Bob Barnard Track Engineering

So, the F1 Team Managers liked the Canadian GP because the marginal tires made for an interesting race. They want to see if they can engineer more of that sort of "spectacle" with future tires being designed to provide more marginal options. Now haven't we tried that? I recall Michelin turned up at Indianapolis with some marginal tires, and I think Goodyear have also done it with NASCAR. I don't recall that it turned out very well. Certainly a "spectacle", but not sure that is what we want. This is not a circus or a lottery. What next, an random wheel fall-off button that Charlie pushes when the race is getting boring?

I remember being at Suzuka in '89 I think it was and standing in the Honda Motorcycle GP team's garage. It was the 250cc race and Bridgestone were just starting with motorcycles. The local riders, not the GP regulars, were all using them and not the Michelin or Dunlop, and at the start they all ran away and hid. I asked the Honda exec in the garage if he wasn't concerned. He turned to me and smiled and said wait till lap 12. Sure enough, lap 12 the Bridgestone boys were all taking to the scenery as the tires went off. It was entertaining, but not GP racing.

I asked at the time what the FIA would have done if a driver ran out of his allotment? And do we really want drivers running around on marginal tires. I know Fangio has won with the canvas showing, but ask Nigel Mansell how it worked for him in Adelaide '86 when he tried to go the whole race on one set. Not that I think we should not do the race on one set. At Le Mans we saw Audi and Peugeot triple stint tires, so it can be done. I am old enough to remember when teams made tires last two GP's! We worry about how to save fuel and make racing more green, but to my knowledge only Tony Dowe has raised the issue of the waste involved in the number of tires used during a GP. We have engines and gearboxes that now have to do multiple GP's, so why not a set or two of tires to last the weekend? Then we will see who can manage their tires.

There was an excess of riches this weekend and I swapped between the World Cup, US Open Golf, NASCAR and Cycling over the Sunday, while starting to pack up the house. It seemed every time I went to NASCAR Jeff Gordon was hitting someone. It was like something out of "Days of Thunder." What's up with Jeff lately, he did not always drive like this. Is Jimmy getting to him? Ekstrom and Magnussen had good races, Ekstrom leading at times until being pushed wide and finishing lower than he deserved, but not bad for his first race. Magnussen had a quieter race but wound up twelfth, again not bad, and they both said they enjoyed it. As I said though, the left turn brigade are learning this right turn stuff and are a hard school for new boys, whatever their pedigree.

Great news that Alex Zanardi is now the Italian Handbike Champion. What a star, and what guts and commitment. He is aiming at the London Olympics in 2012 and I for one will be watching and cheering!

On the motorcycle front, despite his denials, Colin Edwards is being tipped as the man to ride Valentino's bike while he recovers. No offence to Colin, but is there no young rider they could not bring in? Apparently they offered the ride to Cal Crutchlow to move from World Superbike, but he declined the move. That says something when a WSBK rider does not see riding in the GP as a move up in the world. To make matters worse in my mind, Tech 3 is offering Capirossi to move from Suzuki to Colin's ride with a permanent seat in 2011. Again no offence to Loris, but is there no better prospect than that? MotoGP cannot keep drawing from the same well, it will run dry.