SAO PAULO -- It's not be the most glamorous task associated with auto racing, but the logistics of moving a complete race team from race to race is one of the most important.
At any given race, teams transport all the tools and spare parts needed to adjust or repair their cars in order to make them a race-winning machine. At most races that task is done by one or more 18-wheel transporters.
But for the Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300 presented by Nestle, teams must pack everything they need in shipping crates and load their cars onto racks for transport to Brazil. This is one team’s story of the journey to their first event in Sao Paulo.
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For Barracuda Racing, the trip to Brazil starts shortly after the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach ends. The team loads up its transporter for its trip back to its Indianapolis headquarters. The team spends a few days offloading its equipment and carefully packing everything it needs for the Brazil race, including Alex Tagliani’s No. 98 Barracuda Racing Honda.
On Thursday, April 25, the team weighs its freight; it is well below the 9,000-pound limit for a one-car team and ready to head to its Brazilian debut
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Friday, April 26
INDYCAR is well ahead of schedule for loading team’s equipment, so by noon, the team transporter is headed down Interstate 465 toward Indianapolis International Airport, where INDYCAR’s logistics provider SOS Global will handle the job of loading equipment on a pair of 747 cargo planes.
Twenty minutes later, the truck and four crew members, along with INDYCAR officials and ground crew from Integrated Air Services are loading the team’s primary car onto a specially designed rack. It takes a couple a tries to line the car up on the top shelf of the rack, but the job is done without issue.
Once that task is completed it’s off to the weigh station where all the equipment – from the rear wings, to wheels to fuel hoses to quick jacks – is inventoried and weighed. INDYCAR officials confirm that the team is well below the weight limit.
For the crew, the job is done. They’re off to spend a few well deserved days off. But for their equipment, the journey has just begun.
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Sunday, April 28
SOS Global has contracted with Atlas Air to make the nearly 5,000 mile trip from Indianapolis to Viracopos–Campinas International Airport. The first of two 747 cargo planes arrives in the morning and the cars and equipment are split amongst that plane and a second plane which arrives in the afternoon.
The Barracuda Racing car and equipment are slated to be on the second plane, which is expected to leave early in the morning. But there a mechanical issue with the plane delaying the flight for a few hours.
No worries, though. The schedule is designed to handle such delays.
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Monday, April 29
The first load of cargo arrives at VCP and ground crews with the Brazilian logistics company SAX begin to offload the plane and load it onto trucks for the one hour journey to Anhembi Park, the home of the Sao Paulo Indy 300. The first caravan of trucks is slated to depart for Anhembi Park around 8 p.m., along with a police escort to help it through Sao Paulo’s snarling traffic.
The second plane, meanwhile, departs Indianapolis, nearly 9 hours after it was scheduled after a replacement aircraft has to be called in by Atlas Air after another mechanical issue. That means all of BHA’s equipment has to be off-loaded the original aircraft and loaded on the second aircraft.
The Barracuda Racing car and equipment has another 9 ½ hours before it arrives in Sao Paulo and follows the same procedure as the first plane. It’s offloaded by the SAX ground crew and loaded onto a truck. It departs for Anhembi Park around midnight as part of the second caravan.
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Tuesday, April 30 – Wednesday, May 1
INDYCAR officials who have arrived with the cargo as well as others who have traveled in early are responsible for all of the team’s equipment once it arrives at the circuit on the morning of April 29.
The primary cars, including Alex Tagliani’s car, are the first to be offloaded, while the backup cars remain on the racks in a secure area. Forklifts are used to carefully offload the cars from the racks and they are then pushed to the team’s work area, not far from where the racks are kept.
The team’s shipping crates full of spares and equipment is also brought to the team’s work area in the garage area, and awaits the team, which is slated to depart on the evening of May 1. If all goes as scheduled, the crew and its equipment will be reunited when the garage opens on Thursday.
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Thursday, May 2
The garage opens at noon, and the skeleton crew of Barracuda Racing team members arrive at the circuit. Unpacking has to be done and car preparations begin.
The journey to Brazil is over. But the race weekend has only begun.
