Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Crazy weekend, and the next few weeks with the World Cup, Le Mans, and then Tour de France, without mentioning MotoGP. F1 and NASCAR races. Made it through the Le Mans 24 Hour again! What a great race. As they said, a lot like old times with cars not running like clockwork and some great mechanics keeping the Audis, Porsches and the Toyota in the race and in the hunt. Made it a lot easier to stay awake with so much going on. Close racing in every class, and for a while a race no one seemed to want to win. Every leader ran into trouble, but then fought back.

I heard Gary Lineker has said that football, the English version, is eleven men running around after a ball for 90 minutes, at the end of which Germany wins. Watching them defeat Portugal today you would not bet against them winning it all. At Le Mans lately it seems it is a race in which 55 cars drive around for 24 hours at the end of which Germany wins. You have to admire Audi for their preparation and ability to keep cars in the race. Completely building a new car at the track in a day, to end up second. 20 minutes to replace a turbo, not once but twice, crazy stuff given the temperature it must have been at. Toyota got the 8 car back to finish third, and Porsche were unlucky for their first time back in LMP1.

So who is going to beat the German cars? Porsche will be stronger next year, but so too should Toyota. Nissan is joining them, but it better not be a gimmick like the Zeod. What a joke. They are behind the real cutting edge cars in the Audi, Porsche and Toyota. The same speed and distance with 25 - 30% less fuel. Like F1 we are the real winners in this amazing technology race.

On other matters Marquez keeps winning, as does Jimmy Johnson. The new kart track opened to the delight of the members at the Monticello Motor Club. and there are some more interesting projects in the wings.

Going back to the Canadian F1 race, I cannot get over the way in which Perez could not overtake Rosberg, but as soon as Ricciardo got passed perez he soon dispatched him to win the race. Some how this did not compute to me. Perez has the Merc engine with full power, and Ricciardo has a Renault supposedly down 30 - 40 hp. Shades of Perez not passing Alonso when he had a Sauber with a customer Ferrari engine?

Good news on Michael, let's hope it continues.

For the last few years we have seen the Red Bull/Vettel Dynasty rule F1, and now it appears we are to have a Mercedes period. A few people are probably already saying that this is going to be boring, but I for one welcome the change and applaud the engineering behind the car.

At least it is about the car. No one is suggesting that Lewis is suddenly a superman, above all other drivers like we had with Vettel. When he kept winning a few of us were unkind enough to suggest that put any one of the top drivers in that car and they would dominate. But no we were told, it is Sebastian, he is so much better than the rest. Well this year the Emperor has no clothes.

Despite being told that this complex new formula would suit his intelligent driving what do we see. "Struggling with set up." A four time World Champion struggling with set up while his novice team mate is "faster than you are." We are also told Daniel is faster because he is more used to cars with less downforce than Vettel. Didn't Ricciardo race a F1 car with diffusers for the last couple of years? Hasn't most of the field raced cars with diffusers, including Hamilton, Rosberg and Alonso etc? No, now he no longer has a dominant car we are seeing what we suspected, he is very good but no better than them with a  spoilt brat attitude and he is a sore loser. As Mark Webber used to say, "the toys are coming out of the pram."

In contrast we see other top drivers just getting on with it. Lewis is totally focussed, not god like, and while Nico hates coming second to him there is no whining to be heard. Alonso is arguably doing the best job in a second class car, as he has for some years now. Yes he occasionally has a moan, but who wouldn't driving your guts out with little or no reward.

So another good race in China, not quite Bahrain, but Nico made it interesting with a bad start, and Massa with a too good one. Pretty stout suspension on these cars. What is interesting is how Lewis is using so much less fuel while running away from the pack. We have seen before that getting out in front allows you to run your own race and choose the ideal race lines, part of Vettel's secret.

