Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Hands up everyone who understands what next year's engines will have to do? I suggest not many of us unless we are very smart mechanical engineers, and how many fans are that? Yes we love F1 for the technology, but we also love the racing, and that has been a mess lately with all the aids to overtaking like DRS and Kers. Oh yes, and tires that don't last. Throw in Red Bulls domination and I have tuned out on a sport I have followed from almost the start of the World Championship.

So we had to have smaller engines, "more relevant" to what the manufacturers want. What about what the fans want? If you want to see what happens to a sport when the manufacturers dictate what we race and watch just look at motorcycle racing at all levels. Horse racing is not "relevant" and has not been for half a century, but we still do it. V6's are not the problem, turbos are not the problem, but the fuel flow restrictions and capacity balanced by an increased energy recovery to eke out the race distance will make for complicated races where I doubt few people will know what's going on. Is this racing?

I know Le Mans has energy recovery, but it is relatively simple to follow what is playing out, and there is no limit on the amount of fuel, you just have to stop more often, and we can understand that that may change the race result. They still race flat out for 24 hours. Porsche coming on board next year will liven up the top end of the field and make it more likely I will watch and I suspect many others. Growing up the World Sports Car Series was as important as F1, if not more. Maybe we will see it again. But let us not forget that manufacturers have screwed that up to by leaving when they have dominated and driven out the privateers. Sound familiar?

On another note it seems even Bernie has worked out what most of us already knew. New Jersey is not going to happen. Building a parking garage does not constitute a race track. Mexico needs a lot of work, which has not started, and no offence, I cannot see things moving that fast down there. 

Great morning! Cadel Evans continued to show his guts and strength today by blitzing the Schleck brothers in the time trial to take the yellow jersey by over a minute and win Australia its' first Tour de France! Right up there with the Americas Cup and Gardner's 500cc Championship! Well deserved after his showing in the Alps where his team seemed to go missing on him. Where was George Hincapie? He always seemed to be there for Lance, but I guess in his 16th Tour he might be losing it a bit.

That other Aussie Mark Webber took pole in Germany, but Hamilton was the real surprise, only missing pole by 6/100ths of a second. This is the guy who said yesterday that pole was out of the question, and the McLarens certainly looked that way in practice. Lewis and the team somehow dialed in a lap to knock Vettel off the front row for the first time this season. Let's see how Seb deals with it. Forecast is for rain tomorrow, what else in that region, so all bets might be off. Ferraris filled the next two spots with Button struggling down in 7th behind Rosberg. The usual suspects were in the last six places with Ricciardo avoiding the cut just 2/100ths behind Luizzi, and surprisingly Kobayashi in the 7th elimination spot. Chandook qualified less than a second behind his Lotus team mate, and it was interesting that the commentators could not work out what was going on there any more than I could. They did ask the pointed question about how he liked the power steering that Trulli keeps complaining about and Chandook said it was OK for him.

The rumors persist around Bernie and Gribkowsky with comments that "Bernie does not get blackmailed." It does seem out of character for Bernie to succumb to threats, but he says his lawyers told him to. That seems out of character too. There are suggestions that he could take a sabbatical while it gets sorted with his mate Max saying it might happen, but then he again he said it was not Bernie's style. Bernie is talking nice about cutting Nurburgring a break with their fees for the new agreement. Maybe he is getting soft hearted, or is it the six German drivers on the grid? 

Domenicalli says that the "electric" cars in pit lane is still to be agreed by the teams, lots of technical issues, not the least of which is getting run over because you can't hear them coming! Still no explanation of what is driving this, except that it is to be seen "green." How? They cannot be saving that much fuel, and if they do they will just dial it up on the track, and noise can be the only other issue. But how does that work with cars going by on the track? Perhaps it is so the Paddock Club people can talk business?

The closed cockpit for F1 cars continues to be discussed despite the fact I thought I read it had gone away on safety grounds, too hard to get a driver out after a crash. Maybe they are not only going to fit aircraft style canopies they are also fitting ejector seats? They'll need windshield wipers too, in fact why don't we just borrow some LMP1 cars from Le Mans? Maybe this is why Audi are interested? Seriously, are they really trying to alienate the F1 fans? Has anyone got an answer for the single set of gears for a season? Can't be a cost deal surely, how much do a few extra gears cost? Do they think that with eight ratios they can cover all the tracks? Are they really trying to remove the technology? We have spec tires and ECU's, severe limits on the engines, now gear ratios, and Max did suggest once we go to a spec chassis. Formula Ford anyone? Oops, they allow more than one chassis.

In other news the Indycar race was washed out in Edmonton yesterday, so much for flat airfield tracks, and Lorenzo took fastest time at Laguna in the second practice. He could sneak the Championship from under Hondas nose if they do not put all their effort into Stoner. Not team orders, but focus. Poor Ben Bostrum, why did they bother with a wild card when he has had no testing or practice? Just makes him look bad and I can't believe it made any difference to the crowd. Spies, Hayden and Edwards are much more likely to get American fans to go. Rossi continues to struggle on the Duke, but that's hardly news. Following my comments on when SPEED is showing qualifying it seems our friends in England will get to see it earlier than those of you on the East Coast. I will be watching on fromsportcom.com live, just as I am now watching the practice.