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.

Not much energy around at the moment, either personally or in the sport. Continue to feel under the weather and went to the Doctors this morning. Probably a viral infection, and a bit dehydrated. Can't understand why, I been drinking more water than ever. So, combined with a lack of any real excitement on two or four wheels I am sorry this blog has been below par as well.

Received the program for the Professional Motorsport Circuit Owners, Investors and Suppliers Forum in Cologne (Koln), Germany, in November. It's been extended out to three days and coincides with a major trade show, so the most worthwhile conference you will go to if you are in the track business. As a presenter I can provide my contacts with a discounted fee, so if you are thinking of going, contact me and I can give you the promo code. I am moderating a session on track engineering which has some great speakers, and part of a panel discussion on the future of track design.

Our enforced hiatus from F1 is about to end with Spa starting in two days. Consensus seems to be that the Red Bull cars will lose out on sectors 1 & 3, so it could be a close race. We saw with Force India last year having a great handling car in the middle sector gives you a great lap time, but does not win the race, so McLaren and Ferrari could be in with a chance. McLaren say they are still baffled by the flexi front wing, as are most outside observers. It seems they are finding a way for the airflow to bend up the front of the floor while bending down the front wing. Sounds like a difficult thing to do, but I am not an aerodynamics genius. Whatever happens it will be great to see Spa, a track with only one bad corner for me and that is that last chicane. The rest is pure poetry.

The FIA is supposed to announce the thirteenth team by the end of the month, Villenueve has appeared as the dark horse for the selection, which is surprising, he kept the fact he was bidding very quiet until the last month. Rumors continue that HRT will merge with the other strong bidder, Epsilon Euskadi, which could be very good for both of them. Whoever gets the nod will have their work cut out to be ready in time for 2011. In the meantime Jacques is off to race a Nationwide car in Montreal.

We must not forget the MotoGP this weekend at Indy. I still have a problem with motorcycles on that track, just does not seem to be where they should be. Maybe if Mr.Tilke can get his act together he could make Austin work for MotoGP, they might make some money on that. Tavo talks about all the other events they can run, like NASCAR, Grand Am and AMA motorcycles, but all these are run by NASCAR, and the word I hear is they are not going. In any event, Bernie is usually very particular what else runs on his F1 tracks. When we ran the US Motorcycle GP at Laguna in '93 Bernie controlled the bikes, and we had to get him to agree that Laguna could keep their CART race, as he normally ruled out anything that competed with something he controlled.

There is a connection on Facebook to Paddock Talk that has good press clippings from all over on F1, or you can go to http://paddocktalk.com/news/. In today's is a piece on how the German GP made a profit! They were hoping to break even, but the Mayor confirmed that they made about $180,000, but would have lost a bit over $9m on Bernie's original deal. Not bad though for building and maintaining a track, promoting and running an event. I hope Tavo and Red McCombs are reading this stuff. If Tavo gets his way and runs the race for forty years that is $7.2m, provided he has the same good deal as the Germans. Pretty good return on $250m plus investment, not.

Elsewhere Spa is expressing concern about breaking even with an F1 GP and staying on the calendar. This is the best track we have and it would criminal to lose it. There was a discussion on LinkedIn about your favorite sequence of corners. I have one, Spa!

On another article it says four drivers are "bying" for a seat at HRT. Is this a misprint or is it an intentional play on how to get a ride at HRT?

Rumors continue to circulate that the Korean GP track will not be finished. Surely with two months to go it is obvious if it is or not? I know with one month to go before we finished Daytona back in 2004 there were many doubters, but we had the track back and running early and knew we could make it. Bernie is reported to have offered the Aragon track in Spain the race, but Aragon will not stump up the fee.

Over at Brno it was business as usual for Lorenzo, quickest in first practice for the Czech MotoGP. Rossi was third, and Stoner, on what will soon be Rossi's Ducati, could only manage sixth. Early days though.

Sorry to hear about Hans Stuck's blood clot as a result of a racing accident a month ago, get well soon Hans.

English Premier League kicks off this weekend, go Spurs!

At home I am waiting for attorneys to show up to discuss an expert witness case, should be an interesting morning.

It seems in motorsport, and maybe in life, it pays to have a rich or famous father, or preferably both. Now I'm not saying these guys should not be out there, in most cases they are good enough, but so are many more who never get the chance.

Two news items today prompted these thoughts. Paul Menard has signed to run with Richard Childress in 2011. Now this is not so much Childress signing a new driver as Menard Senior taking his bag of money from one team to another, as Childress is adding a car to its team for Paul to race. Ed Carpenter is also back in IRL, courtesy of step-dad Tony George, late of IRL and part of the Hulman family that owns Indianapolis Speedway.

Over at the US F1 track and promoter Tavo Hellmund says that the race could be in Austin for forty years. he needs to hope so as then he may finally make a quid. But how did Hellmund get the rights, well his dad promoted the Mexican GP way back when.

Then there are all the famous sons in racing at the moment, Alex Gurney, Nico Rosberg, Jacques Villeneuve, Joylon Palmer, the Mansell and Taylor brothers, Tambay, Brundle, Piquet, Magnessun, the late Henry Surtees, Damon Hill, Derek Hill, Conor Daly, Prost, Nicholas Todt, Paul Stewart, Bruno Senna(I know he is a nephew), Scheckter, and I'm sure there are a lot I missed. Let's not even start on that family business, NASCAR.

