Bob Barnard Track Engineering

The word of the day is web. Sol Real, pronounced like the Real Madrid soccer team, Real meaning "Royal," went live this morning. Log on to www.solrealmotorsportresort.com and check it out. First steps in a long road, but all important.

Mark Webber made it another 'web" day with his win in Hungary, against all odds as they say. When he did not pit with the others I stupidly assumed his race was done, he was going to have to pit and would come out last, but someone knew better than me, or I presume they did. Was it smart strategy or pure luck? "More a.. than class" as we would say in Australia? Those soft option tires are not supposed to go 43 laps, and certainly not at the pace Mark was going. Maybe the team knew from practice that they would last, but I do not recall them using them for very long runs. Good luck or good strategy, either way it was an inspired drive by Mark, and it is great to see him getting recognition and results at last.

Vettel has gone from child star to spoiled brat. His after race comments were so stupid. He did not know the safety car was coming in as he had no radio! I guess he was so far behind it he could not see the lights go out on the car? At first I thought he is doing the team thing and letting Mark open a gap so he could come in and change tires without losing too many spots, but that cannot be it. Unless he starts to get his head sorted he is never going to be  a World Champion.

One nice touch from the pre-race was Bernie giving Massa a big hug and some personal words. Didn't know he had it in him.

Schumacher's move on Barrichello was nothing short of criminal. I do not know how Ross Brawn can defend it, but I guess he has done it for ten years or more. Michael got away with the same move on Massa in Canada, but the Stewards have at last done something and given him a ten place grid penalty for Spa. I know some of you like him, but I never have done, and the sooner he retires again the better. Poor Nico Rosberg, he deserved so much more from this race, but well done Petrov and Hulkenburg.

It was pretty amazing that Vettel could not get around Alonso given the pace of the Red Bull, but they are not quick in a straight line, which is both their strength and their weakness. How do you explain Button's drive? Hamilton was on pace with the Ferraris and heading for fourth before he broke, very unusual these days, and Button seemed incapable of passing anyone. He is a bit of a mystery, just seems to lack that "tiger" that Lewis has.

The FIA has stepped in to try and end the flexi-wing debate with a doubling of the test load for the next race. Was this the trick wing that caused the debacle at Silverstone for Red Bull? And is it just the wing? The FIA are also looking at floor fixing details, as it is suggested that is part of the problem too. If this wing and/or floor was only introduced at Silverstone how did Ferrari develop it so fast? Or were they working on it at the same time?

American driver Alexander Rossi won the second GP3 race in Hungary from pole. In these classes where they have two races in a weekend they invert the top eight finishers, so finish eighth in the first race and you start on pole for the second. It shows how even the cars and drivers are when eighth can win the next day. Not sure of the points, but I know Alexander is close to the top of the championship standings in his first season.

Over at Spa the 24hrs was won by a Porsche after the leading BMW had an off in the last hour, and Michael Waltrip, yes the NASCAR driver, finished third in the GT2 class in a Ferrari!

The flexible front wing saga is growing given the dominance of Red Bull at Hungary today. Shades of the ground effect days when the FIA mandated a 6mm clearance below the car to reduce the venturi effect under the car. They could only measure it when it was standing still, so the boys came up with suspension that lowered the car when out on track, pretty hard to measure it at 100 mph! Now clearly the front wings on the Red Bull, and the Ferrari, are touching the track at times, so they are moving when in motion, even though they pass the FIA static test.

Ideas of how they are doing this vary between laying up the carbon fibers in different directions in the wings or the floor somehow moving. It demonstrates the problem the FIA has, and always has had, of making rules that are clear, cannot be got around, and can be enforced. They are up against the smartest guys on earth it seems at times, who do nothing but sit and scheme how to beat the rules, legally of course. Bernie always said it is better to have no rules, so you cannot go around them, just decide yourself what is fair or not. Sort of what we did with the Spanish Motorcycle Championship back in 1993, keep the rules simple. No works bikes, we all knew who had them, no carbon brakes, and no trick tires, again we knew what they were with the help of the tire technicians.

