Behind every great event is a great team. That was certainly the case for the Shannons SpeedSeries – GT Festival Sandown, powered by Motorsport Australia’s dedicated team of officials.
Shannons SpeedSeries arrived at Sandown International Raceway in late July for its fourth round of the 2025 season, featuring more than 18 hours of on-track action for fans to enjoy.
Contributing to the weekend was an officials team of close to 260 volunteers, an all time high according to Motorsport Australia Officials Manager Aidan Siegel.
“Like with most forms of motorsport, it is almost entirely run by volunteers,” Siegel said.
“At Sandown, Motorsport Australia had more than 250 officials there – without them, the events don’t happen at any level.
“In other sports, once you get to state and national level events, people are paid for the most part. In motorsport, you can go up to Formula One and most of the motorsport related personnel are the volunteers – it’s quite amazing when you think about that level of dedication.”
As is the case for every motorsport event, there is a wide variety of tasks for officials to undertake, which provides different types of experience to every official.
Siegel noted national level events are a great setting for officials to gather hands-on practice at motorsport events, to better equip themselves to assist at club events at other times during the year.
The Senior Leadership Officials team also played a pivotal role, coordinating the hundreds of officials in attendance over the three days.
Led by Event Secretary Kimberley Hughes, GT World Challenge Australia and GT4 Series Race Director James Taylor and GT World Challenge Australia Deputy Race Director Kaye Callander, the officials on the ground ensured the event ran smoothly and followed correct procedures.
“It’s incredibly important what our senior leadership does. They’re doing everything from running a national level event to introducing new officials, while supporting everyone else,” Siegel added.
“They have to be positive, authoritative, understanding, a teacher and a boss rolled into one.
“They are an incredibly important group of people to have at these events, driven by their love for motorsport.”
To learn more about officiating opportunities, head to motorsport.org.au/officials.
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