Bob Barnard Track Engineering

You have to be sorry for the young guns coming into F1 at the moment, it is like a revolving door. With the ban on testing they get no seat time before being thrown in at the deep end, and then if they do not perform straight away they are tossed out in favor of the next rising star with a bag full of money. Di Grassi is the latest that looks to be headed that way with D'Ambrosio getting to practice in the Virgin and reportedly bringing $5m with him to do it. Is this getting to be IRL? Seriously, Jerome is a very good young driver, but how long is he going to have to prove himself? This is getting ridiculous. HRT had Chandook and Senna, then "look at the size of my wallet" Yamamoto turns up, and now Christian Klein is in the car, with or without a sponsor? Petrov took over from Grosjean, who was supposed to be the next great French driver, and now he is under threat. As Steve Matchett said during this mornings practice from Singapore, how can a team set up a car when there is no continuity?

Let's compare the approach of Lotus, under whatever name combination. Tony Fernandes goes out and hires Mike Gascoyne, Trulli and Kovalainen, and puts a decent car together. Rehires the drivers for next year, no messing about with rent-a-rides, and moves from Cosworth power to Renault. Tony is obviously very serious about being a long term success and putting his money where his mouth is. Compare that with his airline rival, Sir Richard Branson, who owns Virgin. Puts a team together on the cheap, yes they have some experienced people from racing, but not the top of F1. Yes he has Glock, but where else was he going to go, and now more young guys. You do not get the feeling he is totally committed to this do you?

As I may have mentioned a while ago I was approached by the Singapore GP to put in a bid to redesign some of the corners to improve overtaking. Well, they decided they did not need my expertise, or maybe it was my cost to do it? Anyway, they have fiddled while Rome burned, a few bumps removed here, pit lane lowered half an inch? They changed that stupid chicane, something Hamilton and I both agree on, and made it worse! That chicane just turns the track into a one line track, so most of the problem with lack of overtaking is in the corners leading up to one where there is an opportunity, because you cannot get close enough. Instead of messing about with a Government style "request for a quote" they should have given all the respected track designers a stipend to come up with alternatives and then pick what looks the best to be refined. That way they would get a lot of different ideas, not just one.  But who asked my opinion?

Rain continues to be a threat, not while they are racing, as it seems to be a typical tropical 4pm shower, but because the track does not dry, or worse, does not dry evenly.

Unfortunately everyone seems in love with Singapore for the wrong reasons, just like Abu Dhabi. It's not about the backdrop, or the celebrities, or the rock and roll show, it's the racing stupid! This track has yet to show us it can deliver on that score.

Not much energy around at the moment, either personally or in the sport. Continue to feel under the weather and went to the Doctors this morning. Probably a viral infection, and a bit dehydrated. Can't understand why, I been drinking more water than ever. So, combined with a lack of any real excitement on two or four wheels I am sorry this blog has been below par as well.

Received the program for the Professional Motorsport Circuit Owners, Investors and Suppliers Forum in Cologne (Koln), Germany, in November. It's been extended out to three days and coincides with a major trade show, so the most worthwhile conference you will go to if you are in the track business. As a presenter I can provide my contacts with a discounted fee, so if you are thinking of going, contact me and I can give you the promo code. I am moderating a session on track engineering which has some great speakers, and part of a panel discussion on the future of track design.

Our enforced hiatus from F1 is about to end with Spa starting in two days. Consensus seems to be that the Red Bull cars will lose out on sectors 1 & 3, so it could be a close race. We saw with Force India last year having a great handling car in the middle sector gives you a great lap time, but does not win the race, so McLaren and Ferrari could be in with a chance. McLaren say they are still baffled by the flexi front wing, as are most outside observers. It seems they are finding a way for the airflow to bend up the front of the floor while bending down the front wing. Sounds like a difficult thing to do, but I am not an aerodynamics genius. Whatever happens it will be great to see Spa, a track with only one bad corner for me and that is that last chicane. The rest is pure poetry.

The FIA is supposed to announce the thirteenth team by the end of the month, Villenueve has appeared as the dark horse for the selection, which is surprising, he kept the fact he was bidding very quiet until the last month. Rumors continue that HRT will merge with the other strong bidder, Epsilon Euskadi, which could be very good for both of them. Whoever gets the nod will have their work cut out to be ready in time for 2011. In the meantime Jacques is off to race a Nationwide car in Montreal.

We must not forget the MotoGP this weekend at Indy. I still have a problem with motorcycles on that track, just does not seem to be where they should be. Maybe if Mr.Tilke can get his act together he could make Austin work for MotoGP, they might make some money on that. Tavo talks about all the other events they can run, like NASCAR, Grand Am and AMA motorcycles, but all these are run by NASCAR, and the word I hear is they are not going. In any event, Bernie is usually very particular what else runs on his F1 tracks. When we ran the US Motorcycle GP at Laguna in '93 Bernie controlled the bikes, and we had to get him to agree that Laguna could keep their CART race, as he normally ruled out anything that competed with something he controlled.

