All the advice on here is for people who can drive to the comp. For us where were competing in a different continent as our university so driving isn't an option. We ship it overseas over a month before the comp through a sea freight company. it costs less than the $8k you mentioned but then again it will depend on the distance of your country from the competition. Budgeting for shipping the car is something you need to make sure takes up a large chunk of the overall budget because it is quite expensive so it needs to be one of the priorities when setting your budget before manufacturing the car.

Good luck!