Tuning Your Slot Car - Advice and Tips
by Mark Rampling - Dunton Slot Car Club
Many thanks for allowing us to use this on our site.

7. Marshalling

Just a couple of points on marshalling:

Marshalls:

With the increasing competitiveness at DSCC, races are being won and lost  on a single 'off', so it is critical to the race result that the marshall does  his job quickly and fairly:

• Marshalls should look only at their corner, and should not follow cars  round the track. Have both hands ready, and don't chat with bystanders. - The  first priority is to clear the track -- pick up car A that has fallen off, to  allow approaching car B to get past.
• If car A nerfs car B and both fall off, put 'innocent' car B on first.
• If car B is knocked off in the process of marshalling car A, put  'innocent' car B on first.
• Do not put car A back on where it could be hit by approaching car B  (e.g. on the outside of a corner), either put car A back on in a safe place or  wait until car B has got past safely.

Drivers:

• Do not shout or criticise the marshalls, whatever the rights or wrongs  of the incident -- just remember that the marshall will do a faster job than you  having to go and marshall yourself!
• The onus is on you to stay out of trouble and to not fall off. - Poor  marshalling will affect everyone at some point, so by the law of averages it  will all even out over time.
• If you shout at a marshall and make him nervous, he is more likely to  fumble the next time!
• And if you do get over-excited with a marshall, go and apologise to him  after the race.
• I have seen many times that a driver keeps the power on when he's  fallen off. The marshall puts the car back in the slot, only for the car to  speed off immediately, catch the marshall's hand and come out again. Or the  marshall puts the car back into the slot extremely quickly whilst the driver is  still mentally kicking himself for falling off, the car speeds off and falls off  at the next corner, losing more time! It is far better to come off the power  straight away, wait for the marshall to put the car back in the slot and get his  hand out of the way, then start going and build up your rhythm again.
• Finally, a nice sporting gesture I have seen a couple of times: if you  fall off and take someone else off with you, and the marshall (incorrectly) puts  you on first, wait for the other car to be put on before you get going again.

Well, I hope that you've stuck with this document this far and it has  contained one or two useful points for you. I look forward to racing against  some superbly well-prepared and well-driven cars at our regular Wednesday  evening meetings! Best of Luck!