Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Another busy weekend of motorsport across the globe. Rossi stayed upright to beat Marquez at Assen in MotoGP following a last corner coming together in what was otherwise a pretty processional race. Unusual for races this year.

We had a double header of races at Battersea Park for Formula E which not unusually was a procession on what was a joke of a track. Goat track would be a better description. Joe Saward said it reminded him of a 1950's track, but he is wrong. A '50's track would have had the odd straw bale in front of trees, not a concrete wall. I don't know who thought a narrow two lane, bumpy, high crowned road in a park was a suitable venue to showcase their sport, but as I have said before, they did them selves no favors in doing so. It was so bad at the first corner it broke a car's suspension so they narrowed the track to one lane to avoid it, and started under a safety car. So whoever started on pole finished there. They fixed it for the Sunday race, but the anticipated first turn crash did not happen. In fact only two cars hit a wall all weekend. Amazing given the narrowness and tight man-made chicanes. One was a car problem, so we saw one driver error in two hours of racing. These guys are either the best there is or they were not trying. I suspect the latter. Yes we saw a couple of bits of biff and barge, but no one brushed a wall or took anyone out. A procession. And then the winner of the Sunday race is penalized for being able to get to the end with no battery power left. Good driving I would say, but no, he was docked 30 seconds and finished 15th. Go figure. It was fitting that this all took place in the shadow of one of London's main power stations, Battersea Power Station, a landmark. And no it is not solar or wind powered, just like the cars. 

Surprisingly NASCAR showed us the real future of automotive power, hydrogen. For the second time this year Toyota's hydrogen powered car was the pace car for the Sonoma race, and it goes on sale soon. If you wonder where the hydrogen will come from read this from Stanford University.

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2015/june/water-splitter-catalyst-062315.html

We saw something else at Sonoma, undersized and un-pinned safety barriers. Not what you would expect from a track owned by one of the major track owners in the world, Speedway Motorsports Inc. 

As surprising as that is we also saw at Watkins Glen, owned by International Speedway Corporation, i.e the France Family, a track with incorrectly built tire walls, concrete patches and apparently "sealer" in places like a patchwork quilt. Add rain and you have an incident packed event red flagged a couple of times. Now the commentator said it was sealer, but I cannot believe that the facility guys for ISC would use it instead of trackbond. Thankfully ISC is going to put their hand in their pocket and repave the track, about time. No excuse for concrete patches in a track with the asphalt technology we have now.

There is a rumor going around that ISC has put their hand up to operate the Laguna Seca Raceway. SCRAMP has run it since it's inception, but it is on County Park land, so they have to bid for the rights periodically. People have tried before without success, SCRAMP being a local charity they have a head start, but things could change. SCRAMP actually only operates it half of the days each year, Skip Barber having the rest for his racing school, and even then SCRAMP is only allowed 5 noisy weekends. I.E, big events like the MotoGP, Historics and the Tudor Sports cars. Gone are the days of 70,000 + crowds, so I have to ask why would ISC want it? Just because SMI has Sonoma? I can't see they want another road race on the calendar, and if they did they already own or operate Road Atlanta and Sebring. Watch this space with interest.

Then we had the Indycar race at Fontana. A great race apparently, but it depends who you ask. Some of the drivers thought it too dangerous, and the saga of the aero kits introduced this year goes on. It would seem they still do not understand them and each race is actually a test session, a dangerous situation. If they don't understand them go back to last year's body until you do. Hire Adrian Newey to sort it out, don't just tinker with it. Then there was the lack of spectators, 3 or 5 thousand depending on who you listen to. Either way not good. Robin Miller, usually an apologist and huckster for Indycar, has some scathing words on this clip from Racer Magazine.

http://www.racer.com/indycar/item/118583-racer-video-robin-miller-s-message-to-mark-miles 

I went to the first race at Fontana which was an Indycar race in 100 degrees along with a lot of other people, a good crowd. We left half way through, too hot and too boring. So you can get a crowd at Fontana, even in summer. Fontana is not the only speedway not to attract spectators. New Hampshire gave up a couple of years ago, and Texas was not exactly packed. Indy is Indy, but still not the 400,000 of its heyday. Perhaps Indycars on ovals, its roots, does not work anymore. Certainly street tracks draw a crowd, but perhaps not quite as many as Robin thinks at Toronto. Not that many stands there even if he is talking about a three day total. Indycar has a problem, and it is not just the aero or speedways. The product is not pulling the fans. Too many foreigners, one make racing, or a combination of factors? All spectator racing is struggling, look at NASCAR, and let's not mention XFinity or the trucks with no one watching. Tudor Sports Cars has some loyal fans, but not enough. If you look at Le Mans with over 250'000 real attendees you can see what the fans want to watch, even if it is 24 hours, so short races are not the answer either.

Talking of Le Mans and the ACO I, like many people, are at a loss as to their plans for LMP2. I admit when it was introduced I saw it as a poor relation not worthy of my time to watch, but now with the variety of cars and top drivers it is a success. So why strangle it with limited chassis options and one engine supplier? Cost containment is the mantra, but judging by the entry this year at Le Mans no one is crying poor. Here in the US it is our top category with the DPs, not that they get a look in against the DPs, but at least it has the ability to bring interesting cars and technology like the Ligiers. IMSA is phasing out the DPs to go to an all LMP2 class at the top, but what are Chevrolet, Ford, Nissan, Mazda etc going to do with that? Ford is going to go GT racing that's what. I know IMSA are not going to adhere to the strict Le Mans rules, so what is the point? Time for the ACO to rethink the LMP2 rules.