Bob Barnard Track Engineering

It is a sad indictment of our sport that one of the main stories is Bernie being willing to sell his shares in QPR, Queens Park Rangers soccer team. QPR have had moments of success, but have always been the bridesmaid to other London teams like Tottenham and Arsenal, and lately Chelsea. As always Bernie will make money on the deal.

Joe Saward poses the interesting question about Bernie having been the subject of extortion by Gribkowsky. This is the latest version of where the $50m, or $40m, whichever the story, came from. Bernie has been cooperating with the German Authorities, and if true could get his money back. The question Joe poses is, what did Gribkowsky know about Bernie that made him pay up? As he says, the Authorities may not care, but a journalist somewhere will.

Tony Fernandes confirms the Caterham purchase amid rumors that he will change the name of the F1 Team if he loses the court case, the decision on which we are still waiting to hear. The Caterham has a lineage that goes back to the start of Lotus, beginning life as a barely legal road car you built out of a kit called the Lotus 7. Without any need for a connection to F1, Tony has made a very smart move to bring low cost sports cars and weekend race cars to the far east. Here is a man building the sport and the business for the long haul.

So now we know what the proposed changes are to Abu Dhabi to make it more overtaking "friendly." They start with the 5-6 chicane before the Turn 7 hairpin. Now Turn 7 looks like the Adelaide hairpin which is a key overtaking spot, in Adelaide. But what do we do in A-D? We put great big grandstands around it so there is no run-off. Solution? Put in a chicane before you arrive there. That kills the whole deal, so what are we going to do? Widen it. OK, making it wider gives some options for up-and-under, but not sure of this obsession with making corners wider. Adelaide is 40 feet and works just fine. Have cars got wider? Not that I know of. It is like a friend suggested Phillip Island needed to be wider. Have motorcycles become wider since Gardner, Rainey et al put on those great races in '89 and '90? Perhaps these guys need to give lessons if the current crop cannot pass on a 40 feet wide pavement.

Then there is the off-camber corner after the Turn 9 hairpin that they are going to turn into a "banked" corner. Now I always thought adverse camber, or off-camber corners were a no-no anyway and could not work out why they were built at A-D anyway. Lastly there is 13-14 they are going to turn into a sweeper for "better flow" at the end of the lap. Oh goody.

Bernie received an open letter from the opposition in Bahrain telling him to stay away until basic human rights are in place. That could take a while. Meanwhile Bernie says he would rather retire than work for people he does not like, presumably Rupert Murdoch and Carlos Slim. But I thought F1 was not for sale? Part of the CVC empire is not doing so well. Pit Pass web site tells us that the hospitality arm lost money again last year despite charging $4500 per head for the privilege of using it for the weekend! Must be serving some great champagne.

Back to the racing. Christian Horner is said to be re-evaluating the benefit of qualifying given Mark Webber's great drive in China. He is probably not alone, and I heard the Radio Le Mans boys talking about just this last week. It is another NASCAR type situation where your qualifying position does not really matter as long as you stay out of trouble. So, the fight might be to see who can go slowest in Q1 so you miss out but conserve your tires. Reminds me of a slow bicycle race. Or do the three sessions on one set of hards? Doesn't sound like F1 to me.

If possible it is even quieter today than yesterday, so I will keep this short. Besides, I am producing the business plan for my latest ventures. Watch this space.

Turkey is the latest Government to say "enough" or actually more than enough. After letting Bernie take over the track, which he just sold to himself for a dollar, that sets the price for an F1 track, they continued to pay him to bring the race there! What a turkey that event turned out to be. Sorry about that. Now the fee is to be doubled for next year, so the message is no GP in 2012. Not that many will miss it, although it probably is the best Tilke track, well some of it. It is probably a negotiating ploy, but it shows the worms are turning. Between the Government revolt and the new Concorde Agreement it is probably a good time for CVC to sell.

Say it isn't so! Virgin are going wind tunnel testing to try and find out what's gone wrong with this year's car.

And as I always say, if it's Good Friday, it's good any day! Don't forget to listen to Radio Le Mans on the web for the test day on Sunday.

It's an unusual break to the Turkish F1 race and it has gone quiet, well almost. Bernie's protesting loud and long that F1 is not for sale, and then adds anything's for sale if the price is right. Montezemolo has come out and admitted opposition to the new engine rules. That's good of him, we would never have known that from his carrying on about it for the last three months.

Some scuttlebutt from well connected people in Texas has suggested all may not be as it seems with the Austin deal, and forecast that the legislature would not pass the $25m hand out as reported yesterday. A friend also sent me a youtube video of the Indian track from March that shows a ribbon of asphalt and not much else. I don't want to sound like a negative person, I wish none of these ill, but as a construction engineer by profession and one who has always finished a track on time I have to wonder who is managing this stuff?

I am sad to hear of another death at the Interlagos track in Brazil. This was not in the area of the previous one, it was the left after the Senna Esses after the start. We have been spared these for a long while and must continue to push for safer tracks without making them sterile and boring. I agree with Sir Jackie Stewart that the rash of asphalt run off does not penalise a driver for a mistake, in fact it can be the fast line. Neither of us want to see drivers injured, so there must be a happy medium here somewhere. On that note it is great to here that Robert Kubica is to leave hospital soon.

Le Mans Test Weekend is this weekend. Should be interesting to see the new Audi, and if the "equalization" is working for the petrol brigade.

Both are in the motorsport headlines today. The hot rumor going around is that Rupert Murdoch, that other Australian, is going to buy F1 from CVC with the help of the Mexican Billionaire Slim. Now Bernie is denying this vehemently which probably means it is true. Slim is involved with Sauber and Perez and his son is an FIA Senator, so deeply into motorsport, particularly F1.  Rupert's Fox owns SPEED, Sky etc and shows the F1 events, so owning it is going to make some sense. The general impression seems to be that even if this is not true there is something going on and people are leaking stories to help in whatever negotiation is going on. Meanwhile the Gribkowsky investigation continues.

Meanwhile the Texas Senate voted not to provide $25m to subsidize the Austin F1 race on the basis that money would pay for a lot of teachers. There are suggestions that the lower house will reinstate the money, but then it will have to be reconciled with the Senate so good luck Tavo. There are signs Governments are waking up that they are subsidizing multi-millionaires. The latest is Germany where elections have given the "greens" a greater say and control, and while they do not mind F1 cars running around in Germany, they do not see they should pay for the privilege. Bahrain is still in turmoil even though the US news at least has forgotten it, but the British papers have not, and with two weeks to the reschedule deadline they hope the FIA are taking notice.

No blog yesterday as I was traveling again to promote my new consulting service, Motorsport Services International. We have a group of world class individuals and companies that cover the complete range of racing activities from track design through construction and operation, insurance, merchandise, food and beverage, and car and motorcycle preparation and management. A one-stop-shop for anything you might need and did not know where to find it.