Bob Barnard Track Engineering

So Sir Stirling Moss thinks Michael Schumacher needs to clean up his act? Bit late now don't you think? Where have you been Stirling? He thinks the new rules on dirty driving will cramp his style. I would hope so, and why did we need a rule, the Stewards should have done something about this years ago, and maybe not just to Michael.

The media is having a field day with Montezemolo's comments about the future arrangements for F1 after the current Concorde Agreement runs out. Joe Saward again has a great piece on what he actually said, which was really no more than laying out possible alternative paths. I think it is just early maneuvering to improve the team's cut of the pie in the next go round. He likens the current regime as "like being in prison."

Looking forward to seeing the McLaren in GT3, that is getting to be the best racing with so many closely matched makes and top drivers.

The biggest motor racing story of the day seems to be Briatore selling his shares in QPR to Bernie. That's sad. You would think with all Bernie's millions QPR would be up with Chelsea by now. Maybe this is his fun and not his business.

The newly repaved Daytona track got the thumbs up from the drivers, but the combination of a new surface and a smaller restrictor plate may make for some boring races. Jamie McMurray said, "You're not really having to turn the steering wheel because the car has so much grip,"  while Jeff Burton said "You don't even think about having to lift unless you're trying to keep from wrecking. In the past it was quite a bit of throttle control to keep your car going around the racetrack." What else is left for the driver to do?

So the only comment so far welcoming the removal of the team orders regulation is from Ferrari, and I loved the comment on ESPNF1 that "Fernando Alonso will target the winner's trophy next year after team orders returned to F1." Makes it sound like it is the only way he can win it, which should not be the case for a driver of his ability. I guess on balance I would rather have a situation like Red Bull this year and let the drivers race, but if you are going to do it then at least be subtle and smart about it.

I can't work out if the AMA's nominating Gov Arnold Schwartzenegger as their "Man of the Year" is a "tongue in cheek" swipe at him for his exhaust noise regulations or not? Can anyone fill me in on this?

Nice reprint of a story on www.lastturnclub.com by Tony Dowe on what it takes to win Le Mans. Tony is back in long distance racing at Daytona next year with a Ferrari 430 he has been building, watch for it.

I saw a piece today that said Mark Blundell and Martin Brundle, say that a few times fast, are teaming up for next months Daytona 24 hour! That's pretty scary, time goes by so fast. We have just finished this season and we are talking about next month's races. I know it is late in January so it is closer to two months, but still. Only 90 days to the Bahrain F1 GP.

F1 news still centers on drivers and teams with HRT reported in big trouble following the falling out with Toyota. Seems Toyota wants paying, how rude of them. So no new chassis, no drivers, no money, but a Cosworth engine, presuming they have paid them. Petrov is being told to move to England near the team and improve his English, that will improve his consistency apparently. I suppose being around the team can keep an eye on him, but not sure really how it improves his consistency. Hulkenburg is being tipped to fill one seat at Force India, let's hope so, he is good enough to stay in F1, unlike some.

Interesting that Mazda is setting up a scholarship to help young drivers step up from Star Mazda to Indy Lights and then Indy Car. They have a big motorsport image here in the US so this is part of that, but what about a Mazda engine in Indy Car?

Alain Prost regrets the Renault sale of it shares in the F1 Team and believes that France has become "auto-phobic." It would appear so with no French F1 GP, but what about Le Mans, Peugeot and Citroen in WRC? Vergne is on the brink of an F1 drive and Renault are still producing engines for F1 and reviving the young driver program that was so successful in the past. So things are no quite as gloomy as Alain would see them.

