Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Oscar McIntyre, a 17 year old Queensland rider, died at Phillip Island on Saturday during a support event to the WSBK. Any death on a racetrack is tragic, and is more so to me if it happens at a track which I built. I have not seen the accident, but a friend who was there, Herod Lowery, e-mailed me to say Oscar went straight on at Turn One and crossed the track between Turns 2-3. Oscar was hit by two other riders who fortunately survived.

Now when I rebuilt the track I had an earth berm at the rear of the Turn One run off to prevent this, and somehow it has been removed. I would be very interested to know by who and why. Presumably the FIM Inspector OK'd this? It is hard to imagine the Turn One run off is not long enough if you saw Kevin Schwantz get off in 1990 due to a rear brake seizure at close to 200 mph and brush himself off and walk away. Large open run offs are a two edged sword, riders tend to try and "save it" rather than lay it down. I don't know if this is what happened, but if you can get hold of the video from 1989, first lap you will see some great on-board footage of Malcolm Campbell trying to ride out an off at Turn one, not successfully.

Oh, and the race? Checa crashed out of the first leg leaving his mate Biaggi to win it, but stayed on the bike to win the second with Biaggi recovering from a Turn One first lap incident to come through the field and finish second. Biaggi is leading the Championship, but it looks like a Checa/Biaggi veterans Championship. The bright note was the race form of the BMW.

Daytona 500 postponed for the first time in its history. That is amazing in itself given Florida's weather, and today does not look good apparently.

VJ Mallya looks to be getting further and further into trouble with his Airline, just when his F1 team is starting to fly.

The Gribkoswky trial has gone quiet, but Pit Pass has information that the lawyers are looking to do a deal and drop the bribery charges for lack of any real evidence. Gribkowsky still has a problem with the German tax man though. Where does that leave Bernie? Well it leaves him a lot poorer, and if Her Majesty's tax men want to know more about his trust then he could be even poorer. Still, always another would be F1 GP promoter to donate to the cause.  

Sebring Twelve Hour will be here in a couple of weeks. It should be an Audi benefit in the absence of Peugeot. Risi's Ferrari will also be absent for the first time in a long time. Sign of the times, economically, or a move to Grand Am? They managed to field a car at Daytona remember.

Jean Todt and Bernie are obviously not having a summer break. As I said Jean is gladhanding himself around South America, kissing babies and promising and reassuring, must be an election coming?

Bernie is setting a cracking pace for an 80 year old. Today there are stories all over the internet. The sale of the QPR shares, his and Briatore's, has been completed, so I guess he does not have to go to all those matches now. He is reassuring us that India will not only be ready but it will be very nice. Of course he says that F1 will have a problem getting the Indians to watch it instead of cricket, so the Indian GP and sponsors have to work very hard. How about CVC working hard for their $40m or whatever the fee is? Bernie says India is important, and it is and becoming more so, so shouldn't he work to make F1 relevant? Of course he says F1 will be good for India, and as Pit Pass says, as good as it is for Valencia, Turkey, China, and I could add Melbourne, Spa, Hockenheim and Nurburgring, not to mention France?

That's not all though. He was seen on his yacht, don't know how he found the time, and Vettel was with him apparently. They took time off to go to Paul Ricard to watch a Spanish lady racer, Maria de Villota, drive a 2 year old Renault F1 car. Now if Bernie wanted to get a women in F1 then I would have thought there were a few others in front of a 31 year old daughter of a Spanish driver who drove so well in F1 I don't even remember him. 

And it goes on, what a day he had. Commenting to Italian newspapers that it was sad to see such a superhuman driver like Michael struggling.

Last but not least come the news that the old partners in the F1 ownership, EM.TV, now called Constantin Medien, are suing Bernie, his Bambino company, partner Steven Mullens, and poor old Gribkowsky, for $100m in loss of profits due to the sale to CVC. Doesn't sound like this business is going away any time soon, but still Bernie has all that free time now he does not have to watch QPR.

Here we are, Monday morning after a GP, Spa 24 hour and WSBK and not much to stir the blood.

A couple of things caught the eye. Yamaha is withdrawing its WSBK factory team. This is despite currently running third and fourth in the Championship. They have obviously taken notice that Ducati are leading the Championship with Checa despite the works team dropping out for the first time this year. Yamaha say they are going to support private teams, which clearly works. I think back to what I see were the good days of GP when Yamaha had several "private" teams running their equipment, Kenny, Ago, Sonauto with Sarron, and all were "works" bikes and we had good racing. Honda had a works team, but also Kanemoto, HB and Cabin, and Garry Taylor ran Suzuki for Schwantz. This to me is the right way for series to run, not just one "works" team for each and really only three or four guys likely to win. Not a bad model for four wheel racing either, like we saw at Spa, six Audis in three private teams racing each other, which is how McLaren are going with the GT.

The other is the ongoing Gribkowsky deal, with the six others being named, and behold there is Bernie's friend Briatore, the man banned from F1 helping Bernie out.

