Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Great article on Superbike Planet today about Lorenzo's visit to the Kenny Roberts school of hard knocks at his ranch in Hickman. I included the training school in my book, and my frequent visits to the local urgent care with would-be racers, and how Kenny will stop the race as soon as he is leading. Lorenzo is reportedly shocked a guy 30 years older can beat him. Silly boy, he needs to realize Kenny can still beat anyone over a short race, say a lap! Here is the link.

http://superbikeplanet.com/2011/Jan/110117krlorenzo.htm

Sir Frank Williams, a gentleman of a similar age and will to win, is considering floating the Williams team. This could relate to Joe Saward's story yesterday about Qatar Holdings being interested in a connection with Williams. More power to Sir Frank, who is emphasising that this does not mean he is stepping back from his role in the team.

Now we hear today that Boullier is considering Grosjean as the "third driver" for the Lotus Renault team. Surely he means fourth? Or is it a tie for third with Fauzy? Strange doings. And Peter Collins is now saying his driver Luizzi  may not drive in F1 this year, so can we finally sort out who is driving Force India before the test starts in 12 days time? Sutil and Di Resta with Hulkenburg as the third presumably.

Terrible to hear about Dean Stoneman's illness, and I'm sure we all wish him a recovery to rival Lance Armstrong's.

Sounds like an interesting evening at the Sydney Speedway a week ago with Tony Stewart getting into an altercation with one of the track owners and the police getting involved. My old mate Garry Rush is also an owner of that speedway, and I could sell tickets if he and Tony got into it. Another dynamite old racer who can still do it when required, and I'm sure he will not mind the "old." They used to say "there are old racers and bold racers, but there are no old, bold, racers." Not sure that applies anymore. Perhaps he and Tony could have sorted it all out with a match race?

Martin Whitmarsh has stated that the FIA and FOTA will not let the movable wing "fail." They will "tweak" the rules, which as I have been saying, remain unclear, but here is perhaps the best explanation from his interview with Autosport.

"Drivers will have the system primed in the race when FIA-monitored GPS technology tells them they are less than one-second behind the car in front at a certain point of the circuit. This only becomes valid two laps after the start of a safety car restart.

However, to ensure that the wing boost advantage is not over-egged, the FIA will only allow use of the wing's speed boost at a single zone on the track. This will be carefully monitored and controlled to ensure that overtaking still remains a challenge - and this area may not even be on the main start-finish straight."

So, only in one spot, and the boys will know which zone that is and hopefully so will we. Drivers can use the KERS system either to defend or to help with the wing's reduced drag. So is this going to be better or not? Are they all going to drive around behind another car waiting for that spot, and not try anywhere else? Is that better than no overtaking? I'm sorry, this all seems contrived, like Bernie's "short cut" idea. Let them move the wing whenever they want. What happens though when to overtake at the end of the straight the driver leaves the wing in low downforce too long? His braking is compromised so he will lose out at the corner, or worse go off. Is the FIA going to have another "trigger" to turn it off at a safe distance from the corner?

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?