Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Not Jenson, the ones on the steering wheel that control everything these days. I questioned a few weeks ago if we were not making life a little too complicated for the drivers, KERS and movable rear wings now added, and Ferrari's Aldo Costa has said yesterday that the demands on the drivers has reached a threshold to being unacceptable. He said the Overtaking Working Group had been evaluating in the simulator whether drivers can physically manage all these components, and then there is the mental gymnastics to know when to use what, and if you are. On a much simpler level, when I was racing my Morgan it had the Jaguar gearbox to which it was possible to add the electronic overdrive, quite illegally of course. Not only that we could make it work on every gear, not just the top, so I could split every gear. This was particularly useful on first to second which was a huge gap. The problem was I could not always remember whether I was in a gear or an overdrive gear!

Pretty amazing that the first four at Daytona were within a few seconds of each other after 24 hours. Yes the cars are pretty much constrained to the same level of performance by the rules, and you might expect close races over a couple of hours, but over 24? It is a tribute the level of preparation, pit work, driver skills and a lot of luck to avoid trouble. That is a lot of variables, and as we saw at Le Mans last year it is easy to get it wrong even for teams as professional as Audi and Peugeot, so well done.

We are getting the first look at more F1 cars today with the two Lotuses, or is that Loti? Then there is the Sauber and a tease of the Mercedes. Not keen on the Lotus Renault black and gold and red. Too heavy on the gold, Team Lotus had a better look but of course they have gone back to the green and yellow. Nice looking car though with some interesting tabs around the side radiator openings. You can sign up for "Lotus Notes" which has nothing to do with IBM, and see what some of the fans did with black and gold designs, very good some of them, better that the professionals at Lotus Renault. Anyway, they will all be on track soon enough so we can see who has it right this year. It is interesting that most seem to have stayed with the push rod suspension rather than follow Newey with pull rod, even though it was designed before the diffuser became de rigueur.Team Lotus say that the T128 pushes the boundaries, especially the suspension, "lighter and more efficient." Colin would have liked this, sounds as adventurous as he was, too adventurous according to most drivers. Sir Stirling Moss said a week or so ago that Lotus meant "wheels falling off."

It is interesting that Michael Schumacher said he was not alone in getting motion sickness in a simulator, a lot of top drivers get it. I don't feel so bad now.

Strange doings at the Rolex qualifying at Daytona yesterday. The Ferrari 430 entered by Aten, my mate Tony Dowe, was withdrawn by the "owner" at the last minute. Which begs the question, what else are you going to do with it? Put it in a museum? Why spend all last year building this, and rebuilding it after the fire at the "Roar" test weekend, and then decide not to race it? No one seems to know who the owner is, except presumably Tony. To add to the mystery the car seemed to do two laps in the last session, albeit very slowly, according to the timing and scoring. Was this on the truck on the way out? What are we missing here?

Jorg Bergmeister in the Flying Lizards Porsche Riley captured the Daytona Prototype pole position in a triumphant return to Grand Am for the successful ALMS GT2 team, with Dominik Farnbacher taking the GT pole with one of the TRG Porsches. Race starts Saturday at 3:30 pm EST live on Speed, for most of it anyway.

In other things that make you wonder, Oz GP Boss, Ron Walker, has warned of Australia losing the race because there are lots of other countries wanting a race. Really? Ron mentions Russia and India as two, who as far as I know already have one, keep up Ron, and Warsaw. Warsaw? We've had a lot of countries suggested, but perhaps Ron has an inside line to Bernie. Then there are Qatar, Dubhai and Kuwait, which are now the center of the F1 universe, we could run the whole series there, the World Cup are going to Qatar after all, and that old chestnut, Staten Island. ISC tried that one Ron, and see how long that lasted. Sometimes you have to wonder which world Ron is living in. A friend who worked for him on the Melbourne GP told me some weird stories.

Bernie of course has told the Mayor of Melbourne that there is no problem handing the race back, just call his office and work out the details. The penalty more like. This is all good fun isn't it? First the ASN, CAMS, say they are going to take it off the calendar because they are not getting enough of the payout from the race, sorry I mean the "profit," and the Premier of South Australia has to chime in with how Melbourne have screwed it up. Eh? Weren't they the ones who screwed it up enough that Bernie went to Melbourne in the first place? Most people think Australia is one country when it is actually a collection of States each with a direct line to The Queen, and who loosely agreed to work together at the start of the last century. They could not even agree then about where the capital should be so they had to build a new one, Canberra, in the middle of nowhere, and get an American to design it. When I worked for the South Australian Commissioner of Highways we were arguing about what color the lines should be down the center of the road! So you can see how they will all squabble over almost anything.

