Bob Barnard Track Engineering

No sooner had Lotus, nearly wrote Renault there, announced the mass damping, or anti dive, brake system apparently OK'd by the FIA, when the same FIA have come out and said it is probably not legal. As I read it they are saying you could be protested for using it, so don't. Saves all the other teams from spending lots of money to all end up the same.

And money, or the lack of it, is what is worrying Bernie. He sees the European problems causing teams, and presumably promoters, to be squeezed for cash. He continues to talk to Valencia, and the likely outcome is a sharing of the GP with Barcelona, but as I said before, I don't see how that helps except you only lose half as much. Bernie has no such doubts about Bahrain though, they still have plenty to donate to CVC, but not to their staff it seems. The news that the sacked staff were reinstated fell a bit flat when most said no thanks seeing as how they were not going to be back paid for the time they were off.

Daytona 24 hour, sorry The Rolex, is coming up this weekend, the traditional start of the new season if you do not count the Dakar or the Monte Carlo Rally. Lots of interesting cars and drivers this year, with some ALMS crossover like the Risi team.

Talking of interesting cars and drivers, Kimi was in action in a 2010 Renault at the permanent Valencia circuit today to get his eye back in before the real testing starts. No times were released, not that they would give us any idea as no one else tests there. Kimi is reported to say that getting used to the Pirelli tires was his only concern. 

Last but not least, Austin has started to release news on the ticketing for this years race. According to Geoff Moore, chief marketing and sales officer for Circuit of The Americas. "In order to effectively manage the demand, we have created a two-stage ticketing process to help fans better understand the opportunities available. We want every fan to get the ticket that is right and affordable for them. In this first stage, we are showing off the incredible entertainment experience our main grandstand offers."

It had better be incredible, as they are copying a page from the basketball world and selling "seat licenses." To those unused to this term you can buy the right to buy tickets for events. That's right, you do not get to go sit in your personal seat unless you now buy a ticket. And what is this going to cost you ask? $1000-5000 per seat license, to buy the right to buy a ticket. There are only 9000 of these for lucky people with more money than sense, which I am sure there will be. And you thought 480 Euros was expensive at Spa?

Not good. That is the prognosis of Murphy The Bear, and he should know. His latest blog is as always to the point, but depressing for North American fans:

http://murphythebear.com/blog/index.php/2011/05/19/190-assessing-alms-and-grand-am-prospects/#more-1089

It seems the ALMS "Game Changing" TV package is so good their chief of TV got fired for it. It is also a sad day for racing when Audi can sell more cars from plain old ads than from winning on a race track. "Win on Sunday, No One Notices Monday?"

The blog also picks up on the plight of NASCAR. As my readers will know I have been saying this is not just an "economy thing," but a lot of people do not want to believe it. On a similar note, I suggested that the VIR Grand-Am race could have been a fix for the Ganassi team to get beaten, but even I did not realize that the winning car is  associated with Daytona, so the money went from one pocket to another as Murphy points out.

The Bahrain saga continues, with the June 3 deadline being real now apparently. The latest is for India to move to December and give Bahrain it's October date. Is this more because India will not be finished by October?

I had to laugh when I read that Bathurst is "secure" until 2034! Who knows what we will be racing by then, and whatever it is Bathurst will always be secure. V8Supercars needs Bathurst more than Bathurst needs them, so who is securing who?

Sorry about yesterday, my software would not let me in.

The FIA is continuing its nonsense about the Bahrain GP, promising to "respect" the May 1st deadline for a new date to be decided. There are people dying in the streets or had they not noticed? How can you condone even contemplating staging a race there.

Bernie has also come out fighting, but only verbally. He has come out against the 2013 engine rules as not being what the spectators want. Nice of him to care, I had not noticed that we were high on his agenda before. He says that talking to the businessmen he meets, he would hardly talk to one of us, noise and Ferrari are the two things they want. Ferrari are of course the most outspoken of the teams, "Not Formula One" is Montezemolo's comment. So the businessmen are afraid that Ferrari will not participate if the engine rules are not changed. But as Joe Saward said in his blog today, the deal is done. Also from my memory the 1.5 liter turbos were louder than the current cars. But as I have said, this is back to the future stuff, hardly cutting edge and "green."

Bernie is also fighting back about the Gribkowsky bribery case, offering to go to Germany to assist the investigation, but only if they promise to let him out again. However this turns out you have to admire Bernie, he can make money coming and going. He sells his shares and eventually gets a "Finders Fee" of $61m for helping the poor bank that is now stuck with the shares to find a new buyer in the form of CVC.

Continuing the money theme, there are reports today that the Belgian F1 GP is saved by Shell buying the sponsorship for the race. Now it is my understanding that signage and sponsorship are Bernie's, if not all then a fair chunk, so how does Shell tipping money in help Spa? Maybe Bernie will cut his fee by this amount? Nah, can't see that can you?

Australia in the shape of Melbourne are vowing to be tough with Bernie over the cost of the next contract. The Major Events Minister says they want the race, "but we're not going to be bunnies in contractual negotiations." Lambs to the slaughter I would say, and Easter is coming.

Over at Superbike Planet the AMA has issued a lengthy press release to explain the debacle at Daytona. After reading it I for one think it sounds even more of a circus.

Sebring officially kicks off today, and we can all watch qualifying tomorrow via ESPN3.com.

Happy St Patrick's Day everyone.

That was the Daytona 200 yesterday. What a shambles! How did it get to this? Instead of a 57 lap endurance race we got a 27 lap race which was red flagged because of tire wear problems, which is a well known problem here, a restart of a shortened 15 lap race that is red flagged at the first corner, and finally completed amid dispute about the minor placings. Never mind that the eventual winner changed an engine during the red flag stop!!! And what does the commentator say about that? Congratulations to the crew for getting it done. Where else is this allowed? To top it off the NASCAR Channel, aka Speed, switched over to the the Camping World Series before the last restart and replayed it about 11pm EST. I guess they know how motorcycle racing rates. Enough said.

I touched on the state of bike racing in my comments about my conversation with Kenny, and about Daytona. Kevin Cameron on the Cycle World web site elaborated, "In the press briefing, we were all reminded of racing’s shrunken state. Nineteen heads were turned toward the three riders. When the talking was finished, there were no questions. Two people clapped. That was that. The racing was grand. Where is everybody?" To read the whole piece go to;

http://blog.cycleworld.com/2011/03/daytona-2011-bad-day-at-black-rock%E2%80%94by-kevin-cameron/

Barcelona is basically rained out with going on two inches of rain. A few brave souls did some wet driving, but most packed up and went home. I know this is going to come as a shock but the dampers for the HRT did not arrive. So they will go to Melbourne, presumably, with the car not having turned a wheel, shades of 2010, and now we have the 107% qualifying rule back in play. So when did HRT know they needed dampers?

Sounds like David Brabham is going to be busy this year after not being sure of a ride, with plenty of air miles with rides in the Highcroft car, Sumo Power Nissan in GT1 and V8Supercar appearances. Go get 'em David.

It would appear that the rumors of Bernie's departure have been grossly exaggerated. Check out this nice piece on Pit Pass about CVC, Gribkowsky and Bernie.

http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=43078

That should keep you readers happy for the day.