Bob Barnard Track Engineering

So the genie is out of the bottle, Genie Capital that is, and the worst kept secret is out. We now have two Team Lotus in F1, both with Renault engines and gold and black livery. Let's see Bob Varsha handle that lot. Neither side is going to back off obviously, so either the Malaysian Government, FIA, or the British High Court are going to have to decide this. Sad that it has come to this for such a great name.

Renault is also in the news with the settlement of the Piquet libel suit following the Singapore "crashgate" affair. What a miserable, cynical, exercise that was, and the architects of it are looking to stay in the sport. It is still unfathomable that a professional driver, however desperate to keep his drive, would do such a thing. Sad end to a promising career and a blot on a Champion's heritage. And the guy who won the race because of it still keeps the win! Same problem as Hockenheim this year. When is the FIA going to have the guts to take the result away when something like this happens?

So Dorna is now blaming the manufacturers for the loss of entries following the move to 800 cc MotoGP. ""The manufacturers wanted the 800cc class, so it was them causing the escalation of costs that, because of the (financial) crisis, forced them to take a step back. Now not all of them can maintain their commitments because of financial problems." As I have said for a very long time, the manufacturers should not be making the decisions about racing, they will make decisions based on what they want to sell, not what we want to watch, and they will leave whenever it suits them. Dorna also wants to look at new tracks outside Europe, like Abu Dhabi. Right, let us know how that works for you, and the riders. They want less races in Spain, so now we are going to have four in the Gulf States instead?  And let us not forget Austin. We have Laguna and Indy now, so which one of those are we going to lose?

I see that World Superbike is instigating a "Junior Trophy" based on 250cc machines. This is definitely back to the future, not necessarilly a bad thing, but what will it cost a rider?

So Patrick McNally is retiring. Most of you have probably never heard of Patrick or Allsport Management, but you have seen their work. For nearly thirty years Patrick has controlled the signage at F1 races, and he is a master at placement. David Campbell is going to take over and the rumor is David is being groomed to take over from Bernie. They are some mighty large shoes to fill David, good luck. That succession is likely to look like the "War of the Roses," the English dispute over the crown, not the movie.

Great story on Kenny Roberts on Superbike Planet http://superbikeplanet.com/2010/Dec/101207alancarter.htm. Kenny proves it is not a problem with the bike, and you have to think he could still do this today over a lap or two.

No, not the things that go around in your engine, The Confederation of Australian Motorsport. They are having a major bust up with the Australian GP organizers, particularly one Ron Walker, mate of Bernie's. Ron is complaining that CAMS is charging the GP too much for providing the race control and marshal services now that they are losing so much money. He says they are a monopoly and should be made to bid for the work like all the other "service" providers. So CAMS is threatening to tell their mates at the FIA not to let Ron have the race next year if he does not stump up. Ron has gone to Abu Dhabi to tell his mate Bernie and the FIA what a nasty monopoly CAMS are. Hang on, isn't the FIA a monopoly? And aren't they the ones who dictate that there can only be one recognized motor sport body in each country? That other well known monopoly, Bernie, says he is the only one who can say if Ron has a race or not. This is getting funnier by the minute.

My contacts in Australia have been keeping me abreast of CAMS and their goings on. Unfortunately like most of these bodies they come to think they exist for the good of the staff, and not the members. This is basically a big club, a "Confederation" of States and clubs. There has been ill feeling between members and CAMS since before I left Australia, and a rival body has been set up ostensibly to provide an alternative to CAMS insurance, but has grown to be a problem for CAMS, which has just said it will ban any senior official who works at a rival event. Shooting yourself in the foot time.

Now when I ran the Motorcycle GP for Kenny at Laguna Seca the AMA did not want us to run at that track on that date, conflicted with one of their National Rounds! What is important here? Fortunately Bernie and DORNA controlled motorcycle GP's with the FIM rubber stamping, and I did not need AMA's approval, did not ask for it and did not get it until halfway through the year when they rang me. I arranged the race control staff and marshals which suited me, I could pick who I wanted. So, if I could do that with an FIM race, why cannot Ron do it in Oz? He probably can, CAMS are saying they have to provide these people because of their expertise, but they cannot have a monopoly on that can they?

Is it just me or does the Abu Dhabi circuit look like a container terminal or industrial park this year? When I saw it today during practice it seemed to have lost its' "glitter", which is all it had last year. It just seemed a dusty parking lot with a lot of light towers, a lot like the Port of Miami container terminal where I worked back in 2003.

I know Alonso says he does not care if he wins the Championship by seven points or less, but it will be a very cheap title if it only cost Ferrari $100,000 to win it. I said at the time that Germany equated to $14,000 a point, cheap at the price, but a title, priceless. The Stewards should have taken the points away, that is the only thing that made sense, then we would not have this situation.