The "green" engine rules are due to be approved by the FIA World Council today, and it seems it is Jean Todt who has pushed this through against the protests of the engine manufacturers. I was never quite sure why we went away from turbo cars in the first place. I know the power was getting out of control, but presumably that is being addressed now, so why not then? In an Autosport piece about how this green engine will be better for the sport David Tucker, director at sports agency KTB, told Brand Republic: "The potential rule change will allow F1 to appeal to a wider potential sponsor audience, and demonstrate to fans F1 is still at the cutting edge of technology." Seeing as how we had 1.5 liter turbo engines in the eighties I'm not sure how cutting edge this is. Turbo cars running around in some sort of efficiency run may appeal to would be "seen to be green" sponsors, but what about the F1 fans? If Tucker is talking about all the energy recovery systems, we did not need a new engine to do that, just ask Williams and Porsche. It seems we are headed to a world engine of 1.6 liters, turbo charged, with fuel monitoring in F1, Touring Cars and presumably sports and rally cars. Where is the "cutting edge" in that? All looks like "Spec Racing" to me. Common ECU, common chassis in BTCC and V8Supercars, where is this all going? Tony Dowe said the other day, go back to big block V8's that will run a season and put them in F5000 and Can-Am style cars. Cheap, fun and people want to watch.

So, Max Biaggi wrapped up his Championship at Imola yesterday. Brought back fond memories seeing that track again. His rival, Leon Haslam, blew up in the biggest way, I still cannot believe he kept that bike upright, there must have been oil on his rear tire, or maybe it all burnt off which explained the huge smoke screen. So what now for WSBK? Ducati are pulling out the works team, and the runner up, Haslam, has been released by his Suzuki Team as they do not have confirmation from Suzuki for next year. What is going on? Suzuki are doing well in the US championship, but who cares? Tuned in for a bit of Barber yesterday, but it seemed a pretty thin crowd at the track. Daytona has gone back to a daytime race for the "showpiece" 200, but still not for superbikes, and the public thinks it is changing the deckchairs on the Titanic stuff.

I cannot help thinking that if someone put together a series that produced great racing, went to safe tracks, were run properly, spread the costs and income equably, and gave the spectators and sponsor value for money, we might get somewhere. This is how NASCAR got where it was, and somehow forgot.

How is it that a car can be inspected prior to the race and after the race, the result declared, and then taken to some secret research base and found not to meet the template by a "puffteenth," as my race car tuner used to say. Nice one NASCAR, not the way to keep fans, team owners or sponsors happy. Now we have the prospect of a fifth Championship for Mr. Personality, Jimmie Johnson.

Korea just keeps getting better, inspection now Oct 11, after the freight leaves to go there. I have a personal saying, "a late plane never gets any earlier." Something should have been done about this a long time ago. What is the procrastination over laying the top course?

Not much else of interest today. Petit on the horizon, and should be a good week for Sol Real.

Who can question whether motor sport will continue when you read an article from our National Public Radio, NPR, sort of BBC but more independent, about women racers in Palestine! Yes there is a Palestine Motorsport Federation. I would have expected just owning a car in Palestine would be a big ask, let alone risking it in racing! And there is a female team. Where there is a will there is a way. How can you say motor racing is going to die when you see it growing in the most unlikely places. We will always race something running on some sort of fuel.

I know NASCAR is not going to die, but it is going through some pain. The second biggest race at Daytona and the back stretch grandstand is not even open. Even the Budweiser Porch, where they took out seats, was empty, and the RV parking next to it empty as well. Now, it is still attracting probably 150,000, not too shabby, but the glory days seem to be over. I was sucked in by the promise of seeing all the green laps, presuming Coke had paid for the broadcast and there would be no ads. They manage to go 45 minutes of a soccer half without them, so why not. Wrong, while we had picture in picture, it turned out to be one long commercial, if possible more annoying than if they had ad breaks.

If you want to see a sport that draws a crowd tune in to the Tour de France. 450,000 yesterday in Rotterdam, and many, many more on the route today. The most amazing thing to me is that they stand there for hours waiting just to see them go by once for probably less than a minute. How do we explain that or learn from it for our own sports. And this is a sport that they keep saying is a bunch of druggies! I do not think the average Joe is buying that. These guys are real athletes and heroes of sport.

Jean Todt thinks we should worship Michael Schumacher like that, "He demands respect." No one demands respect, you earn it. I do not care what he won, I still do not respect him. I respect his skill, but not the man. Stirling Moss never won a World Championship, but who could have more respect?

Our Japanese stand ins at the MotoGp certainly are not winning any respect. Akiyoshi managed to beat Dovizioso, but only after Dovizioso had fallen off!