Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Are you kidding? Ford is suing Ferrari over the use of the F150 name. Is this a publicity stunt? I know protecting your logos and trade names are serious business but this is just making Ford look foolish. They would be better off making a commercial with an F1 Ferrari morphing into a fast red pick up.

The new Ferrari 458 made it's debut at the Sebring test yesterday prepared by the Risi team who arguably ran the best 430, at least of the ones allowed to race. Most of the big hitters are absent from the test, but there are still enough interesting cars out there with the Muscle Milk Aston quickest at the moment. Duncan Dayton seems likely to finalise the deal to run the HPD LMP1 both here at Sebring and at Le Mans and so give David Brabham a ride for this year. The 24 hour entry list was published yesterday and a great field it is too, quality all the way through.

There is actually a fair bit going on this weekend with Sebring, Jerez, and GP2 Asia kicking off in Abu Dhabi. Renault reserve driver Roman Grosjean is on pole for that event with another strong field of drivers. His compatriot at Renault, Fauzy, is not doing so well though down in 23rd. It is a very even grid though with the top 14 separated by less than a second, and the field by less than 1.7 seconds. Should make for good racing and a lot of action given the desperadoes in the field.

Meanwhile at the F1 test at Jerez it is still way too early to judge anything. Massa is fastest, with Perez in the Sauber next quickest. So it is not just the Mexican sponsorship, he can drive. Meanwhile Maldonado is way off the pace in the Williams, but he did have problems with the movable wing, and as I said it is early days. Hamilton has the new McLaren out and yes it has forward exiting exhausts. Lewis is presumably just doing shake down laps but is fifth so far behind Webber and young Australian Daniel Ricciardo in the Torro Rosso. If I were Buemi or Alguersuari I would be looking over my shoulder right now. How long since Australia had two drivers in F1, if ever? Schenken and Jones? No. I'm sure one of my readers knows the answer.

Petrov dumped the Renault in the gravel trap, not enhancing his claim to the number one seat, which seems to be headed Heidfeld's way. Despite saying they had plenty of time to fill the seat they have Heidfeld testing later this weekend. Nick has had a lot of experience and is a good driver, but is he really good enough? As someone pointed out the other day, when the two Williams drivers both retired in the early eighties a guy called Rosberg filled in after a less than stellar career, and we know how that worked out, so let's see if Nick can do the same.

It now seems that the money from the Williams float is not going to keep the team afloat but to the Patrick Head retirement fund, and presumably Sir Frank's. Not sure I would buy shares on that basis. Not saying they are not entitled to a return on all their years of hard work, but if I buy shares then I would want to know the business I have a piece of is going to survive. It also seems that the float was part of the agreement when the other partner, Toto Wolffe, bought his 10%, so is he looking to get out at some stage?

It is interesting that Audi have gone from an open cockpit car to a closed for this year's Le Mans contender the R18, and Aston Martin has gone from a closed cockpit to an open. Can they both be right? Audi have preferred the open cockpit since they built the R8 due to the easier driver changes and less problems with visibility. They had power to burn presumably to overcome the extra drag. Now they say the restrictions on the engine mean they have to minimise drag, hence the closed cockpit. Allan McNish at the Autosport Show said that the petrol cars will be very competitive this year due to Article 19, and that the Aston was already very fast last year. So does Aston now have power to burn over the diesels and can therefore go to the open cockpit? I recall when Tony Dowe was running the Panoz he cut the roof off as the open cars at that time had some rule breaks which if I recall correctly allowed larger rear tires and a bigger fuel tank. Who makes this up? Although it did not have the elegance of the Coupe, it won races.  All part of the "knowing the rules and exploiting them" game that is motor sport.

Every journalist on earth must be at the Autosport Show or Wroom with Ferrari and Ducati. Not sure how much Ferrari and Co. spend on this bash but it is worth every penny in the PR onslaught they achieve at a time when there is not much else happening. Some one must have been in Venezuela to cover Maldanado in the Williams with Hugo Chavez and the deal with PDVSA. As I think Joe Saward commented, there ways of being a "pay for ride" driver without actually paying for it yourself, which is what most of these deals are. So Williams protesting that this is not a pay for play deal sounds a little far fetched. I don't really care if PDVSA give Sir Frank the money he needs to be competitive again  as long as Maldanado does not turn out to be another Eliseo Salazar.

I love Luca di Montezemolo, he says such great quotes. "maybe when others have won 10% of what Ferrari has won, then they can also have their say." He does not think Red Bull know how to behave as Champions, and is also using their overspending to point out the silliness of the RRA. And I love the comment on Brawn winning due to "technical drug taking." F1 on steroids. They presumably grew bigger diffusers.

On the home front I completed the text for my book, so now to find a publisher, edit and select the photos. I need a shot of me on the winners rostrum at Phillip Island in '89 if anyone knows a photographer who was there. I have a concept plan for the Circuit Grand Bayou and waiting on feedback from the client, who at first sight liked it a lot. Busy on a business plan for another project, so watch this space. Don't forget the Circuit Forum in LA in April, the program is just about done and will be out probably next week.

