Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Why is Max Mosely getting air time lately? First there were the rumors of a coup at the FIA to bring Max back. Pretty poor security if you really are planning a coup? Then there's Bernie on his eightieth birthday singing Max's praises and saying it would be good to have him back and how he is sure the teams would not mind. Really? Now here is Max saying that "He (Todt) must be given a chance to get on and run it in his own particular way." Well why shouldn't he, he was elected after all. It sort of smacks of "give him enough rope," or Todt only has a certain amount of time to do something before we take over again. Why should Max even comment? All very strange. I would have thought after the prostitute business he would want to keep his head down in the bunker.

It seems the rain does not only fall on the plain in Spain, it rains on its way there in Portugal. Usual suspects top first practice, which was actually the second as the first was canceled. Nicky Hayden ahead of Stoner, let's see if he can keep that up after his good run at PI. Lorenzo seems to want to show his rightful ownership of the title, so let's look forward to a good race.

Rumors of a Bulgarian F1 race in 2012 have resurfaced. The head of the country's motorsport body, Bogdan Nikolov says that the contract could be signed next month, and that the circuit would host both F1 and MotoGP"s. Now a Bogdan from Bulgaria was entered for one of my MotoGP's, I remember as we were trying to find a flag and anthem should he make the podium, but he was a no-show. Is this the same guy, or is Bogdan a Bulgarian "Joe" or some other common name? There are rumors that Rome may not be such a done deal, only a letter of intent which is good to the end of the year. Still, how is Bernie going to squeeze all these races in. He says that Europe is finished economically and that is why he is looking east, but I never knew Bulgaria had an economy, and isn't Russia in Europe? And Italy last time I looked and we possibly have two races there. We have two in Spain, so it cannot be all bad.

So, Korea gets full marks because it was better than everyone feared? Jean Todt said that "It is easy to be very critical in this situation. I think that the essentials are an admiration for all the work which has been done." So full marks for trying. If it had been Silverstone Bernie would be canceling the contract by now. You cannot have traffic jams and muddy parking lots it seems unless you are paying Bernie $40m. My final comment on this mess is that one journo said it was Tilke's best track yet. Now it is time for me to retire.

Red Bull say they are "hopeful" about Vettel's engines lasting for the next two races. Not the way to approach them I would have thought. Do the teams announce which engine they are using and how many kilometers it has done?  That would be good to know, but I doubt they want their opposition to know. Since when do engine manufacturers apologise? It seems Red Bull are not yet ready to let Vettel help Webber, with only two races to go when will they be? Barring an engine failure, always possible, it looks as if Alonso is going to wrap this up.

Elsewhere the V8Supercars put on their usual "crash fest" at Surfers Paradise and it will be interesting to hear what the real attendance figures were. My sources in Oz tell me that there were lots of hotel rooms available up to the last minute. But I'm sure it was a record crowd. There are lies, damn lies, and promoters attendance figures.

Is everyone happy now? We had an exciting "race" in Korea. Maybe I am too much of a purist, but all this needed was a tent and elephants to be a circus. Someone can help me out here, but didn't there used to be a rule that if it had not rained all previous sessions then a short practice in the wet would be added? Then there is this stupid parc ferme rule about not being able to change the set up on the car. That is a safety issue in these conditions. I know why they are doing it, it is just how they are doing it that is wrong.

The surface seems to be just like the one we laid in Adelaide in 1985 when everyone was paranoid about the track coming up. Very hard and very tight, like slate, so all the dust sits up on it in the dry and all the water when it is wet. That was why Adelaide was stopped a couple of times in the rain. It is funny that after having complained about the track Friday and Saturday David Hobbs said today how great it was. Some direction there? I loved Steve's comment that the water was sitting above the oil. Not the last time I looked. Engage brain before opening mouth.I know what you are trying to say Steve, just think before you say it.

I wonder if Mark Webber is still "clutching at straws" to find anything to critisize? Wall too close was I think what he said, and he would be right. I was waiting all weekend for someone to spin out of one of these corners and hit those inside walls. And I loved the fact that they drove the crane across the track to move his car when it was right next to an emergency gap. Petrov's accident was entirely predictable, and how Button kept the car off the walls in that Turn 17 I don't think even he knows. I loved the fact that like Singapore and there being marshals right where he stopped, Vettel had to grab an extinguisher and put the fire out himself.

I said a month or so ago that the eight engine rule was about to bite. These next two races will be interesting, but can someone explain how repairing a water pump in an engine can be done without penalty? Is the water pump not part of the engine? They had to take the engine out to do it.

I guess we should be happy this is the Championship no one wants to win. Every time we get a new leader he throws it away. I don't know where Button's head was at, he did not seem like a Champion trying to defend his crown.

I would love to ask the Koreans who paid for this debacle if they think it was worth $250 million to get bad publicity? Shades of Dallas. I was never interested in going to Korea anyway, but nothing I saw and heard would make me want to rush off to this new city. They need to get rid of the snakes first.

The only people who can really be happy about this race is Alonso and Bernie. It certainly was not a weekend worthy of the pinnacle of motorsport.

