Bob Barnard Track Engineering

We have news today of the tragic bombing in Delhi, a reminder that Bahrain is not the only F1 track located in a state of unrest. Chandook assures us that sporting events have not been targets and this is in the next State, but it is the Delhi circuit. It's splitting hairs a bit to say it is otherwise, like saying the Oval is not in London. Let us hope Chandook is right.

And so we go on to Iran which is to have an F1 circuit! I was contacted by email one Sunday a few months ago to be asked if I was interested in working on it, and politely declined. It seems my friends at Apex have no such qualms about going there, but I bet the teams have, at whatever level. A columnist was unkind enough to say that if the money was right Bernie would go anywhere. Bernie would probably point out that they organized things well in Iran. I have come to a time in my life when I no longer feel the need to go places and do things just for money, however short of a supply it might be in at the time. 

I guess you could say that almost every country F1 goes to has its share of risk. Britain had the IRA and Spain ETA, neither of which chose to target a race. Even the US has had the Unibomber and of course 9/11 is almost on us. Germany had the Munich Olympics, and most of Europe has had its share of terrorists, so what is safe? A relative term I guess.

Joe Saward addresses the new date for Austin in November. Now I was thinking of the clash with the NFL, but Joe reminds us that the NASCAR final race is that weekend this year, and they are unlikely to move it for F1. It is true that whatever date you pick here in the US you are fighting NASCAR, and probably baseball and basketball, so November is as good as any I guess. Not sure there is a crossover crowd for NASCAR and F1 like Joe suggests for the Indy 500 and Charlotte 600, so running the Austin race to avoid the clash of television times probably is not worthwhile. Tavo and the boys should only care about who turns up in person and that is unlikely to be influenced by NASCAR, more likely college football.

As a few have commented already the FIA and presumably Bernie have lost all contact with the outside world. On the day that news reports tell us of a 14 year old boy killed in clashes with police in Bahrain,

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/08/31/bahrain.death/

the World Council of the FIA unanimously approve a calendar moving Bahrain up to be one of the early GP's just so India does not have to run in the heat. The whole idea of leaving Bahrain till the end was to give them time to sort themselves out, not that that was likely, so why just casually move it back to the beginning? And we lose Turkey from the same calendar, nice one guys.

Meanwhile Charlie has been to India and is very happy with the circuit which is good news for a change. Now to just keep the farmers off it. We have another new track here in the US, the Baltimore Street race for Indycar and ALMS is this weekend so it will be interesting to see how that works. There is a virtual drive on Motorsport.com:

http://www.motorsport.com/#/all/video/main-gallery/?s=2&i=2&id=1209

I will reserve my comments until after the race.

MotoGP from Misano where Loris Capirossi has just announced his retirement after a record 324 races, winning the 125 and 250cc World Championships along the way, the first at my event at Phillip Island in 1990. If you have not seen that race find a copy! Wayne Rainey will also be in Misano, the track that ended his career 18 years ago, what a tragedy.

Elsewhere Gribkowsky's attorney wants the charges dismissed for lack of substance, but the Prosecutor is having none of it. Even if the shares were valued correctly there are still a lot of unanswered questions here.  

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.

This mid season summer break is getting old, and it is not half way through. Ross Brawn says it is the best idea ever, and then tells us what we all suspect. They can close the factories but cannot shut off the brains. Thinking on the beach gives Ross some inspiration, gets that ingenuity rebooted, and Mercedes need it. The "will he won't he" questions and "should he retire" advice keeps coming about Michael, and he admits that he is a part of the problem and not the solution. Now I admit a certain animosity to Michael, but I think he has had a fair go in his life, it is time to give di Resta a chance in that car, he has shown he deserves it. Nico seems wedded to Mercedes, and why not. I am sure he is paid well, it is a revered marque, and Ross will sort it out.

India needs sorting out. Those pesky farmers are not giving up and are now threatening to go and dig the track up if their demands are not met. No point in going after the stands, they won't be done anyway according to VJ.

Other than this there is the MotoGP at Brno this weekend where the Stoner/Lorenzo show will resume. The bikes silly season is off and running, with Divizioso looking like the one to miss out on a works Honda ride when the music stops. He's off to that satellite Gresini team, and rumors are that Simoncelli will go to a Ducati. Let's see if he can stay on that. There are a lot of even sillier rumors that I will wait and see over rather than bother you with.

As I said news is in short supply so we are interviewing F1 identities about the riots in England, why they should have any special insight I don't know. Bernie is worried that cancelling soccer matches will send the wrong message. Burning buildings and cars don't really get the message across eh Bernie?

A friend of mine involved with the sport confessed to me recently that he did not realize that tracks paid series to come and race. I was not surprised, most fans of the sport do not know of the commercial arrangements, mainly because they are usually confidential. I know some of you think I carry on about the business, but unless you understand how this runs then a lot of things don't make sense.

Not that many do even when you know. There is a good article today on ESPN F1 by Formula Money about the economics of promoting F1 races and why it is mainly Governments doing this.

http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/56182.html

The most telling paragraph is the one where they explain that "The race promoters' sole source of income from a Grand Prix is ticket sales and this usually barely covers the hosting fee paid to the F1 Group. Most promoters would then be pushed into loss by the costs of running the race itself and obviously no one would be prepared to do it on this basis. This is where the governments step in." I wonder if Tavo reads this, or Red McCombs.

Again, I do not wish to harp on the Indian GP, but why do we get a string of people reassuring us all is well if there is no reason for us to be concerned. VJ Mallya is the latest one to tell us "Everything may not be 100 per cent in terms of the grandstands and the spectator facilities, but the technical areas, the pits, the motorhomes, the paddock club and of course the track itself seems to be almost ready already." Well that's OK then, as long as the teams are taken care of why worry about the poor paying public?

Then we have Carlos Slim Domit, son of reportedly the world's richest man, talking about bringing an F1 race back to Mexico. "We know that racing is costly. There are a series of criteria that need to be met for the event, most importantly security." Really! One cannot help thinking that Carlos could do a lot more good with his money to help that problem rather than give a bunch of it to Bernie and CVC.