Bob Barnard Track Engineering

As always it is necessary to watch what Bernie does rather than what he says. Not long ago the Big Bogie Rupert Murdoch was going to steal F1 and heaven forbid put it on Sky! That just cannot happen, we have to have it on free-to-air, whatever that means. I pay for SPEED to show it so it is certainly not free-to-air here and we have to put up with ads, lost of ads, and Bob Varsha! Lo and behold, Sky is now the best thing to have come along, it is "super for F1," Bernie says, "it will mean a lot more coverage for the sport." Not sure how that can be as Sky only has 24 million households while the BBC covers everyone. The key words here are "super for F1." Note it is not super for the fans.

The BBC said it could not afford to continue so it seems a deal was done to keep half the races on the BBC and all of them on Sky. I'm sorry, but this is like having a race every other year. If it is worth having for half the races then why is it not twice as valuable to have all of them? Prestige to have any it seems, what BS. At least the Brits will have an ad free broadcast from Sky for their money. 

And what do the teams make of this with all their posturing about how important it is to their sponsors to have it on free-to-air? Martin Whitmarsh says they must withold judgement, and he was the one who said the other day that F1 must broaden their reach to the new media. Adam Parr is more honest. If they get more money from the TV deal to compensate for any potential loss in sponsorship then he is happy. Of course he is, it's all about the money.

Meanwhile, back at the track Lewis Hamilton continued where he left off in Germany by topping the timesheets in both sessions, but in race simulations it seemed very close between McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari. Mercedes continue to struggle and Ross Brawn says it's all his fault. Ricciardo is ahead of his team mate by half a second, while Trulli's wake up call has him a similar distance in front of Kovalainen. 

Bernie has revamped next years calendar moving Bahrain to the end of the season so they can sort their problems out. So it starts in Melbourne, then Malaysia, China and India before a three week break which could include in-season testing. Turkey is missing, and as Allen Petrich said, there goes Tilke's best track. Austin is moved back to team with Brazil, but as someone pointed out this now competes with the NFL season, so good luck with viewers watching that.

BMW took pole for this weeks Spa 24 hour, and I need to find a live stream for that. In the Intercontinental Cup Aston Martin have given up of the new car and will run the old car for the rest of the season, very sad.

On the "green" front, a couple of snippets to share. It seems we are not all going to fry anytime soon from global warming, or as they say now, "climate change," as it seems to have not got any warmer lately.

http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-data-blow-gaping-hold-global-warming-alarmism-192334971.html

And to follow on about my thoughts on hydrogen, I saw a piece on TV yesterday about a new German stealth submarine that runs on hydrogen fuel cells. No moving parts, no noise, and no heat signature, very clever. Hydrogen and oxygen stored in tanks on the outside of the hull so reducing the danger of an explosion in the hull. Damn smart, good job they only just worked this out.

I had an interesting afternoon yesterday visiting one of the world's best kept secrets,"The Mercedes F_Cell Round the World Drive" on its Phoenix stop over. If an old friend had not been part of the team I would not know it was going on, as I am sure most of you aren't. Regular readers will know that I have long championed hydrogen as the real alternative fuel of the future, it has just taken some time to get it going. Mercedes are driving four fuel cell cars around the world with selected journalists at the wheel, to prove the technology has arrived to a point that it is safe and reliable, much as manufacturers did with the Le Mans 24 hours 90 years ago.

I could not believe the lack of media coverage, the only place to see this is on Mercedes web site,

http://www.emercedesbenz.com/autos/mercedes-benz/b-class/mercedes-benz-f-cell-world-drive-kicks-off-its-north-american-tour/

Mercedes have arranged their own refueling through Linde as they need to refuel midday, the cars having a normal gasoline engine range, and there is not going to be hydrogen in the middle of the US at the moment. There is refueling in Phoenix though and California has twenty hydrogen stations already.



The beauty of hydrogen is it really is zero emissions, the tail pipe releases water vapor, so when the generation of hydrogen is by way of renewable sources, like Iceland with geothermal energy, then it is the perfect closed cycle. And no batteries to go and find lithium for and to dispose of afterwards.



So Lord Peter Drayson, when are you going to get real and race a hydrogen powered car?