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| "The Inner Circle" |
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| This week... |
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Hurry, hurry
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This is how logistics work in order to allow GP teams to participate in races all over the world.
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It may look easy, but it isn�t. When you turn your TV on to watch a GP in Japan, everything is there, just as if it had been there for months; bikes, riders and teams. As if by magic, seven days later, everything is back in place,but only thousands of kilometres away, in Malaysia, and later on in Australia, despite having already been in South Africa or Brazil.
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The Circus moves very fast and often has to juggle to always be in time to stage 16 GPs, 6 of which are held outside Europe. We visited the backstage of a race to see for ourselves how they manage to move such an enormous amount of equipment and people so far away and so fast.
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In order to do so, we chose a particular scenario, namely on the 6th of October at the Motegi Circuit in Japan. After Toni Elias had crossed the finish line as the winner, his mechanics didn�t have much time for celebrations. As soon as the race was over, they started to clear the pit garage, dismantling bikes, putting away tools and spares and organizing equipment, advertising panels, tyres, fuel and everything necessary for a GP in huge boxes; a total of 4,900 Kg.
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�This task, which at times is frenetic, carries on well into the night. There is not much time for anything else because early next morning, 25 trucks arrive at the circuit to collect all the teams' boxes and also the organization in order to take them to the Tokyo airport by road, which is 120 Km away. Whilst there, specialized staff take charge of customs clearance and administrative formalities which can sometimes be quite complex, due to the fact that they are dealing with extremely valuable material, and in some cases with delicate elements such as fuel.
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The procedure takes a total of 24 hours and, on Monday afternoon 166 tons of material are embarked in two huge cargo Jumbo jets. Everything is stowed in the aircrafts� holds, not only bikes, computers, tyres and spares, but also all the material used by Dorna Sports to organize each GP, i.e. computers and timing equipment, cameras and TV equipment. These 166 tons comprise of 145 tons for the teams, 10 tons of tyres and 12 tons of material used by Dorna in order to stage the races.
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After an 11-hour night-flight, the planes land at Sepang Airport in Kuala Lumpur. However, on this occasion unloading is carried out with great speed, due to the fact that the circuit is situated on within the grounds of this immense aiport. The rest of the time road transport facilities are needed in order to take everything to the corresponding circuit.
While the 166,000 Kg of high-tech material is being by cargo plane, 1400 persons are also moving on. Riders, mechanics, team managers, organisation staff and the Press do not have much more time in order to jump from one continent to the other and prepare the next event. It is not usually just a change of country but also a change of times, habits, weather, food and, of course, a change of language.
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Early Wednesday morning, all the material is set up again, this time in Sepang after having recieved customs' clearance. The mechanics are already waiting for the boxes which have been transported by plane on the very same day of the race. A day to rest and then back to work. The the task of opening and setting up the boxes, connecting up the computers, preparing tools and, above all, dismantling and checking the bikes used in Japan, right down to the last screw, amd leaving them in perfect condition for the next GP, which this time will be in Malaysia.
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These logistical activities are carried out sixteen times a year thanks to long and conscienscious groundwork such as: transport hire facilities, insurance, hotel, restaurant, car and van rental searches and reservations. The agreement with the airline is made by Dorna and the Teams� Association together in order to get the best possible price, since the average air cargo price for 1 kg is of about 4.5 USD. The loading of the teams� equipment is always carried out in Luxembourg and from there it is flown onto the different GP venues in Asia, Africa, America or Oceania.
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All this in order to let the rider find his bike set-up perfectly on Friday morning. From that moment on, it is his and the engineers� responsibility. However, the fact that he finds everything in its place is, without a shadow of a doubt, a minor miracle.
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The figures
Races held in the 2002 World Championship: 16
Races held outside Europe: 6
Staff working at the GPs abroad: 1400 people.
Transported material: 166 tons
Cheapest cargo route: Johannesburg-Luxembourg: 3.50 $ per Kg.
Most expensive cargo route: R�o de Janeiro-Tokyo: 5.80 $ per Kg.
Average cargo price per Kg: 4.5 $
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