Marshals go racing in iconic Siltex Safety 6-Hour Fiesta Endurance Race!

FOUR motorsport marshals will be swapping their orange overalls and hi-viz jackets for race suits and helmets next month as they take to the track as part of the first-ever marshals team to compete in the Siltex Safety 6-Hour Fiesta Endurance race at Mondello Park.

The popular end-of-season event at the Co. Kildare venue has previously featured ex-Formula 1 drivers David Kennedy and Tommy Byrne, Hollywood actor Michael Fassbender, and British Touring Car drivers Colin Turkington, Chris Smiley and Aron Taylor-Smith.

This year’s race on Saturday, November 8th will have added significance for the Motorsports Marshals Association, the marshalling club for two and four-wheeled race events at Ireland’s only International motor circuit, as it is represented on the grid by a marshalling quartet, who for one day, will leave behind their race flags and fire extinguishers to line up alongside some of Ireland’s motorsport elite.

The chance to be part of the marshal’s team was open to any of the club’s volunteer members who had marshalled at five race days in the past year, with the applicants whittled down to the final four drivers across a two-day selection process, which included both sim and on-track trials.

The four marshals selected were Jake Bailey, Shane Egan, Darragh Keating and Ruth Nugent, with fellow marshal Luke Browne taking on the role of team manager, and the opportunity is one they are all incredibly excited to be a part of.

“I basically grew up in Mondello, watching my uncle Brendan Travers and cousins racing,” Shane Egan explained. “I was there week in week out, so after being surrounded by it from such a young age, it was always something that I wanted to do, but I couldn’t afford to go racing. Marshalling was the next best thing.

“It’s the biggest mix of people that you can meet from all walks of life, but everyone has that shared interest in the racing. I would encourage anyone to give it a try.

“Getting to do the endurance race is one of the cool things that can come from marshalling. I’m really looking forward to sharing the track with so many champions for different classes that I’ve watched from the banks through the years.”

Ruth Nugent is the only member of the team to have previously competed in the Fiesta Endurance race, and she is relishing the opportunity to get to do it alongside her fellow marshals.

“It’s quite a niche thing to get to do, and it’s such an amazing opportunity to get to do it with our marshals,” she said. “It’s a real honour to get to do it on behalf of everyone in the club. It’s quite a challenging event, I did it back in 2019, and it was a rude awakening into how tough it can be and how much planning goes into it. But to be fair, I think that’s what marshals are very good at. We are very good at preparing for events, and we are really good at planning out what needs to be done ahead of time.”

While Nugent has gained notable experience behind the wheel competing in a variety of disciplines from rallycross and rallysprints, to circuit racing and hillclimbs, the two other members of the marshalling teams are complete rookies.

Nineteen-year-old Darragh Keating has followed in the footsteps of his parents Paul and Helen, who were both previously regular marshals at Mondello Park, and last year he was crowned Marshal of the Year within the marshal’s club for his commitment to so many events, both cars and bikes, across the 2024 season.

“I always had the idea at the back of my mind that one day I would go racing,” the Clondalkin native explained. “It was actually bike racing that I thought I would get around to doing first, but this opportunity came up, and it was too good to be true. It started off as a shootout in a race-simulator, and I thought I’d be fairly alright in it, but then the next stage was in a car on track, and I was like ‘I don’t know how to drive a car’. Somehow, I strung together a few good laps, and here I am, doing official test days in Mondello, and then getting to race in a couple of weeks. It’s ex-Formula 1 drivers, GT racers, and then the best drivers from all around Ireland coming together for a six-hour race, with little old me in the middle of it all. It’s crazy. I’ve spent so many years looking at the cars driving, and now I’m going to be in one of those cars, looking out. It doesn’t feel real. I don’t think it will until the morning of the race.”

Jake Bailey is part of a big influx of new marshals to the marshal’s club in the past 18 months, and the opportunity to get behind the wheel is an unexpected bonus which has come from a memorable first year on the banks for him.

“Racing is something that I always wished I could do, but I had never had the chance, so when the opportunity came up I was all over it,” he said. “It’s been incredibly fun so far. I just want to buy one of my own now. We have been testing, and it was brilliant. I had never been on a racetrack, so once you shake off the nerves and do what you think you should be doing, you are happy out. You pick things up quite quickly, like following the other drivers on the track and following their lines. I am really nervous for it the race itself, but I am just going to put my best foot forward. Once you get the first lap out of the way and get a feel for it, it will be great.”

If you would like to volunteer as a race marshal with the Motorsports Marshals Association, further information can be found via mondellomarshals@gmail.com, on Instagram: mma.mondellopark or on Facebook: Mondello Park Track Team.