all about. Of course, one event to the next can be different depending on the event. With this post, I’m just going to be generic. I hope you enjoy!

Before the event even starts, it’s the preparation beforehand, packing my uniform and camping gear. I always write a list, there is so much I have to take with me and the easiest way to not forget is a list, this makes packing super easy. Camping for Silverstone is probably the second best thing, after going to Silverstone! We always have a laugh and I’ve made some special memories, including eating curry at one o’clock in the morning.

I have now got used to camping, before being a Race Maker, I had never camped but now I live in luxury in our eight-man tent and know exactly what I need to take. You also need to prepare for every weather condition, Silverstone is an old airfield, so on one side, it could be raining, the other completely dry. The evenings can get cold so I always take more layers than I need, being cold in a tent is one of the worst things. This means I have my sleeping bag and about ten blankets!

Some events stretch over the whole weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, others are just Saturday and Sunday but there are also one-day events. In the morning, we’re greeted by Lauren the organiser of the Race Maker programme and the one who keeps us all in line! We have to sign in each morning, here we collate our breakfast, lunch and dinner food vouchers, they definitely feed us a good amount for being volunteers.

If you’re one of the lucky ones, you also receive a radio to keep in contact with Lauren and the other Race Makers. This is a very important tool as if anything happens or you require service, this is the quickest way to get in contact. The smaller events we even receive a free programme, for me, this is great as I love reading through them. I forgot to mention, this is early in the morning, from anything like 4am to 9am the days are long but definitely rewarding.

You can always tell who are the early risers and who just want to go back to bed! I am definitely the latter, I’m horrible in the mornings. To wake myself up, there’s nothing better than a hot drink and breakfast, depending on what Silverstone provides depends if I have my favourite porridge. Porridge can keep me going for hours, so this is a must in the morning. We have a little time to catch up with fellow Race Makers, work out where we are for the weekend and with whom before Lauren starts the most important morning brief.

There is always important messaging in this brief and Lauren always keeps us updated, things can always change, even on the day. Before you know it, the brief is over and we are taken to our posts. Now as a Customer Service Race Maker this is on the Gates to welcome people in and even help on the gates with tickets or questions. We’re not posted here the whole day, normally by able eleven, twelve o’clock we can come off this post as there’s only one person every ten minutes coming through.

It’s now time to explore the circuit and work out where all the punters are! At the end of the day, the punters are the people we’re here for so we go where the people are. I love being in the same area as the punters, there are some interesting questions and it keeps you going during such a long day. Now from here, it’s just a normal day, wandering around the circuit, answering people’s questions. Sometimes you do get pretty weird ones but there’s always someone else around that knows the answer!

Yes, I have been doing this for five years now, but you still don’t know everything when it comes to Silverstone! Things change during the day and each year, it never seems to be the same! During the smaller events, Lauren gives us tasks to do during the weekend for prizes, this always brings out our competitor side while giving us something to look forward to. The people around me always know how to make me smile!

Pit walks are definitely one of my favourite things over the weekend, I love helping to gear everyone up and make sure they’re already. Here there aren’t so many questions, it’s just making sure if it’s a ticketed event all the correct people are there. If it’s not ticketed, making sure they’re queuing in a good place, being in the paddock it’s a busy place with mechanics and teams working, their safety is a priority.

Last season, they brought in the photography program and I’m thankful to be apart of this. I have been able to take professional photos at most of the events. I now just need to go through them and provide Silverstone with the good ones. I couldn’t help myself but take photos of the cars out on track as well. I’m really enjoying this as it shows all the Race Makers in their work environment. It’s been hard to get the right images.

I am still learning, so this is a massive learning curve for me but I am very impressed with the ones I’ve taken so far. Some were even in this year’s handbook! I now need to find the time to collate and edit them before passing them to Lauen. Being apart of the Race Maker program has become a big part of my life, I love my motorsports and I love being at Silverstone with great people.

I really hope I can continue this into 2019 and further, I even want to share further things about the program here on An Ocean Glimmer. Do you want to become a part of a special program? Well, I’m pleased to say we’re looking for new people for 2019! If you love motorsports or love volunteering, then what are you waiting for. I will be sharing when applications are open but also follow Silverstone on Twitter.

I hope you have enjoyed this post! Do you have a passion for motorsports?
What’s your favourite championship?

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