The Jordan factory is the scene of frantic, but organised, activity today. With pre-season testing coming to an end, it's a case of all hands on deck as the cars and equipment have to be packed and despatched to Stansted Airport, ready for take-off to Melbourne on Saturday. The team will be taking three EJ12s and around 24,000 kilos of spare parts and equipment. All the race team gets involved in the packing, with each person responsible for ensuring that everything he or she needs to get the job done goes into one of the 59 special packing cases and staff from the parts department check that nothing is left behind.

The correct paperwork is vital and five copies of a special booklet are prepared, listing the contents of every sealed case, with a description, weight and value. When everything is safely loaded, three transporters (one for the cars, two for the parts and garage equipment) will roll out of the factory gates and head for the airport. There, they will join similar consignments from the other British-based teams, where they will be loaded onto specially prepared Jumbos, chartered by FOM (Formula One Management). The cars have their wings removed and are protected with special packing before being loaded, one on top of the other in a "bunk bed" arrangement.

The freight will be delivered to the pit lane in Melbourne on Tuesday, where an advance party of 12 Jordan staff will have arrived to start putting the race garage together and assembling the cars over an intensive two day period, before the rest of the crew arrives from England. Engines, tyres and fuel all travel separately.

With three "flyaway" races in a row, cars and equipment will then travel from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur to Sao Paulo, before returning to the UK for the start of the European season. In the meantime, some components, suspension and gearbox for example, will be flown back to the factory for overhauling, before being flown out again for the second and third races. At the start of the season, car development continues at a frenetic pace and the main body of the team can also expect to hand-carry some exotic last minute hand luggage when flying to Melbourne.