Bob Barnard Track Engineering

So the genie is out of the bottle, Genie Capital that is, and the worst kept secret is out. We now have two Team Lotus in F1, both with Renault engines and gold and black livery. Let's see Bob Varsha handle that lot. Neither side is going to back off obviously, so either the Malaysian Government, FIA, or the British High Court are going to have to decide this. Sad that it has come to this for such a great name.

Renault is also in the news with the settlement of the Piquet libel suit following the Singapore "crashgate" affair. What a miserable, cynical, exercise that was, and the architects of it are looking to stay in the sport. It is still unfathomable that a professional driver, however desperate to keep his drive, would do such a thing. Sad end to a promising career and a blot on a Champion's heritage. And the guy who won the race because of it still keeps the win! Same problem as Hockenheim this year. When is the FIA going to have the guts to take the result away when something like this happens?

So Dorna is now blaming the manufacturers for the loss of entries following the move to 800 cc MotoGP. ""The manufacturers wanted the 800cc class, so it was them causing the escalation of costs that, because of the (financial) crisis, forced them to take a step back. Now not all of them can maintain their commitments because of financial problems." As I have said for a very long time, the manufacturers should not be making the decisions about racing, they will make decisions based on what they want to sell, not what we want to watch, and they will leave whenever it suits them. Dorna also wants to look at new tracks outside Europe, like Abu Dhabi. Right, let us know how that works for you, and the riders. They want less races in Spain, so now we are going to have four in the Gulf States instead?  And let us not forget Austin. We have Laguna and Indy now, so which one of those are we going to lose?

I see that World Superbike is instigating a "Junior Trophy" based on 250cc machines. This is definitely back to the future, not necessarilly a bad thing, but what will it cost a rider?

So Patrick McNally is retiring. Most of you have probably never heard of Patrick or Allsport Management, but you have seen their work. For nearly thirty years Patrick has controlled the signage at F1 races, and he is a master at placement. David Campbell is going to take over and the rumor is David is being groomed to take over from Bernie. They are some mighty large shoes to fill David, good luck. That succession is likely to look like the "War of the Roses," the English dispute over the crown, not the movie.

Great story on Kenny Roberts on Superbike Planet http://superbikeplanet.com/2010/Dec/101207alancarter.htm. Kenny proves it is not a problem with the bike, and you have to think he could still do this today over a lap or two.

You have to love the man, he gets mugged, looks awful, but uses it to promote the watch he was relieved of. Well done Bernie, you have some guts to do that, and you always have an angle.

Christian Horner is not impressed about Webber's shoulder injury, or the book. It appears he knew nothing about either. He might be more miffed about what is said in the book, unusual for a sports celebrity to write about current events, they normally wait until after they retire.

I have started a "conversation" on FaceBook about the future direction of motorcycle racing. There is a lot of agreement that there is plenty wrong and that the future is bleak, but little about what to do about it. Back to the future seems to be the consensus, and you only have to look at the success of events like Goodwood and the Nurburgring 24 hr to see that the spectators will come out for historic or modern events on classic circuits. Historic racing is strong, and why? It cannot be just nostalgia, there are not enough of us old farts to race and attend, there is something about those old cars and bikes, and the drivers that we miss. So what is it? The characters that are now muzzled by PC? Engineering we understand, and drivers can afford? Or just good racing? We want to see good drivers and riders, not just some young kid with a bag full of money. DTM and V8Supercars seem to have an answer, what is it in their formula that works with only two makes of vehicle? Moto2 would seem to have answered some of the problems with huge grids this year, but it already seems it is too expensive for young riders. Anyone with some good ideas?

The reports this morning are that the FIA is close to reaching agreement on the 1.6 liter 4 cylinder turbo engine for 2013. Agreement with who? Previously the engine manufacturers were pushing back to keep the current engine due to the cost of designing and build new ones, so what happened? A Ferrari spokesman confirmed that he would be "surprised" if it did not now take place, adding: "An agreement is there, and when there is an agreement you work accordingly." Bernie still has his doubts that there should be a change, but it appears his opinion does not count on this issue.

The final round of the FIA GT Championship is being held at the San Luis, Argentina, track, Potrero de los Funes. This is a beautiful location around the bowl of an extinct, they hope, volcano, but the track basically has no run off. Peter Dumbreck said after the opening free practice session: "It's like Macau because you are constantly s****ing yourself as you try to keep it out of the wall." So how does the FIA approve this?

It seems even the cost conscious Moto2 is too expensive for American rider Kenny Noyes' team. Kenny was the only American in the class which is designed as a stepping stone to MotoGP, and according to the Superbike Planet web site, fellow American rider Roger Lee Hayden was offered rides for 2011 with no salary and he had to come up with nearly $400,000 to pay for the privilege.

So Mark Webber is Australia's top earning sportsman, displacing Greg Norman from top spot. I would hope so, how long is it since Greg really played apart from cameos? Greg has been very smart and is making lots from developments, so he should be in the business section. Nice to see Mark being rewarded for years of effort, and he did it without a big sponsor backing too. I like Bernie's comment that Enzo would have loved Mark and Mark would surely have been a Ferrari driver back in Enzo's day, and a World Champion by now.

Maldonado has been confirmed as the second driver at Williams, probably the worst kept secret of this silly season. Let's hope he can live up to his GP2 winner status and his sponsors checkbook. The other seats remain open on the FIA entry list for 2011, so we still have some interest in who's going where. Lotus is still listed which the Team says is due to the public's positive response to Tony Fernandes Team, and it seems the Malaysian Government who owns the Proton/Lotus car group has told them to chill it on the public fight over the name. As Mike Gascoyne said, why are they fighting us, they are getting the exposure for free? I guess Lotus Cars has intentions of their own in F1, they seem to want to be in everything else. This smacks of overreaching, if large companies like Renault, Toyota and BMW cannot do it, then why try?

Bernie now blames Max for the poor showing of the new teams by bringing them in on the pretext that costs will be capped. But Bernie is happy for them to stay,"provided they don't walk around with begging bowls, it's good to have them."

Alonso thinks his margin over poor Massa shows how much better he is this year. Still had to get his team to ask Massa to move over in Germany though didn't he?

So Paul Di Resta survived the Shanghai track to win the DTM for 2010, well done. Pity the race had to start behind the safety car for three laps and then have yellow flags at the first three corners to try and make it safe at the start. DTM needs to have a serious look why it is racing at such venues when there are perfectly good permanent tracks to go to, even in Shanghai.

The GP2 musical chairs ended today with the results being mixed up again. Alexander Rossi ran 4th in the last session after an 8th place in the morning. Surprising to see Karun Chandook so low down in the timesheet, and Joylon Palmer struggled to repeat his form of yesterday. This is the end of the testing until next February, by when I guess we will know who has taken their checkbook where.

Bernie said  that the muggers went over the top, he would have given them the money, watch and the jewelry without the agro. One of my friends was bad enough to suggest that the muggers were a promoter trying to get some of his money back.