Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Courtesy of Fox we got to see the 3 Hours of Spa on Saturday. Yes I know it was the 6 Hours of Spa, but Fox don't know that or don't care. The race started at 8:30 am our time, but what did Fox do? They started their air time at 8:30 and of course we had to have the intro, then an ad, then highlights of Silverstone and highlights of qualifying. Nearly ten minutes into the race we finally got to see it! We were listening to Radio le Mans on line commentary of course, and did so for the rest of the race despite John Hindhaugh being on the TV coverage. That is when it was not at an ad, or a promo for MotoGP and Laguna Seca sports cars. Then there was the necessary Fox commentator to let us know we were going to a break, and then talk on and on when they came back about things John was already covering. Either Fox wants to do this properly or don't bother. Keeping track of a 6 or 24 hour race with four classes is hard enough without all the breaks and nonsense. I know someone has to pay to air this, but most of the ads are about other Fox shows that are coming up. How many times do you have to tell us the baseball season has started?

Sorry for the rant. It was a good race, not quite up to the Silverstone edition, but enough, especially with the Audi strategy to win the race with not the fastest car. Toyota strangely off the pace, let's hope they sort that out for Le Mans.

Another crowded weekend of racing with the WEC, NASCAR, MotoGP and Tudor Sports Cars. Lorenzo dominated the race at Jerez, but I'm sure the 122,000 crowd did not care. Amazing place, only one way in and who cares? When I was there with KR's team we went in Sunday at 5 am and waited till midnight to leave, but the atmosphere was worth it. NASCAR also had their best crowd for many a race at Talladega, must all come for the crashes as the racing itself was not great. Laguna Seca by comparison was empty. I'm sure they will say it was a record crowd, but it was a sad sight. Again the racing did not set the world alight, the "key pass of the race"  was Westbrook coming out of the pits! The DP cars still dominate, so what is the future with the LMP2 class going to virtually a spec series? 

We saw once again at Talladega a flash fuel fire during refuelling with cans. They are supposed to be dry break nozzles, but fuel spills every time. This one was thankfully smaller than last week at Richmond, and it was good to see one team with full face helmets and balaclavas. Some other teams had balaclavas with open face helmets, but that still left the face exposed, so what's the point?