The importance of ground clearance on these cars was brought home to me in Adelaide in 1986. For the first race we did not repave the main straight, it looked really good until the cars went down it at 200 mph. There was a long "hump" halfway down it that made the cars bottom out, and their titanium skid plates sent a shower of sparks skyward every time, very dramatic, but made us look bad. So between races we planed and repaved it. Come the race and the cars are sending sparks out all around the track. I was distraught, how could the track have moved that much under traffic in just one year! Saturday I woke up, the track was so smooth they had lowered the suspension so that the cars were basically sliding along the asphalt, which one of the engineers quickly confirmed.

Some surprises in qualifying at Hungary. Button not making it out of Q2, but Hamilton 5th. Confirms what we know, Hamilton will wring a cars neck, not always pretty, but effective. Button strokes it around, which has worked for him often, so let's see what the race brings tomorrow. Rosberg qualifies 6th, but his world champion team mate cannot do better than 14th. Yamamoto brings up the rear, how long can this go on, or should I not ask? Some good drives by rookies Petrov and Hulkenburg, both out-qualifying their more experienced team mates. This track is notorious for lack of overtaking, so tomorrow could be very boring, unless the Red Bull pair put on a show, or Vettel makes a mess of the start again.

Spa 24 hr going on as I write, but a long way to go, and it is raining. It is Spa after all. Love that race track.

Still waiting for the projects web site to go live, so you will have to wait another day. Remember, manana, which I learned in Spain means "not today."

A last word to Bob Varsha. I would like to think you read my blog, but thank you for the periods of silence today to just listen to the cars. See, that was not so hard was it?

Had an interesting e-mail conversation with Sam Michael of Williams F1. I used a quote from Sam in my presentation on track design to the effect that Sam believes that the design of the track has more impact on the ability to overtake than messing around with the cars. That has always been obvious to me and something I am acutely aware of when laying out a track. The most interesting thing he said was that they, meaning the teams and the Overtaking Working Group, have little or no contact with the F1 designers. Now, seeing as there is only one designer in F1 and it has been that way for a decade then that is pretty amazing. I know I say I do not consult drivers and that the cars should be set up for the tracks and not the other way around, but no contact seems really strange. The track layout and construction has to be one of the major components along with the car design and driver, and for there not to be at least a conversation sounds like a two legged stool, bound to fail.

Been having some other interesting exchanges about the suitability of certain tracks to stage races. You know my opinion, if it does not produce good racing why go there and make your product look bad? It is obvious that tracks are being selected on purely commercial grounds. Either the promoter is paying a large fee to stage the event, or the sponsors want to be there whether we want to watch or not. Of course commercial considerations have to come in to the equation, but it cannot be the only piece.

Had another overseas approach yesterday, this time Vietnam, so racing is spreading. It is putting pressure on the traditional homes of racing in Europe, but I have always said that we should work to make the pie bigger rather than fight over the last slice.  There are really too many series now, particularly for open wheel racing, but maybe if we spread it around to new parts of the world we can continue to grow the opportunities for drivers and teams.

Hungary F1 starts tomorrow. I must confess this is a race I never thought would survive. Small country and a track no one really likes, virtually impossible to overtake. I had the good fortune to go there a couple of times and I do love the country and the people, but for it to survive when France does not have a race? It tells you that something is different in the arrangements, and I believe our friend Bernie actually puts it on.

If you think racing runs on gasoline then you are gravely mistaken, it runs on money, and always will even if the cars are electric. There used to be an honest team in F1 called Moneytron. A couple of pieces yesterday reinforce this, both involving Bernie.

He came out yesterday and said he did not think all the three new teams would survive to Abu Dhabi, the last race. HRT and Virgin were the two he really meant, and we can see HRT's problems as they have Yamamoto, Mr. "see the size of my wallet," driving again in Hungary. I commented the other day that Sir Richard Branson would get tired of paying for an under-performing business. To quote Bernie;

"All we ever want is 10 teams," he said. "Lotus is a good name. I wouldn't want to lose them. But in general this year has been a bit of a nuisance because it has cost money to keep these teams in. It has cost a lot of money to pay for them to compete. The bottom line is they haven't really and truly given us value for being there. If suddenly these teams don't turn up at races then I don't think the crowds will get any smaller, or the TV sets will turn off, or the newspapers will stop writing, will they?"