The new F150 Ferrari was unveiled today, the first of this year's cars, and to an untrained eye it does not look unlike last year's. But that is what the Designer said himself, but then said it wasn't. I guess the designers are so prescribed now it is hard to make the car look much different. Of course there is the disclaimer that the car that hits the track in Bahrain will look very different. So why "launch" it? I thought the front wing was supposed to be narrower and simpler this year, does not look it. Apparently the rear suspension is very trick, but it is hard to see from the photos.

Luca di Montezemolo is still sounding off about how F1 needs to stay the technology leader and decries that aerodynamics are over emphasized compared to the mechanics of the car. Keep pushing Luca, someone has to, until you go off to run Italy that is. It is suggested that naming the car the F150 in honor of the years since Italy was created from a number of States, sound familiar, is a political ploy to promote Luca's strong feelings for his Country.

So NASCAR were more than thinking about changing the point system, they have done it, and what a major change it is, not! Last still gets a point, and it is a straight 43 for a win down to 1 for 43rd. But they want to make winning more valuable, so you get three bonus points for winning. Doesn't that mean you get 46 points for winning? And this is simpler? Then there is a point for leading a lap, which I always thought was there anyway, and one more for leading the most laps. Now the news report says that "it is also expected to to keep gaps tighter than in the past." So where's the reward for winning? Then there is the wonderful "Chase" where the last two spots will be decided on who has won the most races out of the next ten drivers, and this is simpler? As I said the other day, deckchairs on the Titanic. Oh yes, and to bring them into the modern world they are going to use vented gas cans to do away with the vent guy. How about a proper fuel rig like any other professional motor sport, and while you are at it centre lock wheels and pneumatic jacks? The only good idea I read was to move away from the CoT and for "the season ahead the cars will have new front ends." Is that this year or next year?  Then "within two years the cars are expected to more closely models being sold." What a concept, isn't that where we came in?

Poor old Flavio, first his yacht, now his bank account with 1.5 million Euros. Italian police have seized the money for tax evasion. This is the guy who is supposedly banned from F1 but still manages two drivers and wants back in. He presumably took the news well at HIS resort in Kenya. One has to ask, how did he amass so much money from being a team manager and driver agent? It's one thing being rich, but he seems like Bernie to have a bottomless pit of the stuff.

So Red Bull say they have a clause in Vettel's contract that if he wins races and finishes within the top three this year they have a contract for 2012. Isn't that the same as many driver contracts that say if I do not win then I can leave? I still have a problem with Vettel going to Ferrari while Alonso is there. If he thinks Mark Webber was a difficult team mate he should ask Lewis about Alonso. I would have thought as a driver I would be happy with the best car of whatever make, so what is it with Ferrari? I mean, I get the history and mystique, but not quite sure why it is assumed every driver wants to go there. Not every Ferrari driver has good memories of the place.

Is there any significance that Ducati chose to debut this years superbike with Rossi on board the same day as the official WSBK test started? There are 21 riders entered for the WSBK, but it looks like the usual suspects. What is the average age does anyone know? Cycle World had this piece on Facebook, "World Superbike CEO Paolo Flammini said on age limits, "The age limits present in 600 and 1000 Superstock classes have been made more generous for two main reasons: The first is that 40 year olds can now become World Champions, so why stop 24 year olds from racing?" Is anyone else confused, and if not can you explain? The Ducati test? It seems Mr. Rossi's shoulder is hurting more than anyone thought. Let's see when the season starts.

I commented the other day that if Boullier wanted Grosjean in F1 then he should give him a seat at his team, so what does he do? He hires Fauzy, a 28 year old Malaysian who has shown nothing in his previous trip to F1. Must be the long arm of Proton the Malaysian car maker backing Lotus cars, and they need some backing. Joe Saward in his blog today presented their latest earnings (losses) figures and the need for $64 in finance with a $700m loan being sought. These are the guys who intend taking over the world?  The naming court case is due to start Monday, so they had better get talking if they want to settle this as Bahar says.

