The only "float-away" race: Turkish GP
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.
