As we approach the last event of the 2007 season, we look at what is required of the team as they travel from Rally Ireland to Wales Rally GB.
When you think of rallying, it is probably engineers and mechanics that jump to mind first and foremost. But to operate during a rally weekend, the Subaru team needs a far larger crew. With the three cars of Petter Solberg, Chris Atkinson and Xevi Pons, a total contingent of more than 60 team members will make the transition from Sligo to Swansea, along with a plethora of cars, trucks and equipment.
Whilst competition on the final leg of Rally Ireland was in full force, the service park crew were already hard at work disassembling awnings, tents and catering units. Having departed Dublin on Monday 19 November, the trucks and equipment arrived at the team’s base on Tuesday. They will start setting-up in Swansea from Sunday 25 November.
Photo: SWRT
Having taken a team of five people seven hours to completely disassemble the awnings in Ireland, it will take the same team three days to reassemble them in Swansea.
There is a lot of kit to take: nestled into the Subaru service area, there will be three crew cars, six service park vehicles, 16 auxiliary vehicles, four recce cars, and a forklift alongside the three 36 tonne trucks. With the 60 crew, a catering team with a fully mobile kitchen capable of cooking for up to 400 people, there are over 40 tonnes of spares and equipment in total.
Keith Murray, SWRT transport manager says: “In the case Rally GB all the equipment is driven over there in trucks, vans and on trailers. In many ways, this makes it much easier for us as we carry all the equipment we need and have it immediately to hand, rather than putting parts on sea or air freight and waiting for it to arrive.”
The job of booking the team’s hotels is done often months in advance, especially anticipating the popularity of the final event of the year. Ken Rees, rally team event co-ordinator, is responsible for organising the travel logistics and often works six months to a year in advance, securing hotel rooms and flights for the team members.
By the time the first leg of Rally GB starts on Friday 30th November, the team will have been working behind the scenes solidly since Rally Ireland; an indication of just how much goes on away from the three days of competition of each event. As leg three nears, the process of disassembling starts all over again, but at least this time the gap to the next rally can be measured in months as we wait for the 2008 season to kick off in Monte Carlo in January.
