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750MC Timekeeping - A Thankyou, and All Change for 2024
Fri 26 Jan 2024
As anyone present at the Birkett Relay will have seen, the 2023 double-header at Silverstone GP marked the end of an era for 750 Motor Club, as two of our most dedicated volunteers stepped down after 24 years: Terry & Avril Stevens.
Whilst it’s fair to say that over the years Race Timekeeping has progressed hugely from the days where massed ranks of timekeepers with banks of manual stopwatches diligently monitored races from the top floor of a double decker bus, timekeeping is still a discipline that relies extensively on the skill and knowledge of timekeepers to process all the critical data that racers voraciously study immediately after every session.
750 Motor Club has been incredibly fortunate that since 1999 it has enjoyed the services of Terry Stevens along with his wife Avril as ‘our’ timekeeping team. Last year Terry announced his decision to stand down at the end of the 2023 season, and it seemed only fitting that he and Avril bowed out at the Birkett Relay meeting, an event that provides both challenge and satisfaction in equal measures for a Timekeeping team.
Terry’s interest in motorsport started as a young boy spectating at his local Thruxton circuit back in 1968 and fewer than ten years later he first became involved in a volunteering capacity; taking information back to the team at Race Admin who would type up results by hand in the pre-digital era. Having been spotted on the bank at Thruxton producing lap charts, Terry was subsequently invited to volunteer with the timekeepers, learning the ropes on individual clocks before using every generation of increasingly sophisticated equipment since.
Avril hails from a Welsh family with a rallying heritage. Exposed to motorsport from an early age, she also developed an interest in volunteering that led her to start timekeeping and it was this mutual interest that enabled her and Terry to meet. The pair forging an enduring partnership that transcended the timekeeping booth; the pair marrying in 1998 and enjoying many non-motorsport adventures, travelling extensively both around the world and within the UK, most recently in their familiar blue VW camper van that became a regular sight parked outside 750MC Race Control. Having qualified as a timekeeper Terry rose through the grades, becoming a Grade A Timekeeper and later had the honour of being appointed to the select group of MSA International Timekeepers. He subsequently served as Chief of multiple organisations, not to mention working as far afield as New Zealand, Malaysia and China before being appointed Chief Timekeeper of the 750 Motor Club back in 1999.
Since then Terry and Avril have given up countless weekends and evenings not only attending all fixtures but maintaining our timekeeping equipment and undertaking all the extensive pre-race preparation that ensures a smooth-running event. This loyalty to 750MC has not only saved the Club vast sums of money but also provided members with a continuity of service and friendly presence in the paddock that has been a vital component in the enduring success of the 750 Motor Club.
For the 2024 season onwards competitors will now access live timing and results via the familiar TSL Timing platform rather than TheResultsLive/HSSports. This change brings with it features such as a live audible commentary feed as well as on-screen Race Control messages during races, and all at 750MC look forward to working with the TSL team going forward - some of whom have been trained and brought through the ranks by Terry himself.