While the Canadians are expressing concern over the Lotus fag packet livery Marlboro confirms it will continue to sponsor Ferrari and Ducati. How does that work? Are the Canadians color blind. Do they not sell Marlboro in Canada so it's OK? More power to Marlboro, if it is legal to sell them then it should be legal to advertise, or is the tax too convenient? I am no fan of smoking, in fact if cigarettes were banned it would suit me just fine, but I have been on the receiving end of this hypocrisy.

Qatar seems to be quietly taking over motorsport, along with some of its Gulf friends. Qatar Holdings LLC. is buying more of Porsche, and strengthening links with Williams. Joe again believes that this is a move to bring in VW-Porsche to F1, but that was countered by Porsche saying today that Le Mans is more interesting, affordable and a lower risk of failure than F1. I am old enough to remember the last time Porsche ran in F1, and it was not pretty.

The Mayor of Rome now says he wants the Olympics in 2020 rather than the F1 race, so I guess that is over. Can my Italian friends keep an eye on Flammini's land deal?

A1GP is to be resurrected it seems as A10 World Series, whatever that is. Never quite understood what A1GP was about except losing bucket loads of money. This has to rely on a big series sponsor and the promoters paying lots of money to have a race, without any "name" drivers, at least none that the general punter would know, and in spec cars. "The ethos is completely different in terms of the business model." a spokesman for A10GP said. It had better be. The series will run in the off season in non-European countries, so perhaps these racing starved people will not care who is driving? Now I know there are a bunch of Englishmen who just love "Our Jens," but I have never bought in to the jingoistic "our nation is better than yours" concept in motor racing. I, and I would believe most fans, like drivers and cars from wherever. Drivers I admire because of their ability and character, not nationality, and cars for their engineering and style. I can admire both the Peugeot and Audi equally at a Le Mans race without being French or German, and in the case of A1(0)GP we do not even have the difference in nationality of the cars, other than the color, and who really cares about that? We already have the Superleague based on soccer teams, which probably has more chance of motivating followers, although despite the success of my soccer team's car, Tottenham, I personally am unlikely to walk across the street to watch it. Good luck.

I loved yesterday"s quote from Lotus Renault designer James Allison who said the design of this year's car "would be on the brave end of brave." That's what we want to see, and Chapman would be proud. Or was it Lotus drivers who were the brave ones?

Tires are in the news today with Pirelli saying their tire will mean two or three stops during a GP. Hardly green is it, and I am not convinced it is good for the show, we are back to sprint races. Some of the best races last year were when someone made their tires last much longer than the opposition thought. In fact you could argue Ferrari lost the Championship because they did not expect Vettel et al's tires to last. We know Button can extend the life, and didn't Webber win in Hungary by making the softs last and Vettel ran the whole race in Italy to finish fourth. Now we are back to "wait for the pit stop" to overtake.

Hankook have been announced as the official tire of DTM. It is not long ago that the idea of a South Korean tire manufacturer supplying race tires to the DTM would have been laughable, but not anymore. I am actually having Hankook fitted to my street car, before hearing of the DTM deal. The reports from other users are great and the price is certainly right. Falken have been running a car in GT2 in ALMS and are stepping up with Derek Walker taking over the team for 2011. They put in some good performances last year that tended to fade away as the race progressed, so it will be interesting to see what they learned and what Walker can do. All adds to the interest of the GT2 class.

Well we are nearly at the end of the winter wait, with the first F1 test due in 15 days. Not that the tests are always a good indication, but it will be great to have some action on track again. The Rolex is due to run the weekend before that, so we can get our sportscar fix starting in just over a week. The "Lotus" court action is due to start next Monday, but this is not the sort of action I think we wanted to see. Can't Bernie bang their heads together?

It seems the Tobacco Police in Canada are not happy with the new (old) Lotus Renault paint job. JPS fags are still sold in Canada, so any likeness to a cigarette packet is against the law. This is just the sort of nonsense I went through at Phillip Island twenty years ago. I doubt anyone else would have noticed if they had not raised it, and since when has a driver been used to promote smoking? What other color schemes are suggestive of cigarette packets? Are they to be banned too? This is just what the Victorian Government wanted, a "white out."  But I suppose there is a white fag packet somewhere in the world.