Bob Barnard Track Engineering

As I said a while ago, who arranged this timetable? Tour de France, World Cup Soccer, MotoGP in Spain, Daytona, IRL at the Glen, you get the picture. I'm trying to do some serious writing, and I'm not talking about this blog. I guess Wimbledon is finishing as well. Glad it is actually a holiday on Monday, but the Tour goes on.

Mark Webber did a promotion with the Red Bull F1 in Parliament Square, London, and wowed the crowd. There is nothing like seeing a F1 car on streets you know and where you can get close to appreciate just how fast they accelerate and brake. That is what is so astounding about these cars that sets them apart from say NASCAR, where the top speed is the same but it takes them two laps to get there. That is why I love street tracks, provided they are done right.

Elsewhere the other Schumacher finally seems to have come good in the DTM with his first pole. The Norisring track is interesting, it is on the old Nazi Party rally grounds. Looks a bit like the old Avus circuit in Berlin. If you have never seen that check it out, it had an amazing banked 180 degree corner that puts Daytona to shame. Over at Daytona Brian France is talking about going green with a bit of ethanol, provided Sunoco agree, and possible changes to The Chase again to include some sort of knockout. I had that idea a while ago, to make sure they all go for it. Start with the top ten and whoever is the last of those ten drops out, so even for the last race you do not have to win it, just finish in front of your competitor. What do you do if they both crash?

Australian Daniel Ricciardo won the Formula Renault 3.5 race in Hungary and still leads the Championship. The next Mark Webber? Joylon Palmer returned to the winners circle in the F2 Championship and is leading that handily.

Big crash during practice at The Glen. Viso ran over the curb at Turn One and could not get it back in time and hit the wall on the exit head on. I said a few weeks ago that I was unhappy about some aspects of that track when there seems to room to move barriers back, and that is one of them. It is also down to the asphalt run off behind that curb that allows drivers to try and drive out of an off without lifting.

Happened to see the end of the New Hampshire NASCAR race yesterday and was shocked by the number of empty seats. Can't all be watching the World Cup? It occurred to me on my drive over that if NASCAR is removing seats as they have on the back stretch at Daytona, not covering them up, then they cannot believe that this is a short term problem. If they do not have confidence in their product then where is it headed. OK, there will always be a large audience for NASCAR, but it seems the growth has gone, another fad. Always seemed to me that it was a mistake forgetting their base fan and go chasing New York yuppies. Must be a worry for future TV negotiations.

Very busy day ahead. Great meeting with architects yesterday to discuss the theme for the club, and looked at a similar clubhouse we can base ours on, 20,000 sq ft with restaurant, gym and spa, and pro shop. Meeting other race clubs and potential partners today.

You've got to love Mark Webber, has a huge crash and says "let's just bloody get on with it." New car being built for Silverstone, and he sees the season as only half over, so he is still going for it. What else would you expect from and Aussie?

His boss, Christian Horner, is complaining that they are down on power and Renault should be allowed to upgrade it. Yeh right, and give you another second a lap, and I do not notice that Kubica is running too shabby either. Nice try Christian.

Lots of concern and negative comments on the movable rear wing, so suggestions that it may not fly, so to speak. Martin Whitaker of McLaren and FOTA says that if it does not work it is easy to take it off! It's only money.

Do not forget Tour de France starts Saturday, now that's some real tough men. Used to kill me riding my bike to school over a railway overpass, let alone the Alps!

Putting in the fee proposal for the track in Saudi Arabia, so we'll see how serious they are.