Bob Barnard Track Engineering

So Bernie thinks Singapore is a "jewel" that gets polished better every year? That may be the 5000 feet view, or the one from the balance sheet, but closer to the action it's not much of a jewel for us race fans. Why did Massa's Ferrari sit in the middle of the track with no marshals trying to move it, in fact not one in sight, and no cranes to lift it. Do these people not look at other races? Monaco, which is a jewel, shows every year how to do it

Massa apparently had a gearbox problem, but they chose to change the engine as well as he was last on the grid anyway. Sort of follows from my blog a couple of days ago about potential problems for Ferrari. Let's see how Alonso goes in the race. Should be interesting as it is still very close among the five championship contenders. It is really anybody's race, and anyone's race to lose. Webber and Button are the two most likely not to put it in the wall, but I guess we will see.

Murphy The Bear has a new posting today on the state of sportscar, and notes, as I have been saying, the lack of "buzz." Makes it hard for us bloggers when nothing stirs the spirit. Petit Le Mans next weekend, so let's hope for some more interest. Always a great race, second only to the 24 hour for me, and don't forget the Radio Le Mans feed for those of us who do not want SPEED's endless nonsense. I have to take my hat off to them, I could not remember so much useless verbiage to keep spouting, unless they have someone supplying a script. If they do we need to find that person and take away his pen.

The ongoing saga of Korea. Apparently the surface was still not down this last week, and the final inspection is supposed to be Tuesday. Bernie has his money they say, so the race will go on regardless. He who has the gold makes the rules?

I want to thank Peter G for his comments, especially pointing out that for a series that is trying to be "green," night racing uses an enormous amount of unnecessary energy. I have made this comment in respect of NASCAR, video boards at the Cowboys stadium, soccer night matches, etc. Why is F1, or motor racing in general, the only one who has to be relevant in terms of energy saving? Has anyone an idea on the amount of energy required to light Singapore or Abu Dhabi, compared to say, the amount of fuel the cars use?

So here we are in Singapore, metaphorically speaking, getting ready for an important race in the World Championship. They are all important of course, but as we get closer to that last race the ability to recover from a bad race is much more difficult. McLaren say they have fixed the Hungary problems, let's hope so, we want a good close race not a Red Bull benefit, even though they are capable of losing anywhere even with the quickest car.

The engine limitation rule is about to bite someone.  Pedro de la Rosa has already had to use his ninth (Ferrari) engine in his Sauber and take the ten grid spot penalty, and Alonso and Massa are both on their eighth engine. Now Sauber had to go to the ninth as they had blown the others, which is not Ferrari's situation, but even though they say they are not worried there has to be a glimmer of concern. At best the engines might be a bit tired, at worst ready to grenade. Just when you thought it was all complicated enough with five guys still in the running, then we add this little twist. Red Bull are in the best condition with engines, despite the fact that they seemed to have a lot of problems this year, but I guess they were not terminal.

Rain is the other wild card this weekend. We've seen what happens in Malaysia when it decides to rain, and apparently that is what is going on each afternoon this week. The forecast is for more rain, which is always an issue with tracks anyway, but throw in the night race under lights and it gets us into the unknown. Now NASCAR runs under lights but not in the rain, and Le Mans does not have enough lights to potentially be a problem, but the Rolex 24 hour at Daytona does. I cannot recall it creating a problem for drivers, but then they are only turning left on the oval which drains well anyway and the infield is not lit. We have seen how spray hangs in the trees at say Monza, can you imagine it under the lights?

Water on a street track always creates it own problems, Adelaide was shortened at least once because it was impossible to drive on. Drainage on any road is a key element, but on a race track it is magnified ten times both in importance and difficulty of doing it. That is why I have included a presentation at the Cologne Forum specifically on drainage of tracks. Let's hope that Singapore is not marred by rain and we have a good straight shoot out. I know rain effected races can throw up some fun results, but it is not what I would be looking for at this time.

Bernie is quoted as saying he would welcome France back on the calendar, provided a promoter can be found to stump up the cash and someone can provide a track. Is that all? On that basis anyone could have a race, but where would you find space in the twenty race calendar we have now? Who is on the short list to be dropped? While we are talking about Bernie, he is raising his medal system again instead of points. As he said, the new points system did not change anything, but not sure I like the winner takes all approach a medal system implies, and who is going to buy the gold and silver for them? The Promoter I suspect.