Bernie must be reading my blog as he has decided that he and Tavo need an American driver for the US race, but who does he pick? Rossi, Newgarden, Summerton? No, Danica Patrick, the driver who is doing so well in the Indy Retirement League and crowd favorite, personality of the year. C'mon Bernie at least do your homework and look past the face and the gender. She might get some column inches but is unlikely to make F1 popular in the US. I guess if you think Schumacher is a good advert for your sport then Danica could be a good choice.

Another great presentation session last evening for the Sol Real project. We are getting great response and the word is spreading. I was contacted by the SCCA to inspect a track in the same region, but the owner knew of this project and my role, and was concerned about me working on a track that might compete with his. He might be questioning my integrity, but he confirmed his.

Seeing as how we are in the middle of a break for F1, and about midway through the championship, I thought I would give you my score card on the teams and drivers.

Clearly the best car is the Red Bull, and should be where Brawn was last year. Two great drivers, so what's gone wrong? Poor management of the drivers and some reliability issues have cost them, and Vettel is either accident prone or has bad luck, but I think he does not have his head in the right place. They could wrap this whole thing up if they decided who they want to win the championship, and I would back Webber, and no, not because he is an Australian. He has the focus right now, and Vettel has time on his side.

Ferrari are a bit of an enigma, great one week and off the pace another. Alonso is driving up to his usual standard but his Latin temperament gets in the way sometimes, but you can't have one without the other. Massa is even more up and down. He obviously still has it, but it does not always show up this year. There is obviously something about the car that it is not consistent. Alonso and Ferrari could still pull this off, but they need to sort out team orders, did I really say that, before they get on track.

McLaren have been behind the eight ball all season. As always they never give up and their development pace is the best in the business, but they are playing catch up every race. They are managing their two drivers better than anyone else, with Hamilton for me the best driver out there. He makes the car do more than it should, while Button seems always to be waiting for his chance, for the car to be right, for the tires to be right, etc. Don't get me wrong, he has had some great drives this year, and is the reason McLaren even have a shot at the Constructors title.

Mercedes have to be the disappointment of the season. You take a Championship team and back it with Mercedes money, bring in a young hot driver, and Michael, and you would expect them to be competing at the front. Compared to Red Bull these three teams missed the basic car design. As Nico Rosberg said, the basic car is not right, and trying to start from that base with development does not get you there. Nico is driving better than he did at Williams, and once he has the right car he will be a force. The less said about Michael the better.

Renault and Williams are for me the teams doing most for less. Renault have Kubica which is flattering the car I think, but Petrov is also putting in some good drives like Hungary, so the car cannot be that bad, and considering last years problems and the new ownership they are punching above their weight. So too is Williams, the best of the Cosworth brigade by a country mile. It is not consistent, but who is except Red Bull, and Rubens continues to put in some very good drives and shows no signs of getting stale or just driving for the money. Hulkenburg is having a good rookie season, so Williams are probably going to retain both. If Williams bring in some investment money then they can hopefully return to the force they were.

Sauber is also doing well considering the last minute pull out by BMW and Peter carrying the team. Again inconsistent, and both drivers have had bad days, but we have also seen some good ones. I doubt Pedro will be back next year, and maybe Kobayashi may not be back. Depends on what happens with the team ownership, Peter cannot keep funding this thing, and there is an obvious lack of sponsors on the car.

Force India showed a burst of performance late last year that surprised everyone. Unfortunately that does not seem to have carried over to this season, and losing a lot of their Tech people cannot help. Not sure what is going on here as there are ongoing rumors about their finances. They do continue to develop the car with the latest innovations, so can't be all bad. Sutil is wasted in this car, but not sure there is a seat available anywhere else. Luizi is up and down, and seems to have had bad luck with his chassis, but who else would you pit in the car at the moment?

Torro Rosso are actually doing well for a driver development team that has to design and build it's own car these days. Buemi and Alguersuari seem on a par and at times putting in good drives, apart from running into each other at times, but even the best teams do that don't they?

That brings us to the new boys. Lotus is clearly the class of the rear of the field, and I agree with Bernie that they are the one likely to survive. They all have surprising reliability problems which is really hurting their development. With no testing then if you do not run race weekend you can never move forward. Seems Lotus is moving to the Renault engine, which I am not sure is a good move, but Williams and Renault seem evenly matched so who knows? I'm sure Mike Gascoyne does. Maybe it will solve his hydraulic problems. Trulli and Hekki are doing the best they can with what they have as you would expect.

Virgin is not quite as bad as HRT, but it is a close run thing. Cannot imagine Sir Richard putting up with this situation next year, so he needs to get out or fund this properly. At the moment it is money that is worse than wasted, it is very negative exposure. What can you say about HRT? The situation is not poor Colin Kolles' fault, but not sure if he is the one to solve it. He has been with a few teams now, and none are what you would say really successful. Having a "renter driver" shows how desperate they are for money, and Dallara did them no favors with the car, but who knows what the real story is as far as payment went for what they did.

Let's hope the rest of the season is as entertaining as most of the first half has been, provided Red Bull do not finally get their act together.

Over at the ALMS we are already down on prototype cars and we have lost the CytoSport Porsche before the weekend started. The Drayson Lola is on pole by a comfortable margin. I suppose Lord Drayson is fit again, so we will see what happens in the race. Highcroft is slowest of the three front runners, but somehow they find ways to win.

Grand Am is at Watkins Glen again as a support to the NASCAR race, so watch for that tomorrow.