As always brutally honest, but that is what F1 is, brutal on new boys. Unlike US sports where the bottom teams are given a break through the draft system to try and even competition, and money is equalized, Formula One rewards success. Those that succeed will survive, but those that struggle disappear. Survival of the fittest. Not sure what Bernie is on about with the new teams costing money. No team in its first year can receive money, in fact they used to have to put up a huge bond, a practice Bernie wants to revive. Money to teams is based on where you finished in the Championship last year, and if you score no points then you get no travel assistance, that's why you hear that even scoring one point in a season is absolutely critical. The new teams were brought in by the FIA on the premise that there was to be a spending cap of 40m, not sure if dollars or euros, but that never happened, so good luck competing with Ferrari or McLaren. As they say, like bringing a knife to a gun fight.

So, we will see. There are at least three teams trying to get in next year, so maybe they will all make it, but bring your check book.

Despite his contention only last week that he could do without a Monaco GP, Bernie signed a new deal with them yesterday, without of course revealing any details except it is for ten years. Seems the teams and sponsors had a different view, or Bernie was using his negotiations skills. Usually it is take it or leave it. He is an absolute master at knowing just how close he can push it, and as he has said, it is the thrill of the deal that keeps him going. He also said last week that he liked lighting fires so he could put them out.

My Australian mate, Marcus Ambrose, who has done well for an outsider in NASCAR, has decided to leave his team at the end of the year. Let's hope he does not go home and can find that rumored drive with a top team.

Don't know if you have followed the "flexi wing" saga from Germany. Seems Ferrari and Red Bull have a front wing where the end plates "seem" to flex during the race from photographs, but the FIA have deemed them legal. McLaren say they can see it, but do not know how they are doing it, so cannot copy it. Reminds me of Honda in 1992 with the "Big Bang" engine when I was with Kenny's team and we could not work out what they had done, and when we did we could not copy it with the Yamaha.

Been a busy day today on the Sol Real project. Web site has been updated and looks like a version we can go live with as long as the other guys are happy. Video needed a lot of "tweaking" to put it kindly and rewrote the story line and script yesterday afternoon. Spent the morning with the editor and I think we have it back on track. Both of these will be works in progress, as starting any project like this is difficult. There is no track to film or photograph, so we have to try and use stock footage, which for country club tracks is almost non-existent. Hopefully Thursday we will have a revised video to look at.

Moved furniture into the hanger we are going to use as our presentation area, and installing A/C. "Toys" will go in early next week and some suitable posters and photos and we will be ready for a dress rehearsal. We progress.

More e-mails overnight from foreign parts, and at least two could actually turn into projects. Documents coming for a new expert witness commission, and the attorney is actually coming to see me this time. Being involved in these cases is a salutary experience and shows just how dangerous motor sport is and just how you cannot take your eye of the ball for a second when running a track. It is like when I design a track, I have to keep telling myself that anything can happen and probably will at some point in time at each and every point around it.

In the wider world, the Ferrari debacle still reverberates. Bernie has come out and said whatever the teams do should be their business, because to him it is a business, but businesses succeed because of their customers, so ignore their views at your peril. There is a short piece on Last Turn Club about the decline in the attendance at the Brickyard 400, and how this is a sign of a serious loss of interest in NASCAR by its fans, and NASCAR needs to pay attention.

Murphy the Bear has his latest offering on www.murphythebear.com, always worth a read, and interesting forecast on who will have an ALMS race next year. In other news Mini announces it is coming back to world rallying, a place where it made its name in the 60's. Villeneuve and Durango are confident in their bid for the next F1 team slot, and Austin announces the site for the track and a major backer in Red McCombs. Tavo says the USGP was successful when it was run at a permanent circuit, i.e. Watkins Glen, but that was long before Bernie was running things and when the cost of the rights was the prize money.