The furore over the Sky TV deal continues, with Pit Pass suggesting it is not poor Bernie's fault, nothing to do with the high cost of TV rights and everything else to do with F1, no it is the Teams' fault. They should do something, but what? He suggests that the teams subsidise the Sky fee for F1 fans. And how are you going to identify them? And 10 m households at 475 pounds apiece is a rather big ask. Why not the teams accept less TV money, say $20m, and reduce the cost of the rights to BBC? But that won't work either as then you set a precedent for all the other broadcasters. But if "free-to-air" is so important for the sponsors? If that were the case then F1 would be on Network TV here in the States and we might get a few people interested in it, and cheaper than building a track and running a race. How about funding Alexander Rossi in to a good seat as Red Bull are doing, then you might see some interest. But no, all these spend money, and of course the poor teams just need more and more. As Adam Parr said it is expensive for them to go racing, you can't just buy a tennis racquet and some shoes. I thought that was what sponsors were for. So are we really interested in building a sport or making money? If the Sky deal loses audience then we will see. This whole series is run on unrealistic income streams that if one or two start to fall by the wayside could fold up like a house of cards. If Bernie cuts a deal for Germany what does he do for Oz and Valencia, Barcelona, Spa etc? 

This soap opera is going to run for a while, and keeps getting stranger by the day. Today it seems there are to be six more people charged over this, but no names. Gribkowsky's original lawyer looks set to go in the frame though. Bernie has told Pit Pass, who I have suspected of being Bernie's back door mouthpiece, but that is not consistent, that he did not give Gribkowsky 27m pounds, only 14 m. Now that begs the question, where did the rest of Mr G's money come from? Bernie goes on to say he did not "launder" it through the offshore companies, but paid it into a bank account, the number of which Mr. G gave him on a piece of paper. Wait for it. The payment "bounced." What, Bernie was overdrawn! So Bernie then said he gave the money to the lawyer, who is then presumed to have washed the money through the offshore companies and  therefore becomes entangled and likely to be charged. But I thought it was reported that those offshore companies could be traced to Bernie, or are they just sounding that way? It is confusing, and probably designed to be. 

What of CVC in all this I hear you ask? Well they have been talking to London's Financial Times complaining about the lack of communication. They are not complaining too hard though as it seems they are prepared to put up with anything as CVC "has simply shown such great returns." Oh well that's OK then.

Back to real life, or almost. Sauber has as expected announced it is keeping Kobayashi and Perez. Webber has yet to sign on at Red Bull but Horner says that is a formality. Well yes it is, and an important one too. VW have announced they "could" enter F1 in 2018! So why is everyone running this story? And what is so magical about 2018? Who knows what the regs will be by then, or the world come to that. Look at the last seven years. "We have enough good brands that could do that," the story goes. Well yes they do, they do right now, so what? Is this corporate planning in the extreme, and are we so desperate for news, or for another manufacturer to come and go that we need to get in a lather about it? 

Just for fun, you have to love headline writers. "Hamilton to race in BTCC." No Lewis is not quitting F1, This is Matt Hamilton, but it made me look. Then there is, "V8's stick with Dunlop tires." Let's hope they do.

A great day for Australian sport! Cadel Evans is crowned as Tour de France winner and Casey Stoner wins the US MotoGP. Now if only Mark Webber could have converted pole position in Germany to a win we would have had a trifecta! But it was not to be, Lewis Hamilton and McLaren were not to be denied today, and as we saw in Silverstone, Lewis is back to his old self. Still going for it but without the rush of blood. A very good race to watch and I did not have to wait till noon to watch it thanks to live streaming. Vettel struggled and only took fourth on the last lap. So, is Red Bull vulnerable, or is this just a blip? Alonso carried on his Silverstone form and Massa had a good race, so it seems the Ferrari is back in the fight, although their performance on the hard tire is still suspect. Not sure about McLaren with Button struggling all weekend and finally retiring with a hydraulic problem.

Pirelli seem to be improving the durability of their tires, a lot less marbles to be seen, and the softs lasted well here today. A lot of overtaking and most of it not down to DRS or the tires thank goodness, just good racing. Our other Australian, Ricciardo, finished the race and beating Chandook in the Lotus, not too shabby.

Glock has re-signed with Virgin or Marussia or whatever they are, for another three years, so apart from the problem of not having many options, he must see some daylight at the end of the tunnel. Lotus Renault had a pretty bad day, while Sutil and Force India had a very good one. Poor di Resta was spun on the first corner by Heidfeld and was playing catch up all race. Heidfeld ended up being taken out by Buemi in dramatic fashion, for which Buemi has earned a five place penalty for the next race in Hungary.

Over in Laguna Casey Stoner played it cool for half the race and then took Pedrosa and Lorenzo in two passes that displayed his determination,skill, and guts. After Germany he needed to reassert himself, and he did emphatically.  Lorenzo showed his ability to ride through pain after a massive high side in practice Saturday morning to take pole and then finish second today. I would have given any money he would not ride after that strange accident that took place after the checker and while doing a practice start. 

Elsewhere I was able to watch Grand Am from New Jersey, ALMS from Mosport and Indycar from Edmonton thanks to multi-tasking. Apart from a professional interest all of these were underwhelming. Edmonton's revised track layout is worse than the original and these guys continue to drive into each other at every opportunity. Mosport appear to have repaired last year's damaged guard rail with the same round pine posts that are not to spec and caused the problem last year. Does no one ever learn? Hopefully the new owners will do what is necessary to upgrade the safety at this great layout.  

Going back to F1, it seems the teams were as surprised as I was over some of the rules for 2014 and are saying that they did not go through the correct channels to be approved. So maybe some sense will prevail. There is a suggestion that Bernie paid the money to Gribkowsky not because the lawyers fees would have been more, but the resulting loss from tax on the trust following a court challenge would have been substantial. That would presume that Bernie died before his wife had lived in the UK for less than 18 years, the time to gain residency. Now that is an argument, but given Bernie does not plan to die soon it is still hard to accept.