Bob Barnard Track Engineering

So here we are again in lovely Korea, where nothing has changed, not even the weather. Friday practice took place in pouring rain with no one watching and the track as awful as last year. Nothing has been built of the new city, it is still a track in a swamp in the middle of nowhere. The teams must be wondering what are we doing here? It certainly cannot be promoting Korea, just one look at the place puts me off ever going.

The inevitable accident occurred at the pit exit, and now they all want it fixed. The time to fix it was after the last race! How could Tilke design the pit in and out this way, and how could the FIA approve it? I guess you could ask that about most of this track. So what is the solution for the pit exit you ask? Run it around the back of the run off? NO, put in lights. So when a driver is coming down the main straight at 180 mph plus he sees a nice white light telling him that someone is exiting the pits. So now what? Do not misjudge your braking, stop trying so hard? Really. I guess you could tell the guy exiting with a blue light to make sure he waits until the other car goes by, but that's about all. And this is the top class in racing. And we have not mentioned pit in yet.

Of course it is a rhetorical question to ask what we are doing here, making money for Bernie and CVC. 

The McLarens had it all their own way in the rain by over 1.8 seconds, and Hamilton put in a lot of laps around the same time so it was not a one-off quick lap. Saturday is supposed to be dry, so we will see who really has the set up. Forecast for Sunday anyone?

Stoner is having it all his own way at Phillip Island, despite complaining about the bumps in the track. Maybe the V8s are the problem. Lorenzo is running in third so unless he has a problem in the race it is unlikely Casey will wrap up the title here, which would have been nice for him and Oz. 

Toyota have announced they will be back at Le Mans next year with a hybrid LMP1 car! When I was there in 2008 Toyota had Dome running an LMP1 car which was obviously a test bed, run under the banner of a university if I recall. I was told quietly then that this was the basis of a hybrid car and it has taken four years to come to fruition. If it can give the diesels a run then we are in for great racing, shades of the late nineties when they last raced that fabulous prototype and nearly won.

Superleague has cancelled its Asian races after cancelling its South American rounds. I never understood the point of this series and maybe no one else can either. Indycar is going back to Detroit, courtesy of Roger Penske I presume, who along with his mate Chip Ganassi is highly critical of races outside the US, or Canada and Mexico anyway. As he says, their sponsors get nothing out of it and no one watches. Bit like taking V8Supercars overseas. It is only done for the check to the series promoter, just like Bernie.