The logistics of fly-aways - a painstaking task.

For European-based rounds, the Peugeot Sport road show is mainly freighted by truck.

However, the organisation required for flyaway events such as the Rally of Argentina is a big challenge, as the French team's logistics wizard, Pietro Fornaris, explains: ''Everything is transported by ship or by plane, which means lead times are very long.''

''Scheduling has to be extremely tight to be sure that everything arrives at the correct destination, in the right order, on time and via the cheapest solution possible. The containers shipped by sea have to be ready very early.''

''The crossing often takes a good month, and since there are generally only two ships a week, you always have to plan in a safety margin just in case.''

''By plane, we send the test car and a stock of spares just prior to pre-rally testing. Other components and the rally cars themselves follow later. But here again, we build in a good margin for error. The stress begins during the preparation phase at the workshop. For overseas rallies, we have seven 15-tonne, 12-metre containers. The specially dimensioned service trucks, the recce cars, people carriers, electronic equipment and spares all need to be packed in the knowledge the containers shipped out to Argentina go straight from South America to Kenya, and then on to New Zealand and Australia.''

''They only return to Paris at the end of the season! That means that all the equipment sent on to the following destination has to be thoroughly checked after each rally. That can take up to 24 hours of practically non-stop work, and even twice that when the cars have to be squeaky clean: when going to rigorous countries like New Zealand or Australia, there's no way you'll get a car in if it still has traces of dirt from the previous event!''

''Another headache is that certain used parts, or parts that need revising, are shipped back to Paris by plane, while replacement equipment, originally shipped out by plane, takes their place inside the containers. You can imagine how precise customs documents have to be!''

''Naturally, at the points of departure and arrival, and at certain ports of call along the way, we use agents in whom we have complete confidence to ensure that all goes well. In addition to the equipment, we also have to look after the transport of team staff, which means finding suitable air tickets for around seventy people. As a rule, each flyaway trip is prepared a good six months upstream of the event, except in cases of force majeur... for example, when the FIA decides to modify the World Championship calendar!''