Turkish GP - The only "float-away" race
After the race in Budapest, Formula 1 seemed to be entering
a period of time reminiscent of an era when life was lived
at a more relaxed pace. To start with, there would be three
weeks before the next grand prix and secondly, the race cars
and equipment would travel there and back from Trieste, Italy
by ship.
Last year, Turkey became the first ever race described by
the teams' logisitics people, as a "float-away"
as opposed to "flyaway," which describes the races
outside Europe, where teams have to get organised without
their trucks or motorhomes. Turkey falls between the two in
that the trucks and motorhomes in the paddock mean the event
has an identical feel to the European races, but the vehicles
do most of the journey by sea, rather than by road.
In charge of Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro's logisitics operations
is Miodrag Kotur, whose career in racing is closely linked
to that of Ferrari Managing Director Jean Todt, "I started
working in motor sport in 1988 at Peugeot Talbot Sport, which
is where I got to know Jean Todt and worked on Rallye Raid
events such as the Paris-Dakar and other African races,"
says Kotur. "It was a stroke of luck that I got the job
and I guess you could say I came in through the back door!
After Rallye Raid events, Peugeot switched to sports car racing
with the famous 905 and it was at this point that I got more
involved with the logistics side of the operation.
"After a one-two-three finish in the Le Mans 24 Hours,
Mr Todt signed a contract with Ferrari and he asked if I wanted
to come with him. It was not an offer I could refuse, going
to work for Ferrari! I was young and unmarried and I didn't
speak Italian." At first, Kotur's main role was to oversee
Todt's move from France to Italy and everything that entailed,
before working full-time for the Scuderia's logistics operation
from 1994.
Despite over a decade in the role, Kotur still has plenty
of enthusiasm for his work. "It's a job I like where
we can always improve with different and unexpected things
to do," he maintains. "You have to try and anticipate
what might happen and it is interesting because logistics
here at Ferrari, involves a wide range of responsibilities,
such as transport, hotels, team kit and catering. It's such
a big job there is no time to get bored."
Last year's inaugural Turkish Grand Prix was a good example
of the way Kotur's job can throw up the unknown as it was
the first time F1 cars went to a race by boat. "It all
went well," recalls Kotur. "We hesitated between
going by boat or sending the cars by road from Hungary. But
given that there might have been complex problems with getting
through customs in countries like Serbia and Bulgaria that
are not in the EU, we opted for the boat from Trieste to Istanbul.
It is a 56 hour sailing. It was really well organised by a
company that specialises in international truck transportation.
They reserved ships just for F1 without allowing normal trucks
on board. It was especially important for the return trip
to Trieste to run on time as we had the Italian Grand Prix
at Monza just a fortnight later. With a 56 hour crossing there
was no question of missing the boat. This year, our trucks
will leave Trieste on Friday 18 August and we arrive on the
Monday morning for the short drive to the circuit outside
Istanbul. Once we are there it is just like any other European
race, except that it takes place in Asia. The infrastructure
is all new with plenty of room as the circuit has been designed
to have a long life while meeting the most up to date requirements
of the teams. The Turkish customs cooperate and facilitate
all our administrative needs. Everything is done really quickly
and we certainly had no problems last year."
While getting into Turkey went smoothly, one lesson learnt
from the 2005 race is that traffic on the roads from Istanbul
to the circuit is very heavy and so contingency plans are
being put in place for this year. "Getting to the track
in the morning is the biggest problem and we hear the traffic
could be even worse this year," warns Kotur. "Crossing
the main bridge over the river Bosphorus is the biggest hold-up.
Some of our cars did not have the telepass and it could take
half an hour to cross the bridge. So, this year, we will have
chauffeurs as they are local and know the short cuts and they
also understand the unusual driving style of the local people
there!."
Istanbul was a new experience in 2005 and now it seems that
for 2007, teams will face another new challenge, when Formula
1 is due to visit the Japanese Mount Fuji circuit for the
first time since 1977. "I went there after Australia
this year, travelling from Melbourne to Tokyo to visit the
circuit and the surrounding areas to look at the hotels,"
says Kotur. "The circuit itself is not bad, although
it currently lacks the team offices and kitchens. They are
planning that now. What worries me is that in terms of hotels
and access to the circuit there could be some difficulties.
There are not many hotels and they are far away. Getting to
the track will be very difficult. From the centre of Tokyo
it takes an hour but when a race is on it can take four to
five hours. Access is by small country lanes and everyone
wants to go by car. There is not much parking, so they will
stop all traffic in a 20 kilometre radius and only let pass
holders through. I used to think Suzuka Circuit was difficult
logistically, but Mount Fuji seems to be a much more complicated
scenario."
No matter how complicated it is the job of Kotur and his
staff to ensure that everything runs smoothly once the race
team arrive at a new venue. For the drivers, engineers and
mechanics, the actual location of a circuit should have absolutely
no effect on the way they carry out their job of running the
cars on the track and the Scuderia's logistics department
will be doing their utmost to ensure that is the case.
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