Interesting WEC race at Silverstone. Pity I did not have access to live streaming and of course a World Championship does not warrant coverage here in the US. Still, with Radio Le Mans who needs pictures. They paint the scene extremely well, and actually provide far more information as to what is happening throughout the field than TV does. Well done Toyota, and Porsche. Audi uncharacteristically had both cars DNF. Crashed out through what appeared to be driver error. We have seen this before at Le Mans a couple of years ago. I am not saying they are not great drivers, but perhaps the pressure put on them by Toyota is part of the story. Of course there could have been something involving the car that led to Treluyer spearing right at Copse and hitting the inside barrier, which in a way is worse if there is an issue with the car. Both tubs damaged and Audi working against the clock to have them ready for Spa. 

Interesting discussion on Radio Le Mans about a WEC round in Oz, and where to stage it. Adelaide and Phillip Island were the two first choices, both a Barnard track, so very chuffed.

We have other dynasties going on with the Brabhams and the Gardners. Grandsons of Sir Jack Brabham and sons of David are both continuing the family tradition. Mathew Brabham is a rookie in Indy Lights here in the US, and doing OK, and Sam is racing in British Formula Ford with some success over the weekend. Watch out for these two.

Then there are Luca and Remy Gardner, both racing in the Spanish National Championship, the CEV, which is the proving ground for young hopefuls making it into MotoGP. Both learning their craft amongst tough opposition and stepping up each year under Dad's guidance. I hope to see something of them in Spain later this year. Pity Australia cannot produce the kind of racing that would develop talent to make the top tier in the world.

Many spectators and not a few drivers equate noise with power. When asked to put on a muffler competitors complain it will cost them horse power, even though my mate Tony Dowe tells me they put mufflers on one of the Jaguars and it increased power. This is totally possible if you ask the top muffler specialists.

Anyway, when I grew up F1 cars ran around with about 200hp, and were loud. Jack Brabham suffered from a common complaint called "Coventry Climax Ear," i.e deaf on the side the single exhaust came out. Now Helmut Marko is suggesting Mercedes have around 900hp, and people are saying they are too quiet. Have they not been to a WEC race lately and heard, or not heard in this case, the Turbo Diesel Audis. Despite the whispering whistle they are mightily impressive. Yes we like race cars to sound "sexy" as the Oz GP guys are saying, but that does not mean we all have to go deaf. I drive an Infinit G35 as much for the exhaust note as anything. Like organ music, sweet, but not intrusive.

So Melbourne are saying the new cars breach the contract to stage the race. I doubt there is a clause that says that they have to have a certain noise level, or degree of sexiness. Try writing a spec for that, worse than fuel flow. Is this just a negotiating ploy to reduce fees, or get out of a major loss for the Government altogether? Or is it Bernie's mate Ron Walker just stirring it up for his old mate.

Talking of fuel flow, a lot more has come out since I wrote yesterday. Red Bull are being pinged because they did not follow FIA instructions as the other teams apparently did. There are some questions about how accurate the sensors are, so the FIA said whatever you are seeing, do as we tell you. Red Bull may have been trying to prove a point, but it just cost them 20. This could go on for a while with the appeal, but this is not about whether they exceeded the flow rate but about not following FIA directions as stated in the regulation.

It was a busy weekend for us in the US what with F1, Sebring and NASCAR. NASCAR was in Bristol, a 100,000 + seat half mile bull ring that you used to have to wait for someone to die to get a seat. Not yesterday. It was a sparse crowd last year, but Sunday there were a few thousand brave souls. It rained, and it was forecast to rain, so the "commentators" suggested most of the crowd were waiting to see if it would start. Really? These are the same folks who sat in a thunder storm and tornado warning at Daytona for six hours? Well when we did start they did not rush in, and those that stayed until nearly 10 o'clock must think twice about doing it again as the race went under caution with two 15 second laps to go. Unbelievable.

No wonder NASCAR keeps promoting itself at every ad break. Never understood that. I am already watching so why advertise to me? Same goes for the Tudor Sports Car series, but of course that is run by NASCAR too now.