World Superbike is at Imola, one of those great tracks that no longer host an F1 GP, despite upgrading the facilities as requested. It will be good to see it again. Imola was home to some of the best signage, large painted logos on the grass run off that was in perspective and looked like it was standing up looking at you, like the signs in Italian soccer if you watch it. Very clever.

The driver situation is heating up, even though there does not appear to be too many options. Paul di Resta is tipped to have a full time seat at Force India next season, so is Liuzzi out, or is Sutil off somewhere, or is Mallya just hedging his bets? Heidfield's ride is just to the end of the season, so is Massa really going back to Sauber as part of the Ferrari engine deal? All will be revealed soon I guess.

Had a great audience for our presentation last evening, room was full and buzzing. Nice to see the interest level, and it spurs a good performance by us presenters. The lap record for the Rahal BMW on the simulator was lowered to 2 minutes dead, and the ultimate record lowered in a BMW Sauber F1 car, which seemed easier to drive on this layout than the touring car for some reason, to 1 minute 50 seconds. Top speed was where I thought it would be at over 180mph, and saw over 170 at several other points. The average lap speed is now up to 111 mph even with some very tight and slow sections. I am sure that this time will be lowered as the driver was no expert, but drove surprisingly well. It will be fun to upgrade the model with the cross-falls and elevation changes I have designed.

Otherwise we are moving on with the permitting process, which seems to be going well, but it is early days. It is looking like next April/May to break ground, so end of 2011 to run on.

Been making the final arrangements for my travel to the International Circuit Owners Forum in Cologne (Koln) Germany in November. Some great sessions covering all aspects from conception, design and construction through operations and how to make money, the hard part. If you want to see the program log on to:

http://www.professionalmotorsportcircuit-forum.com/downloads/2010_programme.pdf

I can arrange a discount on the forum fee, so if you are interested in going contact me via a comment and I will respond.

Elsewhere the F1 circus is setting up camp in Singapore. Singapore says it wants to be a "must have" F1 race. Good luck with that, ask the French who invented this stuff, and Spa, Imola and other great tracks how that works and they will tell you it's all about the money. So, as long as your Government is happy losing megabucks every year then you probably can be a "must have" with CVC.

Rumors resurface about Kubica to Ferrari. As I have asked before, why would he want to do that? Alonso is not going to relinquish his number one status, and certainly not welcome someone as quick as Kubica. I can't see Kubica going there a number two, can you? I know he says all drivers want to drive for Ferrari, but is that correct, and under what situation? I can't quite see Lewis at Ferrari can you?

I thought the announcement of a new Russian sponsor for Renault would have secured Petrov's seat for next year, but it turns out they are only in for the remaining races this year, so maybe Kimi can still spring it. Or is Kimi replacing Kubica? The plot thickens.

It seems the boys in Austin are not getting the smooth ride through the planning process as they probably expected, bringing all that economic benefit to Austin after all. Seems the road system needs $15m spent on it to allow for the huge crowd that's going to turn up, and the State DOT wants to know who's paying. The Planning Board is also saying they do not have enough information to even start considering the project. I liked the lawyers comment, "We heard loud and clear … the information flow is going to open up." As they want to break ground by the end of the year you would have thought it would have been flowing thick and fast by now. You can read the whole story on ESPNF1 web site.

Monetise, what an interesting word. George Lopez followed up on Martin Whitmarsh's comment the other week about F1 doing a better job to promote itself. Speaking to Autosport Lopez said, "Formula 1 does need to promote itself better as it is a global sport," Lopez told AUTOSPORT. "It probably also needs to monetise better, which is a different thing. Promoting means putting money into something and hoping you get known, monetising means making money."

So, what he wants is more money, not necessarily more fans. He goes on to talk about exploiting the Internet, "Lopez believes there are many other avenues on the Internet that can be pursued that would raise good finance for the sport.

"There is all the historic video content for example - and people would pay," he said. "I would, for example, love to really look at the Ayrton Senna/Alain Prost Suzuka accident, and I would pay to have monthly access to any race I wanted to watch." Well he may pay, but what he is really saying is that we can make money from existing fans by charging them to watch the good old days. Aren't existing fans getting soaked enough by high track entry fees? And didn't Bernie try to get us to pay for HD? That failed badly, one of Bernie's only missteps.

He has lots of other good ideas such as on-course betting. Again, getting money from those already at the race. His idea for new fans? Letting his drivers walk to the paddock without minders.