In an interview with England's Guardian newspaper Bernie was in great form. "I don't think democracy is the way to run anything." That goes without saying, you just have to look at how he has run F1 these last thirty years or more. Speaking about job satisfaction he said,"You look back at the end of the year and you see what you've achieved by working out how much money the company has made. That's it." That tells us all we need to know. No sentimentality about famous old tracks being lost, and unapologetic about the spate of "cookie cutter" tracks replacing them, blaming it on the need for track safety. In my mind safety and a great track are not mutually exclusive, on the contrary, a safe track allows drivers or riders to take chances they would not normally take if they thought the track unsafe. I think Phillip Island is a great example of this. Anyway, I do not believe Bernie is quite as hard bitten as he likes to make out. Don't get me wrong he loves winning the deal, but he started as a racer don't forget, then a driver manager and team owner. He does love the sport, just loves the deal more. Asked about retirement he repeated what he has said before that basically they will carry him out of the office in his coffin, and said they needed a car dealer to replace him. Not quite sure if Flavio Briatore was a car dealer, but he was a wheeler and dealer so I guess that counts. One very true statement Bernie makes is in respect of the money wasted by Governments on the Olympics compared to investing in say Silverstone. "The worst thing is that they have wasted a fortune on the Olympics which will come and go, and be forgotten in a few weeks, when they could have supported Silverstone and made sure the British grand prix is there forever. The only good thing about the Olympics is the opening and closing ceremony. They do a lovely showbiz job. Otherwise, it's complete nonsense." Well said Bernie.

I read yesterday that Korea is spreading cement dust on the asphalt to soak up the oil seeping out of it because it is so freshly laid. That's high tech right there, you want to be the first driver to find that slick spot.

There is a lot of comment about the bad weather at Phillip Island last weekend and why can't they pave the parking or move the race to earlier in the year? Paving the parking would be extremely expensive for just that race, even if the farmers would sell the land and the Council would let you. I always planned that the race would be one of the first of the season so even though the weather can still be iffy in the fall at least the ground would have dried out over the summer. As it is in September it has rained all winter on volcanic soils, not a good mix. The argument is that the F1 race is early in the year and you do not want to clash. Well it wasn't when it ran in Adelaide, and only runs early in Melbourne to avoid the Melbourne Cup horse race, Australia's Derby, which is run the first Tuesday in November if I remember correctly. So what if the GP  ran that weekend prior? What an experience, you don't think the sum of the two is bigger than the parts in terms of a tourist draw?

Is this about Bernie? No, he already has that with his latest signing of the agreement in Russia with Putin present no less. No it is about the DTM. BMW have finally got off the fence and announced their commitment to what has been a two horse race series between Audi and Mercedes, and no worse for it in the vein of the V8Supercars in Oz. Rumors have abounded about tie ups with both the Japanese Super GT series and Grand Am, but now it seems it will go further than that. The Japanese are to adopt the DTM rules for car preparation, so presumably manufacturers can compete in both and would not that be something to see. Nissan, Lexus and Honda mixing it with Mercedes, Audi and BMW, and with some of the best drivers in the world. What a show! It gets better. The plan is not to run in Grand Am, but to run as a separate series of twelve races in the US, six with Grand Am events and six with NASCAR events. Look out ALMS, we're coming through, and BTCC and WTCC are going to look a bit sick. No spec cars here with the same chassis and engine. Could even give NASCAR a run in the US as the DTM guys biff and barge as the old NASACAR boys used to do. Did you see Dijon last year?

Down at Phillip Island the conditions were the talking point among the riders and the spectators. Rain delayed practice and wind was another big problem. A racetrack next to the sea looks great on a nice day, but when there is nothing between you and Antarctica it can be awful, I know I lived there. For once I am glad I am not promoting that race. Pedrosa was in more pain than most with his freshly plated shoulder, but the wet conditions made it a bit easier for him. Very courageous men these riders. Lorenzo celebrated his World Championship with fastest time in Friday practice. He has vowed to put on a show now he does not need to worry about points, so it should be fun. Casey Stoner was next with his teammate Hayden third. Most riders saw little point in pushing it in the conditions, with Ben Spies presumably just touring around seventeen seconds off the pace.  The weather can change several times a day there, so tomorrow can be quite different, although running the race this time of year is always going to be a gamble. It is promoted by the Government who presumably do not want it to compete with the F1 GP, but a race early in the year is really the way to go.

A couple of nice articles to read. Last Turn Club has a review of the Petit which is right on the money, and ESPN  F1 discusses the never ending march of Bernie through more and more countries and asks where will it end?

"If the promised races go ahead, then the real losers are likely to be the established venues, mainly in Europe. Bernie deals on the back of massive financial guarantees from the tracks. The new venues he has unveiled - some good, some appalling - have almost all had the benefit of huge funding from local or central government. The older circuits simply cannot match the money being thrown at Ecclestone.

When Bernie faced with sentimentality, or even public opinion, against cash, there will only be one winner."