Formula 1 Race Track Logistics

Formula 1 is all about racing, but away from the competitions, a different kind of race is fundamental to the workings of Panasonic Toyota Racing; the constant race against time to get to the track on time.

Host: Whenever the F1 circus goes on its travel, the racing starts for the team even before the actual race itself. It’s a case then of getting everything from man and machine together, packing up, checking lists, above all, not forgetting anything. Over the years, experience grows. Richard Cregan: I believe that the ground work that people have to do to achieve a good logistics, let’s say its experience of the business in motor sport, not necessarily in Formula One. Host: When things can’t go in seven removable screws pack everything in. From light bulbs for the offices to all the spares for the cars, everything that is needed for the teams day to day work. Maintenance and operating checks are also part of their job, after all, just like the cars, all the equipment must work perfectly too. Everyone has their work cut out. Richard Cregan: I think the target, you have to set a very clear targets for yourself. We have our plans. We make plans every year. Once the calendar is made from the FIA, we sit down with all the different departments and we look at the dates for the freight, the dates for the trucks leaving, when we want to have the people there, when we have want to have all the equipment there and then basically, we go in. We arrange all that. Host: With cleaning and checking equipment, it takes around two days to fully load the trucks. Then it’s out on to the road. The truck covers up to 30,000 kilometers a year. The longest trip is to the race in Istanbul. Once on site, they crack on with barely a break. Everything has to come out again and be setup. All the telemetry, chassis parts, axles, gear boxes, engines and more. When you add it all up, it’s a fair old weight that gets moved around. Markus Burger: About 38 or 39 tons even a bit more of European races because then of course, we’ve got all the equipment in the trucks too like work benches and also, to conceive a little extras needed for all the offices that are completely fitted out up top then we’re ready up to 36 and 37 tons for each truck then we’ve got four of them. Host: Then they really get rough it takes up to eight hours to completely fit up the bits. Depending on the circuit, the garage sizes vary between a 120 and 180 square meters, working space for two cars. The protest is a new challenge every year as the start of the season always brings with it some new and sometimes incalculable factors. Richard Cregan: You normally have enough equipment, enough parts in the truck car and the air freight to build another car. So, effectively you would have four complete cars at the trunk, one in parts, three complete. That is more difficult at the beginning of a season because obviously, you have a new car and you have a new specification, so to actually achieve that is a little bit more difficult but normally, that is the target we have is that we have three complete cars plus one in parts. Host: Every part no matter how tiny, be it is screw of clip has a serial number by which it’s listed. If anything goes wrong or it’s missing, it can be quickly sent on from Cologne. It’s a huge effort then to get two cars out onto the track and it’s the people who do something that no machine can. Richard Cregan: We can’t influence so much the performance of the car from logistics itself but certainly in terms of creating the atmosphere for the people to do their job and perform because quite often, very, very long days, you have people working late into the evening. So, it’s a very important challenge to make sure that those people have the right environment to work in and that is part of our responsibilities to ensure that. Host: The team’s manager takes this very seriously and make sure that these roughly 90 hardworking race team members are given a perfect meal three times a day at any circuit in the world and that each of them can relax in their own hotel room. Once again, another exciting race weekend has drawn to a close but the next will come very soon.