Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Hi blog readers, been missing in action lately due to finishing the Mooresville Motorplex and the PRI, as well as catching up on all the things in life that did not get done for six months.

So, let me offer my opinions on recent events in F1. The old saying is it is better to be lucky than good. Now I am not saying Vettel is not good, but he is certainly "lucky," and not yet worthy of rating up there with Fangio just because he won three Championships. Agreed Fangio also made sure he had the best car, but he did not have Newey. Alonso did an amazing job to stay in the hunt with that Ferrari, which while not as bad as they kept making out, was certainly behind the McLaren and Red Bull. Where would Lewis have been without the DNF's? It seemed the only luck he had was bad.

So to Vettel. How is it that he can take out two cars in Brazil, not only without penalty, but avoids enough damage to his car to even slow it down! So much for all that fancy rear end design Adrian did, half of it missing did not seem to matter. Then he gets a safety car, thanks to Alonso, and Lewis gets taken out by Hulkenburg in a much less violent accident than Vettel's. Hulk gets a penalty for that one which you could argue was a racing incident, albeit a badly judged one. Then there is Abu Dhabi. What a great drive they say. Who did he pass? Much slower cars, and had two safety cars to keep bringing the leaders back to him. And they allowed the team to alter the car after qualifying when he was penalised for not having sufficient fuel in the car. What sort of penalty is that? Sorry if I offend Vettel supporters, he is a good "steerer" and a spoiled brat as far as I am concerned. His whining after Lewis overtook him in Austin was classic Vettel. 

And so to Austin. I know some of you are dying to know my thoughts on that extravagance. What is with "The Mullet" as the observation tower has been labeled? Did you have some spare cash so let's build a tower? Now I always try and make something on track a "signature", just look at the control tower at Eastern Creek! But at least that performs a function and does it well. The track? Does not do anything for me. With that elevation it could have been special. How can anyone compare that first corner to Eau Rouge! Eau Rouge is a flat out flowing corner and a real test for drivers. Turn one at Austin is a hump with a slow hairpin at the top, just like Turn Three in India. Neither use nor ornament. Turn One should have flowed around the contour and been faster, it is a waste of an opportunity as it is. Then we have the "Esses." Like Suzuka, except Suzuka is there because that is what the terrain dictates. Austin was always going to be a place where passing was not possible and so it proved. In fact it is dangerous given the near misses in practice. The only value I see is in Tilke's comment that they demonstrate the amazing performance of an F1 car, but I'm not sure that is what a race track is primarily about. It is typical of a track like Barber that is fun to drive on your own, but horrible to race on. There is a world of difference between driving fast and racing. The middle section is a couple of straights, and then we have the Turkey look alike at the end, which would have been another no passing zone if the track had not been so slick and the tires so hard. I'd love to know why the track was so slick? It had been down long enough, so was the mix too slick? I laid what I would presume was a similar mix at Mooresville and we were racing karts on it within a couple of weeks without these issues. Korea was raced on almost the day it was finished, if you recall, without the same problems.

All in all a nice facility, and it seemed to be well organized as I have not heard of any access issues or crowd problems. Let's see if this is truly the home of F1 in the US. Been said before, but the track has to make money for that to happen. We all know what happens if Bernie thinks you are making money, Bernie ups the fee.

Bernie is getting a lot of coverage lately, what with the German court case and now Adam Parr having a dig at him. It was obvious from the time he "resigned" from Williams that Bernie had a hand in it. Let's see where that all goes. Not that Bernie going will change much, CVC will still want their pound of flesh, and more. Bernie warns that some promoters will leave. How is that possible, they have a contract, and he is quick to remind them of it every time they want to get out of it. Just ask the Koreans. 

The racing season is over, roll on 2013. The mobile chicane that was HRT are no more, thank goodness. Marussia and Caterham need to lift their game if they are not to follow. Schumacher is gone, again thank goodness, and Lewis is in at Mercedes. That alone will make 2013 interesting. New Jersey is gone for 2013, and beyond? Turkey is back, maybe, and the Nurburgring? The list of hopefuls who want an F1 race is as long as ever, and the mystery remains as to how they can imagine they can make it viable when the evidence is all around that it cannot be done under the current business model. Just ask Melbourne, Silverstone, Hockenheim, Nurburgring, Spa, anywhere in France, Valencia and Barcelona.