But maybe George has it correct. We had the Goodwood Revival race meeting over the weekend, a sell out, watching the old stars, both the cars and the drivers, so perhaps watching old races will pay? Perhaps returning racing to these good old days might also increase the audience.

Martin Whitmarsh had another interesting pronouncement the other day on Team Orders from a different perspective. He made the point that motor racing is dangerous, potentially lethal, and no driver should be asked to take that risk just to support his team mate. Good point.

The discussion continues on LinkedIn on spectator decline. A post today from David Harris, who presumably works for SPEED, tells us that viewing figures have grown from 20m when it was Speedvision in 1996, to 80m as SPEED today. Considering most people could not get Speedvision in 1996 I am not surprised. The problem is, are the 80m race fans or motoring soap opera watchers? Pinks, Dangerous Roads, etc. etc. to me do not constitute race fans. As I said yesterday there were great races going on all over the world that we did not see. Now, I do not blame Fox for chasing audience numbers of whatever sort, that is their business, to make money, but there is more to racing than endless NASCAR and "reality" shows.

That is George Lopez's business too, he runs a venture capital group like CVC, who own F1 and are in it for the money. That is great so long as that is not your only objective, all businesses have to make money to survive, but I doubt if you ask Sir Frank Williams, Patrick Head, Peter Sauber, and yes, that epitome of corporate correctness, Ron Dennis, what matters most, they will say the racing. Enzo Ferrari only built road cars to make it possible to go motor racing, not the other way round. Perhaps we have reached the root of the problem? Today's racing is run by "the suits," the grey men who only see the balance sheet, not the timesheet. They have forgotten what made the sport worth investing in in the first place, and will ruin it all.

Finally a mention for someone who does get it and lives it. Garry Dickinson returned to the track that nearly killed him two years ago and rode a couple of laps, virtually his first time back on a bike. Well done Garry, that takes real guts, not some fabricated made for TV BS. Where were SPEED when you did that?

In the years leading up to the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games the Australian Broadcasting Company, the PBS of Oz, ran a series called "The Games." which spoofed the preparations. It was extremely funny with John Clark as the lead. At one point he makes the comment on F1 that they are the fastest cars in the world but you can't pass, the race is decided by parking! He meant pit stops of course, and we saw it again today. Not that it was not an intriguing race. It reminded me of the Gilles Villenueve win at Jarama many years ago when he had a train of five or six cars right behind him, who could not pass for the whole race. His win was helped that day by the fact there were no pit stops in those races. The tension of watching drivers strain for every inch, and striving for perfection of braking and placement, is sometimes more exciting than non-stop passing.

So, the question of who chose the correct downforce setting was answered. Hamilton I believe was forced into the mistake by him knowing he had to get to the front to make his setting work, which they did for Ferrari.  But, if only McLaren could have matched the pit stop time, but that is why you run the race. A simulation would probably have Button winning. Vettel's race was weird, with the inevitable suspicion that his "engine trouble" was a team orders ruse, but then he goes and beats Mark anyway. Apparently it was a sticking brake that fixed itself. Very clever strategy to keep him out, the super softs do not seem to wear out anymore. I thought for a moment they were going to try the "pit on the last lap" trick and roll across the timing line in pit lane. Didn't Ferrari do that at Silverstone for Schumacher some years ago? Is that a legal move does anyone know?

And why does Hulkenburg get away with not only cutting the chicanes but clearly blocking? Alguersuari gets a drive through for cutting the first chicane without gaining an advantage, where clearly Hulkenburg gained the advantage of not losing a place. Seems it is OK as long as you do not gain a place, you can avoid losing one. Isn't that the same thing?

It seems to be the World Championship no one wants to win. Every time we seem to get a clear leader or leaders, they screw up and it all closes up again. No one is taking it by the scruff of the neck and making it their own. Keeps it interesting for us, but as Lewis commented, not for the guys involved.

Bob Varsha was back to his best form, or worst if you have to listen to him. I muted the race because he would not shut up, which is very annoying as I like the sound of F1 cars, but if you cannot hear them for Bob rabbiting on then what's the point?

Peugeot won the inaugural Intercontinental Cup race of the Le Mans Series at Silverstone as I predicted, although McNish suffered the first mechanical breakdown of the Audi since the R10 days. Dindo says they learned a lot in their preparation for the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, so we should look forward to a cracking race as usual. At least I can listen to Radio Le Mans commentary, which I know some of you do not like, but I do.

Pruett and Rojas won the final race of the Grand Am series, no surprise there. Who is going to step up and challenge these guys next season, Dyson?