I have been away all week working on a new State-Of-The-Art kart track, Mooresville Motorplex, just north of Charlotte. Now State-Of-The-Art is an over used term, but in this case just happens to be true. The 4000 ft track is modelled on the famous Parma track brought up to modern standards by Jarno Zaffelli. It will feature the latest TECPRO kart barriers, Tracksa marshal light system, and Club Speed software for facility management. We have completed the track earthworks and will be running an off-road kart around on Monday for a final check before completing the earthworks and starting the rock base. Owner Justin Marks hopes to have the facility operational in August once the first building is ready. 

Meanwhile we have still heard nothing more about the Beijing F3 track, and what we hoped would be a fund to back us on the Georgia project has come to nothing again, but there is still hope there.

Stayed awake for the Le Mans 24 hour last weekend. Pity the Toyotas could not last, it would have been a good fight with Audi. It does show that a properly funded petrol car can compete with the diesels. Well done the Rebellion team though. It is a testimony to the design of the Audis that not only are they strong enough to withstand a crash, but they can be repaired so quickly. A good GT race as always, and LMP2 seems to be getting their act together to put on a show. Not sure what all the fuss was about the Delta Wing. There is no new technology on that car that I can see. A different design for sure, but I still say it looks like a Morgan backing up or a GP sidecar. The 4 cylinder 1.6 liter turbo engine is nothing new, and Audi have had lightweight cars for the last couple of years. All that effort to run around with the LMP2 cars? And if the non-race fraternity were getting excited over how it looks, what about the Audis and Toyotas, far sexier to me.

I see in Autosport that the ACO has accepted a hydrogen car for garage 56 next year, now that is new technology and the car looks the goods. Go to:

http://www.greenoptimistic.com/2011/06/15/electric-greengt-lmph2-leman/#.T-c0V_W8jbw

Watched the Valencia F1 race this morning. As I have said before, that dog of a Ferrari cannot be as bad as the team keep making out. Jenson has totally lost the plot, as has McLaren. They cannot get the pit stops right, not all of them anyway, or make the tires last. Lewis looked like he was driving on ice that last lap. The smart move would have been to let Maldanado through, but Lewis is a racer, that's why we love him. Has Red Bull come up with the latest smart design?

Indycar returned to Belle Isle last weekend, and it turned out not so "belle."  As these photos show the "repairs" to the track did not last the race and caused a two hour delay that meant the TV went away and cars were damaged. Not the show piece Roger Penske or Detroit was hoping for. I do not know what they used but I suspect a rubberized asphalt. It clearly had no bond to the concrete, and why wouldn't they have just cut out the crack properly and use a non-shrink grout? One of the lessons from Adelaide was if you are going to stage a race to show off your sport or your city then you need to be TOTALLY sure it is going work, both structurally and operationally. Not what I expected of an event staged by "The Captain." The track remained as bad as it was in 2008 when they stopped. Why would you not revamp the whole thing, including a complete repave if you intend to run this for several years? I'm sorry to say the US builds tracks down to a price and not up to a standard.

While all this fun was going on we had the Le Mans Test day, and Toyota it seems is going to give Audi a run for their money, if they can be reliable. Peugeot and Audi have always said that their deisels were not winning because of an unfair advantage, it was just that they were out and out factory cars, and no one had competed on that level with a petrol car. Well now Toyota has, and we can see by the times they can compete. Should be great. The GTE Pro is going to put on a show as always, with all the cars seperated by just 2 seconds! Roll on the 16th.

The Canadian F1 race is next weekend, and they are already responding to threats of disruption by cancelling the Thursday pit walk. This could get nastier than Bahrain.

We saw a good MotoGP race in Barcelona, which managed to stay dry much to the annoyance of the Rossi fans. Lorenzo continues to show us that he and the Yamaha are the real deal this year, despite his team mate being nowhere in sight. Where to next year Ben Spies? Back to WSBK? Nice job Cal Crutchlow, but sorry to hear about the crash today in testing. I bet Herve is not pleased.