02/07/2008
NEWS STORY
A 17-year-old schoolboy is set to match Lewis Hamilton's stellar progress in Formula One... at the side of the track.
Kieron Salmons will be the youngest marshal in the country approved to look after the safety of competitors in motorsport's premier discipline when he takes his place at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone this weekend.
Kieron, a school pupil at Bridgwater College in Taunton, Somerset, became involved in motorsport at the age of just 12 through the government-backed scheme Volunteers in Motorsport. Since then he has never looked back, and is now well on his way to a career at the highest levels of motorsport. However, it could all have been so different if his mother had not put her foot down.
"I originally got into marshalling because it was something my dad did," he explained. "My mum didn't want him going away every weekend and not spending time with me, so she forced him to take me along. It kind of backfired on her because now we are both away most weekends!"
Kieron continued, "The first event I took part in was at Castle Combe race track, where I got involved in scrutineering and safety checks on cars. Since then I've been all over the country to the top motorsport venues and met some amazing people. I really like the British Touring Car Championship in particular, as there is so much action and the atmosphere is great on race weekend."
After highlighting the fun side of volunteering in motorsport, Kieron also pointed out that he had been involved in a number of serious incidents while on duty.
"One that really sticks in my mind was at Brands Hatch when I helped Alex Zanardi through the gravel after he went off. He was ok thankfully and I've got a great picture of us together afterwards which I'm really proud of. That's the great thing about being a marshal, you get to see people and situations that most people never even get close to."
While Kieron is considering working full-time in motorsport in the future, he said in the meantime he wanted to encourage more people his age to become involved. "I'm really keen to help with recruitment and training for Volunteers in Motorsport because it's a great activity, you just learn so much from it. It shows you have commitment and can handle the responsibility of looking after other people's safety."
Anyone interested in becoming involved should contact Volunteers in Motorsport on 08450 94 00 94, or log on to the Volunteers in Motorsport website