Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Yes folks it was still polluted and dusty. What amazes me is the amount of dust that was thrown up at pit stops. The teams are meticulous about keeping the pit stall clean, so how after they have been there four days is it still throwing up clouds of dust. Is it raining dust? Is the concrete not finished properly? From the look of the sky you would think it was raining dust.

I hope the Indians like a parade as that is what we got. Predictably there was only one place to overtake, and even with DRS evenly matched cars could not do it even there. Button passed Alonso at Turn One, where the predictable major accident happened, and somewhere Webber on that first lap but I did not see it. After that Alonso passed Webber at a pit stop, and that basically was it. Yes there was some shuffling down the order, but mostly because of fast cars catching up after the first corner accident.

Hamilton proved how hard it was to pass by his now compulsory accident with Massa. It was a replay of Singapore and Monaco, but this time the Stewards pinged Massa for it. Even I as a Hamilton fan thought he was the one in the wrong, not sure he is not a liability to McLaren at the moment. Massa then changed his "bouncing" front wing, not damaged in the accident, so what was that about, and then ran over a different curb and broke the other side of the front suspension. He cannot have been the only driver to run over an orange curb can he? Is Ferrari the new "Lotus" where the suspension is designed down to a weight and not up to a strength? Like Lewis, Massa is not doing Ferrari any favors. Not that it was his fault but he nearly took out Alonso exiting after his first pit stop, and was not alone in nearly contacting someone at this badly designed exit.

Oh yes, Vettel won, Button could not catch him, and that was the race. Hope the crowd enjoyed modern F1. There was a stupid piece about how India could become an F1 "Highlight." Not on this track layout it won't.

Schumacher beat his team mate to fifth place, and both Mercedes beat Hamilton home, Lewis having no answer to their pace.

I came across this nice quote today from a script writer. You know my thoughts about physically drawing tracks rather than using a computer. Now this,"When I write a script, I write a script. The last thing I do is put it into a computer. If you actually have the physicality of writing down the words, you take it in."  Absolutely.

I crave your indulgence in today's blog as yesterday was my 65th birthday, so my lovely wife Xan and I played hooky and went on an exploration of Arizona. Now don't think that turning 65 means a pipe and slippers and retirement for me. I see it as just a date, and a time to look forward to life's next challenges rather than a time to reflect. As Winston Churchill said after the battle of El Alamein, "This is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end, but it is the end of the beginning."

So we took the trusty Honda Accord to drive the Apache Trail. This was constructed in the early 1900's as the access to the Roosevelt Dam built on the Salt River, and for 22 miles of it not much has changed. Still it was a scenic drive at a time when automobiles were in their infancy, so how bad can it be? Then President Roosevelt likened the scenery as better than the Alps and a lot of other places combined. It is certainly an incredible landscape, but I think you have to appreciate the desert to compare it to the Alps. Anyway, as an engineering feat it is incredible, especially the climb to Fish Creek Hill which literally crawls up the side of a cliff. Only 10% grade, but made for horse and cart so it must have been a challenge. Today it is only just over one lane wide. It was a good job we did not meet the UPS van here, and yes we saw one later!

Check it out at:

http://phoenix.about.com/od/daytrips/ss/apachetrail.htm

The drive links the three dams and lakes now on the Salt, but the most impressive is the Roosevelt Dam. Work started on September 20th 1906, that's right, 105 years to the day and forty years before I was born. What a coincidence. Originally built as a rock gravity dam it has been heightened by 77 feet and turned into a concrete dam, but the original predates the Hoover by probably thirty years in which technology grew considerably. So, after a leisurely picnic and good bottle of red by the lake we wandered home via Globe and the huge copper/gold mines, one of which is owned by our old friends from Oz, BHP.

On another Indian theme, the one in Asia that is, the Spanish newspaper Marca has photos of "progress" on the F1 circuit:

http://www.marca.com/2011/09/20/motor/formula1/1316529187.html

It is not pretty viewing, especially given Charlie's recent ringing endorsement.

Anyway, returning to my birthday. I had many emails from friends all over the world which touched me deeply. I seem to have had a positive impact on many lives, which outshines any other achievements I may have had. Thank you all.

A few items caught my eye today about tracks and calendars. Superleague cancelled their trip to South America as the track in Goiania in Brazil is not ready. Then I see MotoGP announcing a race in Argentina in 2013, provided the track improvements are done. See a pattern here? Next year's MotoGP calendar has been announced, with several tracks to be decided or races to be confirmed. Germany is one where the track is to be nominated as it seems the Sachsenring is unwilling to pay the 4m Euros Dorna want for the race. Dorna taking a leaf from Bernie? Then there is the comment "Despite doubts about its future, the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island is also on the provisional calendar." Any of my Aussie friends want to shed some light on this? Is it racing in October that is the problem, or is it something more, like 4m Euros?

