Supercars' latest brush with Le Mans

There was an element of Supercars at the recent 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Supercars Volunteers & Events Coordinator Emily-Kate Williams trackside at the world’s biggest endurance race.

A familiar face trackside at Aussie racing events, Williams travelled to France to rub shoulders with officials and marshals at the famous French circuit.

There, Williams volunteered as a Commissaire de Piste (Track Marshal) for the five-day weekend.

“I’d always had Le Mans as a bucket list item, and when I saw the dates actually lined up, I applied to volunteer, she told Supercars.com.

“When I got the acceptance email, I was like, ‘Wow, I’m going to Le Mans’.”

The scale of Le Mans is immense. Officials have over 13 kilometers of circuit to manage at Le Mans, which is some six kilometres longer than Mount Panorama.

Williams was stationed at Poste 28/29, keeping a keen eye on proceedings. Through language barriers, she worked alongside and learned from marshals from across France and around the world.

Poste 28/29, which is located near Porsche Curves, was made up of seven nationalities, with Williams one of two Australians. However, all were bound by one thing — their love for motorsport.

“At Le Mans this year they had 2053 volunteers, and 1800 of those are trackside marshals,” she said.

“I was a flag marshal. Our post had two flag points, and we had 50 volunteers that would cycle over at the two posts over the four days.

“During the race, we would take turns on 28 and 29, so we're on four-hour cycles. It's different for each post. It depends on the chief, how they run it.

“We had time between cycles to go and enjoy the event, or we could obviously go to sleep! I enjoyed how our post was run. It was a great time.”

For Williams, it was a crucial opportunity to experience a new side of the industry, and understand the differences and similarities of how events are run in Australia.

“Some Ferraris during the support categories crashed out at our post, which was actually quite fun having to pull them back in,” she said.

“That was completely run differently to how we did it. We literally grabbed a rope and swung it around the car and pulled it into the corner. That was interesting, compared to how we’d neutralise a track.”

The race itself had three long Safety Car periods, and Williams was at her post. Safe to say, she had her work cut out.

“I was on post for two of the Safety Cars during the race, and that was just so tiring with your arm because you're flagging the entire time,” she laughed.

All told, Williams gained a new appreciation for the volunteers who bring motorsport events to life.

“Doing it for the five days, I was take aback by how tiring it is, but you’re so motivated seeing the passion of everyone, the camaraderie of everyone,” she said.

“It was an incredible experience.”

Find out how you can volunteer at a Supercars event here.