Bob Barnard Track Engineering

On the day when those heroes on the World Motorsport Council vote to reinstate Bahrain, unanimously, our National Radio Broadcaster, NPR had the following item.

http://www.npr.org/2011/06/03/136912868/bahrain-accuses-doctors-of-exaggerating-protesters-injuries

Nice one guys, you just proved what a bunch of gutless individuals you are. How can a vote on something so contentious be "unanimous?" Is this just a case of we must all be seen to be in this together? Is Bernie right when he says it's not about the money? There has to be something else going on here.

The only person with the courage of his convictions is Damon Hill, and why are we not surprised. Damon's quote is spot on.

"It is important that Formula One is not seen to be only interested in putting on the show, whatever the circumstances, " Hill concluded. "You can't just base your decision to hold a race in a country on that country's ability to pay."

Hill's comments come in the light of another flippant remark from Bernie Ecclestone. He told CNN: "What's our problem in the world at the moment? Too many over-educated people. If we can find a way to do something about that then a lot of our problems will disappear." Oh Bernie, how can you? How can CVC allow this to go on?

Again I find myself in agreement with Max Mosely. He said reinstating Bahrain "would represent 'a public relations disaster' for the sport – asserting that if he was still FIA President, the grand prix would be rescheduled 'over my dead body." Well said.

Well I for one am not going to watch it and urge others to do the same. It is India I feel sorry for. They now face the prospect of trying to sell tickets while the teams are saying a race on Dec 11 is impossible for their staff. If they stick to their guns they will not go, but they have not shown any willingness to stand up to Bernie to date.

The buy out of CVC continues to be the main story with some interesting side bars. The timing of these cannot be a coincidence. Ferrari has come out with a statement that "Ferrari believes that big decisions need to be made soon about the future direction of Formula 1 - as it suggested more needs to be invested by its chiefs to promote the sport." They say that they are impartial on ownership, but if CVC stays then they must invest in promoting the sport. Clearly the teams think that News Corp with their media muscle will do a better job on this score, and I have first hand experience of what they can do when they worked with me on promoting the Australian Motorcycle GP back in '89. Domenicali has made a number of statements in the past few days, continuing the push about F1 being too dominated by aerodynamics and not about engines, which is inversely proportional to the road car business. There are reports that "teams are indeed setting out plans for simple and stable rules post 2012, the revival of key European venues, reduced ticket prices and the modernizing of media platforms for the younger audience." Admirable goals for true enthusiasts I would think.

There are some clear messages being coordinated here, more promotion, stable rules with more emphasis on other components of the car, keeping the current engine, and reviewing where they are racing. There is a meeting scheduled in Stuttgart of Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull to discuss the buy-out, and it is suggested to join it. And at last an un-named team boss has come out and said what I have been saying, KERS as it is used now, is not "green." Only used for acceleration, increases the car's weight so uses more fuel, and then you have to dispose of the batteries. Someone had to say it. KERS is like the DRS, there to spice up the show, so stop pretending it's green. Capturing wasted energy is a worthwhile objective, but not like this.

Meanwhile, there is some real racing going on at Spa with the Audi fastest on the first day. It is all very close among the diesels, but the best petrol car, the Rebellion Toyota is 5 secs off the pace. In the GT class it is all Ferrari.

Virgin says it hopes to "turn the corner" in Turkey. I hope so, there are lot of them.

The FIM "clarified" the claiming rules teams,CRT's, at Estoril. How many of the 16 new MotoGP teams for 2012 will be CRT's I do not know. CRT's are defined as anyone the GP Commission decides, and not one of the Motorcycle Manufacturers Association. They must be "prototypes," so presumably built from scratch, not a rehash of an existing machine. Teams only get CRT status one year at a time, and that status can be removed during the season with one race notice by the GP Commission! How do you put a team together and sponsors on that basis? Why would the GP Commission withdraw the status? Because they are winning? And then what, they become part of the Manufacturers race? We are going to have two class racing in MotoGP it seems. Someone out there must know a potential CRT team and can comment on this.

The other main news story is about News Corp and Exor, the Italian group that basically owns most things Berlesconi doesn't, including Ferrari, so a lot of what was being scoffed at as just ill informed gossip is actually true. CVC has confirmed that James Murdoch has talked to them about their "friendly" intentions. Now there are all sorts of scenarios being put forward for the motives of all these players, so you can take your pick, but those of us who have seen Rupert go from an obscure afternoon paper in Adelaide to a major media player know not to underestimate him.  The choice of words in the News/Exor release is interesting and revealing. They are "creating a consortium with a view to formulating a long-term plan for the development of Formula 1 in the interests of the participants and the fans." Suggests that they are looking to do things differently, and as one scribe said, these words are very similar to when FOTA was looking to form a breakaway series. As I said, is this a backdoor way of doing that?

Interesting weekend coming up with F1 in Turkey, for the last time? Then there is the next round of the Intercontinental Cup at Spa which will see the big boys in sportscars back out for a final warm up for Le Mans, all except Aston Martin. WSBK is at Monza, so plenty going on for everyone. Wonder if the Kawasaki team will get there?

In other news the Indycar teams want to delay the introduction of the different aero kits that were to be possible for the new Dallara chassis. Seems the teams do not want to spend the money it will take to R&D and produce these just so the cars can look different. Why not let them be different? No self respecting top class series can be spec racing. Even Grand-Am has more than one DP chassis, just.

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.

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.