---

On youtube under "Trouble at Barregarrow" and others are shocking - why is there only a lack of adhesion flag initially when there's litres of oil all over the line at the bottom of Barregarrow ? .. why is there a marshal waving his hands to the bikes ? you are totally committed on the approach never mind after you've tipped in at that speed, what the hell is going on there ?,  was it flagged before the bottom ? surely that should have been waved yellows right up the hill until the oil was cleared/dealt with ?.

Have a look again on Youtube 'Barregarrow Incident' draw your own conclusions, I will hold mine at the moment!

Hi Owl, There seems to be a whole load of confusion and a load of flags/personnel right on top of the oil drop but not further back up the track at a point where a rider can scrub a load of speed off safely, the first adhesion flag is pulled out right on top of committed bikes doing 150mph+ then it's a waved yellow which if it's not flagged anywhere else up the the hill gives an already committed rider no time to do much if anything in that distance if it's only 50 yds or so from the bottom, the waved yellow is then put away and the adhesion flag brought out again, what i'm trying to get across is that a load of oil at Barregarrow bottom should have constant waved yellows a lot further back up the track than 50yds away, lobbing all the brakes on at that first flag location would see the bike stand up in a straight line, the video though is stopped a couple of times and disjointed but if it was flagged further up the hill towards or at the top then the rider of what sounds like the Norton does need a word in his ear.

Exactly...confusion. I felt for the loan flag marshal watching the actions at the next point. In saying that 'if in doubt hang it out' flag that is. He does seem to go for a radio at some stage, why was he on his own when they seemed to be well manned further down?

Would love to know if there were flags being shown higher up, or were they just as confussed?
I hate to criticise, most marshals do a good job but they need support. I don't want to start a slanging match or start and endless debate.

I have been out of racing for 16 years and no doubt things have moved on but previously having had over 30 years of track side experience from marshal to sector marshal to chief marshal and clerk of the course I am not making my comments without concern for riders and officials.

Likewise with your words about the job the marshals do. If there's one thing i've seen in similar timescales as yours while on my bike and while spectating it's a lack of understanding at times of the physics/distance involved at the TT trying to get a very high speed machine to change direction safely never mind bring to a halt particularly at places like Barregarrow bottom where going straight on/running wide simply isn't an option. One question i'd like to ask you or other marshals - is there now a separate flag for oil on the track and water/rain on on the track ? only asking as there's a world of difference in the grip available between oil and water.

Re the lone guy, that's normal, a flag point controlled by the DSM at a central point in his area where the response team will be. I lone marshal on many sessions, but ONLY flags/radio. If anything happens I put flags out and remain on station in case of a second incident and to protect the response team if upstream of them.

Yes there is a separate flag for water (damp patches) and low adhesion (oil). Waved yellows is 'slow down and be prepared to stop' and should normally only be shown if there are personnel or an obstruction on the track. 


The yellow with orange stripes low adhesion flag was correctly being shown by the group of marshals though I would suggest not as prominently as it should have as the stationary flag would have been desperately difficult to see in front of a group of orange tabards. I'm GUESSING they went to waved yellows because the riders were still barrelling through. The DSM would have radioed upstream for flags from the lone guy (and possibly further up) unless the lone guy saw something that he felt necessitated the waved yellow, in which case safety first! It's difficult to judge from isolated shots on the video.

All the marshals have basic training and many such as me are incident management trained (refreshed every three years). However, you can go a couple of years without incident (I had none last year at the F of M thankfully) and to put training into practice after such a period of time in the heat of the moment at a major incident is very difficult to get it right.

They need 500 marshals for the course and it's impossible to have simulated drills etc for that many volunteers, many of whom are already giving up part of their holiday to facilitate the racing!

They are doing their best! t'ain't fun to have riders barrelling past you under waved yellows when you are trying to get a stretcher up the road to the helicopter or clearing debris and there's a lot of that goes on.