Passat 1.8t 20v or A4 2.4 SE and Marshaling

[DropKickMurphy]

Hi all,

i am goin to inherit a bit of money in the new year when i turn 25 and am pondering upgrading the skip (mk3 golf 1.6) to something a little more luxurious. the golf has served me well but now requires a number of jobs doing to it and i'm struggling to justify the cost. it needs:

cam belt doing
front shock absorber replacing
both rear wheel bearings
new heater matrix

at the very least. it has behaved faultlessly for 3 years and will make an excellent first car for someone, but it is a bit agricultural and having a new baby the lack of heater concerns me.

now, i have done some homework and like the look of either a B5 passat 1.8t or an audi A4 2.4 - can anyone suggest which is better and why, or if there is anything i should look out for. my budget is about £1500 - there seem to be plenty around for this sort of money but will they all be dogs?

i commute about 15 miles per day, but often drive up to silverstone (110 miles each way) and thruxton (45 miles each way) where i marshal at motor racing events or to visit family in suffolk (180 miles each way) so it will get plenty of exercise.

any opinions would be most welcome

thanks

DKM

[Ben]

drive up to silverstone (110 miles each way) and thruxton (45 miles each way) where i marshal at motor racing events


Really!

Whay kind of marshaling do you do?

[hagis]

Motor-racing at a guess, Ben :)

[DropKickMurphy]

Hi there ben,

i am an 'incident marshal' which means i get to wear funky orange overalls and pull people out of burning cars!

its quite interesting and you get the best seats in the house as it were. i get to clear up the wreckage if there is a crash on the course and put out fires.

its good fun, the marshals are a really nic ebunch and you get to meet all sorts of people - my favourite events are the HSCC (historic sports car club) ones - the racing is brilliant! its awesome watching minis dicing with mustangs and cobras!

its on a voluntary basis, but we usually get a voucher for lunch and most clubs have raffles for freebies and hats and things.

DKM

[Ben]

i do silverstone for Formula 1 on the fathers for justice look out. manning the entrances for vehicles to the track.

How do i get on your team????

[DropKickMurphy]

Hi again,

i went along with a friend from work for a few days at the end of last year and got hooked - best place to start is either

http://www.silverstone.co.uk/about/silverstone-marshals-team/

or email penny.norris@silverstone.co.uk and ask her for some more info. she is the Marshal team co-ordinator and is very good at what she does. the fees for the year are £15 to cover insurance and whatnot and you can do as many or as few events as you like - for every event you volunteer for you get a free ticket and a +1 at least, and most events you can get more tickets for free if you ask penny. the only exception is the F1, where tickets are in demand for obvious reasons!

there are various other clubs such as the BARC marshals which are based at Thruxton, the BMMC who are based somewhere else - they are all much of a muchness, but as far as i'm aware the silverstone team is the cheapest to join - good to test the waters if you like.

you dont need loads of kit either, as long as you have a sturdy pair of boots you are good to go - i just buy kit as and when i can afford it tbh.

i think its all finished for this year, but it all starts back up in feb/march time so if you are interested give penny a shout - if you mention that Huw Davies (me) pointed you in her direction i might get some brownie points :D

glad you are interested, there arent many new faces joining up so new recruits are always welcomed!

if you need any more info let me know.

Huw (DKM)

[paul b]

Very interesting. Cheers for the info Huw/DKM.

I was with Ben doing the same thing, brought my son along too. It was good but being a "proper" marshal would just be so cool.

I shall probably contact them in the new year, and see what's going on.

Paul

[Ben]

i'll be sending an email also

[kite]

I marshall Aircraft......

[DropKickMurphy]

no worries at all, glad that a few more people are joining up.

let me know if you volunteer for any days next year and we can meet up for some breakfast if we go along to the same meetings - would be good to say hi to some other VWAF members!

Huw

[Ben]

email sent;)

[MFGF]

I marshall Aircraft......

Does that mean you get to wear funky orange overalls and pull people out of burning aircraft? :)

[kite]

I do have a not so "funky" tabard and "bats"
The fire service deal with fires, we deal with the aftermath.
You have PM !!

[DropKickMurphy]

Hi all,

i got my calendar of events for enext year through the post on friday and it looks like a good line up. i'm going to do all ther HSCC events as well as the silverstone classic festival and some others - i will post the days i'm doing when i get home in case anyone else is interested.

has anyone else received the provisional calendar?

DKM

[Ben]

i have recieved a booklet and a newsletter as a 'sample' to read through. If i want some tester days i'm to get in touch.

[DropKickMurphy]

days i have put forward for are as follows:

HSCC Sun 28th March
VSCC Sat 28th April
HSCC Sun 15th May
CTCRC Sat 22 May
AMOC Sun 13th June
HSCC 9th October
AMOC 10th October
750 MC 30th october

these are all provisional dates at this stage though - but having volunteered all of these (except CTCRC) last year i can vouch for them being excellent meetings whatever the weather.

DKM

[DropKickMurphy]

thought i'd resurrect this one as i have now confirmed the dates i am going to marshal at silverstone, did any of the rest of you decide you'd have a go this year?

DKM

[Ben]

I can not go to Silverstone this year. Mr. Ecclestone has scheduled the F1 on the same weekend as my boys 1st birthday.

I'll be watching from the sofa:(

[SammoVWT]

What you doing with the mk3? I could have it up and running again for cheap, would be a nice gift for the other half :>

[Borab0y]

I signed up for the info pack on marshalling the other day with these

http://www.volunteersinmotorsport.co.uk/

[SammoVWT]

I wouldnt mind volunteering for some marshalling, but i dont think I could fit it in to my hectic schedule, sad times :(

[DropKickMurphy]

Hi Borab0y,

yeah VIM are the sort of umbrella organisation for the marshalling thing, you can chose to affiliate yourself to a club/circuit or just go where you please, being a member of a club means you get communications and stuff a bit before the events are announced but it depends how involved you want to get really.

i am a member of the silverstone marshal club, and it costs £15 for the year and includes membership of the MSA which governs the whole shooting match. the MSA membership means you get your licence to put signatures on and go up levels (trainee, experienced, etc) if you arent really bothered and just want to get a taste of what its all about then dont worry about joining a club.

if you are heading up to silverstone give me a shout and i'll be happy to show you whats what.

DKM