INDYCARNATION

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The Point A to Point B and return trip of the IZOD IndyCar Series is relatively straightforward for DB Schenker. Still, the Indy Racing League’s Official Freight Logistics sponsor is moving an entire racing series to São Paulo, Brazil, and back to Indianapolis.

That’s 400,000 total pounds swallowed by two Atlas Air 747-400F cargo planes for the 5,000-plus-mile ride between two continents. Oh, and make sure it arrives at the venue safely and on time for the season-opening São Paulo Indy 300 on March 14.

That’s why teams unloaded their race cars, equipment and consumables March 3 at a staging area at the Indianapolis International Airport. In a free-form ballet of forklifts, equipment was weighed, placed on pallets and wrapped in plastic. Chassis, along with front and rear wing assemblies, were stacked and secured on specially-made racks. It all will be loaded March 6 (seeking an even distribution of weight in the cargo bay by the loadmaster) for the flight to Viracopos-Campinas International Airport in the state of São Paulo. Firestone Firehawk tires departed via ocean cargo vessel on Feb. 4.

DB Schenker has been associated with the sanctioning body since 2009, providing logistics for the Honda Accord Safety Cars between North American event venues and promotional units such as a show car to Panama for an IZOD photo shoot in autumn. DB Schenker’s role expanded with oversight of the Sao Paulo event logistics.

DB Schenker combines all transport and logistics activities of Deutsche Bahn, employing more than 91,000 across 2,000 locations in about 130 countries.

“We’ve been working on sports events dedicatedly since 2000,” said Nick Kashiparekh of DB Schenker sportsevents – USA. “We started with the sports events division in ’99 primarily to work on our contract with the Sydney Olympic Games. After that success, we were an official logistics provider from 2000 to 2008. Although we didn’t have an official capacity with the Vancouver Games, we provided logistic services for broadcasters, national Olympic committees and quite a few of the sponsors and marketing groups.

“Moving broadcast equipment and athletic gear is all time-sensitive and it takes careful coordination – not just from the country of origin or the host country, but many times you have accounts that spread over numerous countries. From a coordination standpoint, (the IZOD IndyCar Series move is) a lot easier than an Olympic Games or a FIFA World Cup when you have multiple countries and multiple entities to deal with.”   

Upon arrival March 7, the freight is transferred to trucks to continue the journey to the Anhembi complex in the north-central section of the largest city in South America. Manifests are checked and spot customs inspections are conducted at the track in time for team personnel to unpack March 10 and begin preparations for the race weekend.

“The most difficult part is making sure the (six copies for everything) paperwork is in order for customs,” Indy Racing League director of operations Bill van de Sandt said. “We’re a racing league and not a shipping company, so all we can do is get everything ready and count on DB Schenker to get us there and back.”

Before the champagne is uncorked in Victory Circle, packing is underway for the return trip.

“It’s multiple processes, but it’s very well-organized,” van de Sandt said. “The cooperation of the governments, the help of DB Schenker and the airlines works very well. It’s a process that is very effective and efficient.