One month you win the FI Promoters Trophy and the next your Company fires you. That's Mr Chung's "reward" for staging such a great event apparently. Most of us could not work out why he got it, and neither can KAVO, the ones putting up the money. "Investors felt that KAVO Management under Mr. Chung could not guarantee success this year." So who did they appoint in his place, the ex-ambassador to Switzerland. An obvious choice.

I've actually been there. In Adelaide we won the same trophy, for what it is worth now, and after the second year I was "let go." It seems the Board thought I spent too much, but my successor is quoted in the next year's program that when there is a problem you just throw money at it to get it fixed. When you are staging a race to promote a State or Country and it starts at 2 pm on Sunday you do what it takes to make it happen. Not suggesting this is what Mr. Chung did, he barely staggered over the start line. In truth he is the scapegoat for false illusions. If KAVO thinks its going to make money on an F1 race then they need to fire the guy who did the feasibility, and as Chris Pook told me, "If Bernie thinks your making money he will put the price up."

There is a very interesting post about England's anti-bribery laws about to come into effect. It seems it casts a pretty wide net over what is considered bribery, and could include corporate entertainment and tickets. So the British based GP teams are concerned that sponsors are going to think twice about handing over loads of cash in future. Australia brought in a tax on entertainment back in the late eighties, which covered company cars and meals etc., but the employer paid it, not the recipient. Could not upset the union members with their perks. Not sure if that is still in play, I cannot see a Government giving up a tax, but it did increase the cost of taking corporate boxes for example, as you had to pay a tax on it instead of it being a tax deduction. All very topical with the Gribkowsky bribery scandal going on.

A line in the quote from Mercedes about the launch of this year's F1 car struck me as odd. "The Brackley based team said its' new single seater." Haven't see a GP car with more than one seat for quite some time.

It appears all our fears about the 2013 engine sounding awful are ill founded. Alonso says he is sure his engineers can make it "sound sexy." This must be a first, engineers trying to increase the noise coming out of a car.

News on the sportscar front has Honda confirming it will race in the LMP1 class while still producing an LMP2 car. It's goal of an outright win at Le Mans by "I can do it without a wind tunnel" Nick Wirth sounds a bit far fetched, but anything that adds to the fight at the front is welcomed. Aston Martin are working to have one of their new for 2011 cars ready for Sebring and David Richards is satisfied that the ACO rule #19 will ensure they can battle the Peugeots and Audis. I will not hold my breath on that one.

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about how the Rome F1 GP may not be all it seems based on some information from an Italian friend. I did not go into detail, but today there is a statement from the Promoter,"Flammini argues that a Grand Prix would revive the neighbourhood by not only drawing attention to it, but also by restoring the Tre Fontane sports grounds with a total investment of $200 million from private investors. All that the city would have to provide for the event would be construction permits for the work, which would create a new park in which there would be venues for volleyball and skating and two theatres." Now this fits with my connection who said this is more about getting hold of this property and construction permits than running a GP.

As I also wrote a couple of days ago, how are we bloggers supposed to work if every rumor turns out to be wrong? Now McLaren are saying they are not changing their silver and red livery, just the merchandise. Not that I blame them, always thought the silver jackets etc looked tacky.

Your friendly banker is now in custody as a result of his dealings over the sale of the F1 shares to CVC, a nice little earner that seems to have been. $50m seems to have been the going rate, and CVC vehemently deny any involvement or knowledge, so the question remains who else stood to gain? This has the ability to turn very ugly if true. It is hard to see Mr. Gribkowsky taking the fall for this on his own.

As noted on Superbike Planet, running a non-profit does not mean that someone is not making money. The AMA certainly pays its' Chief a bundle, which I guess is the way you avoid making a profit. There are several other examples of this if you look around. My wife worked at a track that ran five major events a year, including a very large CART event, and did it with 13 staff. Now they run three events, non of which match CART, and need 30, go figure? In a similar vein I received a press release from ALMS yesterday about their TV contract for 2011 which involved the VP of Communications, the Director, and the Manager. Now ALMS is not F1, so it is hard to see it takes three people to do this job, and I suspect the Manager is managing others. So many tracks and series cannot help themselves, they just keep creating jobs and spending money. When I ran Phillip Island, and yes it was before the Internet, aside from the GP I had a Manager, lady in the office and a security guard. No wonder there are so many "non-profits."

Speaking of ALMS and their TV, it hardly seems a giant leap forward, sorry "a game changer," if your major event the Sebring 12 hour is now shown not live but the next day and the "ABC will feature race telecast coverage." Whatever that means, but I suspect not all the 12 hours. We can watch all the races live on ESPN3.com, which I for one will probably prefer, certainly if the broadcast TV is the sort of made for TV "documentary" we saw last year. Puke!

Cytosport are to contest the LMP1 class in a new Aston Martin, which will be a welcome addition to that class, if there enough cars to call it a class. Greg Picket is down to drive it again, but hopefully not often or for long. No offence Greg but this car deserves to be driven by the other great drivers you have. Maybe Lord Paul Drayson, if he is racing in ALMS this year, and yourself can have a separate race?