Passage to India with Geoff Simmonds

Heading to a new circuit for the first time is always something of a voyage into the unknown. Here, Lotus Renault GP Race Team Co-ordinator Geoff Simmonds gives his insights into easing the team’s passage to the country of curry, cricket, gin and…well, now motorsport.

What are your initial considerations when planning for a new track ?

GS : “There are a number of things to consider, and in many respects we are helped by it being a Hermann Tilke circuit. Tilke is very experienced at designing Formula 1 circuits and we are experienced at going to new facilities he has designed, so that takes a large element of the unknown away ; we know the track has been well designed with a good infrastructure. We’ve seen the pictures and everything looks very impressive.”

“With a new circuit we’re not worried about things like electricity provision which can be more of a concern with the more established tracks. However, one area in the planning which was a slight curve ball was when we were told ‘English plugs’ for India. They are English plugs, just the standard ones from pre-1962 with three round pins… That’s why we check all the details in advance so there should be no surprises when we get there.”

Away from the track, what other aspects do you need to consider ?

GS : “The aspects which are more difficult to control are those outside the circuit such as transportation and travelling. Delhi can be very trying in this regard – a journey which takes half an hour one day can take two and a half hours the next.”

“A key thing is to find a time of the day when the traffic is at its lightest so it doesn’t impact too much with everyone having to make a very early start. Equally, we don’t want to leave at a time where we end up spending too much time sat in traffic.”

“Freight is another area where you have to be on the ball. There is more paperwork with India than we have experienced with other countries and we expect that sending back items to the factory will take longer than usual, so we’ve accounted for that in all our planning.”

“The worst thing which could happen is ‘Delhi Belly’. To counter this everyone has hand sanitizers, and we hope that not too many people get ill. We have an additional crew of people just in case we do suffer. We all know the problems we could face and if people do get ill we have reactionary measures in place.”

When do the team head out to India ?

GS : “The first people to go out are actually our caterers. An army marches on its stomach so it’s important that we have a good supply of food. There is a lot they can do in advance, such as looking on the internet to find some high quality food suppliers. They will check everything is in place and also look for any new suppliers where required.”

“I went straight from Korea to India with my advance scout hat on in order to understand everything and check over what would be required. It’s the first time I went to India and visiting new places is a very rewarding aspect of the job. I wouldn’t normally have planned to go to India and be left to my own devices, but I love seeing new countries.”

“I went to the circuit on the Wednesday, Thursday, Friday of the week prior to the race and I travelled there at different times to evaluate the traffic. As it’s a new circuit there aren’t many hotels immediately by the track so we are staying around 60 km away.”

“Our set-up crew will arrive earlier than they would for an established race. The first of the set-up crew, (which includes two of our team) fly out on Saturday and then three others arrive at the circuit on Sunday, level the sea freight and do another recce to check if there’s anything that has been missed. The main set-up crew arrive Sunday and we all get stuck in the following day.”

“The mechanics will be at the circuit on Tuesday as usual and will have a reasonably big build to do after the Korean GP.”

Source LRGP