Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Well we now have the design for the Austin F1 track, and I think it is everything we feared. They say it will be a classic track, and it is, classic Tilke. How many corners can we fit in? Over 20 is the answer.

In other bad news, Cycle News has ceased publication, the only weekly motorcycle magazine here in the US. When I came over to run the USGP for Kenny in '93 I was amazed at the lead time for the other monthly's, we could barely run a couple of ads for a race nine months away. Victim of the internet or is there something else going on here?

Rome is the latest place that says it is going to run an F1 GP in 2012. Is anyone keeping track of how many races there will have to be in 2012 to accommodate all these? Or who is going to lose their race is probably the better question. Spa? One thing is for sure, Bernie has plenty of options for squeezing more money out of, Russia, India, Qatar, Bulgaria, Rome and Austin. We won't have a race at a track we recognize soon, or worse, one that we want to watch.

On the home front I moved house over the weekend, not a lot of fun even though we have done it often. Still sorting out the mess. Looks as if the Grand Bayou track in Louisiana is ready to move on a redesign, and still having contacts with overseas potential circuits. Sol Real has been going through some introspection and rethink on the site, but we are about through that. Basic layout will not change as the lots here are all based around a section, one square mile. So I can now get into the detail of the layout and look at how to build in some elevation without moving a million cubic yards of dirt! Good presentation again last evening and another likely founder. Once we have the legal documents finalized we can move on closing some deals.

My day started early with calls and e-mails from here and the UK. Long talk with an old friend who had some interesting information about recent departures at NASCAR and ISC. The downturn in interest is starting to hurt at very high levels. Talked about the direction of the sport and the growth of country clubs, and the Cologne Forum on tracks.

No sooner had we got off the call with me promising to send him details of the Forum but there was an e-mail inviting me to a panel discussion in an extra session at the Forum on "The Future of Motorsport Circuit and Venue Design." That should be interesting and very nice to be asked as the first panelist. Apparently the Track Engineering session that I am moderating is being well received.

Then had a call from the UK about a software/hardware system to manage our memberships and operations at Sol Real. Certainly an interesting morning.

Thank you Eddie for some insight into Rossi's potential problems, but it also occurred to me that Yamaha may be being less than helpful to him now. There was a piece that said he was not given the new front forks to try at the Brno test the day after he formally announced he is going to Ducati.

Marcus Ambrose is going to Richard Petty Motorsport and Ford. RPM have not had a lot of success lately, but they do seem to be on the way back, so let's hope Marcus can continue a successful NASCAR career with them.

Here in Arizona it is the monsoon season. You probably thought monsoons only happened in places in Asia, but no we have them. Usually just means the humidity is a bit higher, nothing like Louisiana, but enough for the natives. Last night we had a heavy storm which curtailed the attendance a bit at our Tuesday presentation, but still went well. If all the people who put off till next week come it will be standing room only! Have an interest from Los Angeles for a group of members, so word really spreading. The searches for this blog site include a number using Sol Real, so that tells us we are having an impact despite only being "live" for a couple of weeks.

As the motorsport world is getting back to business I thought I would just bring you up to date on the Sol Real project. Still early days and we continue to present to would-be members. Starting to move beyond that to begin the engineering process and think through the operations and management once we are up and running. Potential members ask a lot of questions about how this is going to work, so we need to have the answers, and be ready to turn the switch on once we do have pavement.

Looking at membership databases, and what sort of information we want to store on our members. No point in re-inventing the wheel if there is something out there that will do what we want. We have the people to write exactly what we need, but then there is all the testing to make sure it works, and the ongoing support.

Meeting with the local engineer down at the site later this week. I always like to work with a local engineer, he knows the codes, soils, materials and contractors better than I obviously do, so with my input on the racing side we get the best of both worlds.

Seems we are stirring up the other tracks in the region. First there was the one who did not want me to come and inspect it for the SCCA, and now another is getting all out of shape about some things on our web site. We must be doing things right. Healthy competition is what this country is about. I recall when I rebuilt Phillip Island and wanted a Touring Car race CAMS said we had to get the OK from all the other tracks within 200 miles! You can guess how well that worked. Talk about restraint of trade. If you have confidence in your own product why do you fear the competition. As I said before, let's grow the market by providing more places for people to go rather than fight over the last couple left because there are no decent tracks. Some Country Clubs are collaborating by offering driving rights at each others venues, now that is building the market. Not sure that I would want to do that unless the other venue is on par commercially, it might devalue our membership.

Not much other excitement, MotoGP had a test day at Brno and Lorenzo was still quickest. Rossi still running around fourth. Do we think this is still the leg and shoulder problem, or is he accepting this year is done and waiting for Ducati? Hard to see such a competitor doing that, but I am surprised how he did not run better at Brno. Any comments?

You know there is little to write about when the headline on Autosport's web site of "Montezemelo hails Ferrari fightback" has not changed for a week! Yes we have had the ALMS race from Mid-Ohio which ALMS has deigned to let us watch next week, and Dyson not only finished a race but won. Nice going, now let's see you do it some more. Four cars do not make a race for me, especially these four.

My mate Marcus Ambrose won the Nationwide race and I hope there were a few more people to watch than there were at the Grand Am race that followed. I can't imagine they all left? Piquet made his debut and did well, but I bet he never expected his life to end up trying to make it in NASCAR. Villenueve also did well, but you would expect that from road racers at Watkins Glen. The Grand Am was the usual Ganassi benefit with little to excite me in the time it was on. If the rumored takeover of the ALMS classes and cars does happen let's hope it spices up the races and we do not have one boring series instead of two. I agree with the view that we should just run the GT2 class.

The only other news of interest is that Adrian Newey crashed in a Ginetta single make race in Britain, but was not seriously hurt. Nice to see the top designer still has the passion to go out himself and have a go. Pretty good he is too.

On the Arizona front we are updating the web site with latest renderings. Check out the Casitas. For those not familiar with the term Casita, it is a garage with accommodation above, and these are exceptional, especially the ones right on pit lane.

Sorry folks, Tuesday was very hectic and hence no posting. Sol Real became "real" last evening, sign on the door and open for business. Not the track of course, but our "office" come toy store in the hanger. It looked great with a couple of special motorcycles and cars, posters on the walls, an RV to look like a paddock set up, and projection on the wall. An invited audience of twenty from a cross section of racers, tuners and enthusiasts were treated to the first showing of the promo video and a presentation on the project and memberships. All were excited by what they saw and heard and fired up to find a way to become involved, so a great "kick off." Now we will fine tune some things based on the feed back and move forward with one-on-one sessions and more group presentations.

On the wider scene there was not a lot from the motor sport world to make ones juices run and stir the pen. We enter the enforced F1 shutdown period when the factories close, but you can imagine they cannot shut off the brains. They will be going full bore with ways to catch up or stay in front.Last Turn Club has some great scuttlebutt on Grand Am's moves to take over the sports car world here in the US, "The World Turned Upside Down." Check it out on their web site.

In the motorcycle world the worst kept secret is out with Valentino Rossi going to Ducati, that's according to Ducati. Nice chance to sell a lot of merchandise Valentino. Biaggi has apparently re-signed to ride Superbike next year. They will have to have wheelchairs to get these guys to the grid soon , and trainer wheels. Soon the rookies are going to be in their mid thirties by the time they get a chance.