The row continues over the tax on the Indian GP competitors. I originally believed that this was about the teams earnings, and it may still be, but ESPNF1 has an article about the customs duty on importing the equipment.

http://en.espnf1.com/india/motorsport/story/58975.html

Now this is usually handled by international carnet, guaranteeing what goes in comes straight back out, but the Indian Authorities do not see this as a sport or an event of "National Significance," so they are not playing ball! Seems cricket and the Commonwealth Games are significant. Tells you how far motorsport has to go there.

Joe Saward's excellent F1 blog has a piece about a street race in Cape Town, how many GPs is Bernie going to put on a year? Starting to sound like NASCAR. Check out Joe's blog at:

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/

Then there is the proposed New Jersey F1 street track which rates a mention by Murphy The Bear so must be getting serious:

http://murphythebear.com/blog/index.php/2011/09/13/unlimited-racing-championship-rands-go-to-jail-national-press-club-bust-leading-proto-teams-go-public-with-demands/

As always a good mix of rumor and gossip with always a grain of truth.

 

With F1 off on its summer break for the next three weeks some of my fellow bloggers are also taking a vacation. As you know I write about any form of motorsport that interests me, so I will try and amuse you and prompt some critical examination of what others say and do.

On that note there is a piece today following up the protests by farmers at the loss of access and land for the building of the Indian GP track and access expressway. Eager to assure us all is well and that a repeat of Korea will be avoided we are told there are 6000 workers toiling around the clock to finish this, with 250 engineers! Well, as the race is scheduled for late October then one would hope that the engineering has been finished. Not sure what their definition of engineer is, but I cannot imagine you need 250 of them to design and build an F1 facility, however complicated. Speaking of late October, the FIA inspection is supposed to be 90 days prior, which by my calendar was three days ago. And what do you do with 6000 workers, groom the runoffs or mix cement by hand? No offence to my Indian friends, but a few photos are worth thousands of words.

The Sky TV rumblings continue, with the Crash.Net site running a poll which presumably is taken by people really interested in F1 and racing. So far 95% of respondents have either said they will not watch or F1 will lose audience. So 5% think it's "super for F1." Not the sort of numbers to warm sponsors hearts. 

On the home front Race Resorts of America is moving forward and is in discussions with a number of resort type tracks to become part of the RRA "family."

 

So Mother Russia is taking a bigger role in Virgin. Ian Phillips comes in as COO and brings many years of experience with him, but the new Technical Director is Nikolay Fomenko, President of MaRussia, who has no experience, despite the claim that "MaRussia's wealth of knowledge and experience provide us with a solid foundation with which to enter the second season." Wealth of knowledge and experience? They were only formed in 2007 and most of us had never heard of them until they bought into Virgin. I've heard some spin, but this is a good one. Maybe I am missing something here, did Nikolay work in F1 before starting MaRussia?

So Melbourne GP has the Government's full support? As has been said before, that is sometimes the last sound anyone hears before being fired. I have questioned before the benefit to sponsors of being in Australia, and The Mayor of Melbourne might just have given Bernie the opening he wants. Bernie has also come out and said that having two races in Spain is a problem, so which one is going? Meanwhile the Indian GP is having further management changes as the head of the company promoting it has stepped down over corruption allegations. Don't you just love going to these new and exciting places?

The Renault exhaust is directed to come out in front of the sidepods to increase the airflow under the car to the single diffuser as I suggested, and apparently McLaren has a similar arrangement, with Mercedes considering it. This must take some plumbing to get it there. Does not seem to be doing Renault that much good in testing, but it is very early days. Force India are still sitting around the top of the timesheets with Di Resta and Hulkenburg third and fourth.

Over in Malaysia Danny Pedrosa laid down a lap two thirds of a second quicker than team mate, make that rival, Casey Stoner. Ben Spies was third fast amongst a gaggle of Hondas. Nicky Hayden and Rossi were 11th and 13th respectively, but not respectably, not even being the quickest Ducati's. It would seem that test times in the world of MotoGP are more representative of what to expect for the season than F1, or am I wrong?

Down in Sebring Audi have been testing both the R18 and the old R15, but no details seem to have emerged. Anyone out there get a whiff of times or other goings on?

On a serious note our thoughts go out to my Australian mates who are suffering through Cyclone Yasi, and my American ones who are experiencing blizzards and freezing rain. It froze overnight here in Phoenix and will be colder tonight, but nothing to compare with these problems.