For US-based teams competing in the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans, round three of the FIA World Endurance Championship, getting everything packed up and sent overseas can be one of the biggest challenges – with a 24-hour race becoming an entire month-long event in France.
With limited space, cost factors, shipping restrictions and a tight timeframe around racing commitments in the USA, there is no room for error… especially when leading up to the most important race of the year. In 2013, teams from North America will include ALMS LMP2 Champions Level 5, whose logistics are explained below, SRT Motorsports (Vipers), Corvette Racing, Krohn Racing, Dempsey Del Piero-Proton and 8Star Motorsports.
But as Level 5 Motorsports embarks on its third consecutive trek to Le Mans, the three-time championship-winning organisation is well prepared for the task at hand and has its logistics plan down to a fine art.
While planning has been months in the making, work began in earnest when the team’s transporters arrived back at its Madison, Wisconsin shop less than two weeks ago following the most recent ALMS race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
Level 5’s two Honda Performance Development ARX-03b LMP2 race cars were stripped down and then rebuilt from the ground up, while the team also began the tedious task of packing a full stock of spare parts and garage equipment into 33 separate custom-built shipping containers for the transatlantic journey.
Says Team Manager David Stone: "Having done it numerous times before and having proper containers from Quentor that are custom-built to hold everything specific makes the process much easier. It’s not like trying to put everything in a bunch of generic wooden crates. Everything has a place. That makes all the difference in the world.”
Working with transport partner First Air, the crates were picked up yesterday from the team’s base before flying from Chicago to London, then driven to Le Mans in three curtain-side tractor trailers. The total freight, including both LMP2 cars (one to be used as a 'spare), is expected to be more than 15 tons (US). The majority of the 30-strong crew will arrive on 3rd June to start their 3 week trip and their first task will be unloading and arranging the freight.
"Right now, it's mostly making sure everything's going to get there correctly with the Customs carnets and making sure we load everything correctly so it will get there in one piece,” Crew Chief Ken Swan explains. “Once we get there, it will be about making sure items are going where we need them to go. With 33 crates, it's a case of unloading everything and figuring out where they need to go. Some will go to the DAMS shop we're working out of and the others to the garage tent.
“It's amazing how much you think you know the first time you go,” continues Swan, “that you realize you don't know until you've done it a few times. For a new team going over, I don't think you realize how much goes into Le Mans.”
Fiona Miller (with thanks to Level 5 press release)
Photo: MAZDA RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA (MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA, USA), AMERICAN LE MANS SERIES, SATURDAY 11TH MAY 2013. Level 5 Motorsports will be competing at Le Mans with the No.33 HPD ARX03b-Honda in LMP2 (Tucker-Franchitti-Briscoe)