There a few small words that have large connotations. Integrity, truth, honor, respect, reputation, character, honesty and ethics. I have been well off and poor, famous and infamous, employed and unemployed, but one thing that I always was was respected. Through a lot of trials and difficult situations I have maintained my integrity, preserved my reputation and kept the respect of others. It is worth more than any amount, in fact at one event that was seemingly in trouble and the main sponsor was all over me, I told him "this is only about your money, to me it is my reputation, which is worth much more." He was not pleased with that answer, but it was the truth, his best guarantee that it would succeed was my reputation, and it did. Actually he went bankrupt before the event, so that put things into perspective.

What has this to do with motorsport you ask? Everything. All industries are small worlds of their own, but motorsport is smaller than most, and word travels fast. We all know that this business is like a drug, and unfortunately there are people who will do anything to compete or work in it. I had an e-mail earlier this week asking about an individual and was it OK to do business with that person? In the end your reputation is all you have, guard it well, do not be tempted to risk it for a short term gain.  Do any of us want a reputation like a certain German driver?

It is a sign of what is not happening in the motorsport world that most of the news is about the German Round of the World Rally Championship! Rumors continue to abound that Kimi is coming back, but where is there a seat that he would want? Yamamoto, Mr. "My Wallet is Bigger Than Chandook's," is driving again for HRT in Spa. Timo Glock looks in danger of losing his seat to an Argentine Government sponsored driver at Virgin, so Sir Richard's pockets are not as deep as we think., or his arms are short this week.

Force India's legal squabble with Italian wind tunnel Aerolab continues with both sides getting nasty. Talk of impounding cars and equipment when they get to Monza. I have respect for what they have achieved, but you have to wonder about the rumors of financial problems, staff leaving and now this ongoing fight.

There is a connection on Facebook to Paddock Talk that has good press clippings from all over on F1, or you can go to http://paddocktalk.com/news/. In today's is a piece on how the German GP made a profit! They were hoping to break even, but the Mayor confirmed that they made about $180,000, but would have lost a bit over $9m on Bernie's original deal. Not bad though for building and maintaining a track, promoting and running an event. I hope Tavo and Red McCombs are reading this stuff. If Tavo gets his way and runs the race for forty years that is $7.2m, provided he has the same good deal as the Germans. Pretty good return on $250m plus investment, not.

Elsewhere Spa is expressing concern about breaking even with an F1 GP and staying on the calendar. This is the best track we have and it would criminal to lose it. There was a discussion on LinkedIn about your favorite sequence of corners. I have one, Spa!

On another article it says four drivers are "bying" for a seat at HRT. Is this a misprint or is it an intentional play on how to get a ride at HRT?

Rumors continue to circulate that the Korean GP track will not be finished. Surely with two months to go it is obvious if it is or not? I know with one month to go before we finished Daytona back in 2004 there were many doubters, but we had the track back and running early and knew we could make it. Bernie is reported to have offered the Aragon track in Spain the race, but Aragon will not stump up the fee.

Over at Brno it was business as usual for Lorenzo, quickest in first practice for the Czech MotoGP. Rossi was third, and Stoner, on what will soon be Rossi's Ducati, could only manage sixth. Early days though.

Sorry to hear about Hans Stuck's blood clot as a result of a racing accident a month ago, get well soon Hans.

English Premier League kicks off this weekend, go Spurs!

At home I am waiting for attorneys to show up to discuss an expert witness case, should be an interesting morning.

So, Mr. Rossi is feeling a lot stronger following his three week break, and he is not talking about his leg. Seeing as how he was fighting for a podium before the vacation the other boys should start worrying now about their chances at Brno this weekend. Interesting suggestions for a Rossi/Ducati/Fiat link up next year, with Fiat's sponsorship of Yamaha ending. That would be a marketing persons dream come true. Also in the news, Ducati just bought the MV Augusta name back. Apparently Harley Davidson had it, who knew? What works of art those bikes were, so with Ducati can they reclaim that lost glory? Hard to improve on what Ducati already sell, but I'm sure some genius will think of something.

Elsewhere Murphy The Bear's latest rumor blog seems to be painting a negative picture for sports car racing, although it is hard to tell as some of it seems to be semi-positive. The common thread seems to be that GT racing is on the up, which is  no bad thing as that is where the best racing is at the moment. The ACO who runs Le Mans and the Le Mans Series is talking about not allowing manufacturer teams to race in non-Intercontinental Cup events. I like the idea and lean toward not allowing manufacturers to run teams at all, just make cars to sell to privateers. Unless there are a lot of Manufacturer teams then the racing is very lop sided. Yes the Peugeot/Audi contest is great to watch, but it puts everyone else in the shade. What if they were all Oreca like teams? Much more even competition as we see when the works teams do not run in LMS. Same problem in MotoGP, no one can compete against the works teams.

Bruno Senna has come out and told us what we already know. HRT has no money to develop the car and who knows if they will be on the grid next year. Virgin is looking to finish tenth in the teams competition by virtue of one race finish higher than the other two new teams have managed so far. Not much of an ambition, but they way they have been performing a pretty tall order, and it only needs Lotus to crack a point and they are done. Tenth is vitally important for a team as it is a money paying position for next year. Suggestions are that the FIA may not accept any new teams bid for 2011. Getting a bit late for a decision if you are going to build a car from scratch, so the prophesy becomes self fulfilling.