Bob Barnard Track Engineering

No, I am not finally sick of cars, no one ever gets over that, but the last time I can recall ever being car sick was about eleven years old, until I got in a simulator that is. It seems Michael Schumacher and I have the same problem, simulators give us motion sickness. Now I have raced cars, flown in small planes across the heat of Australia's deserts, sailed boats and been on a Catamaran out to the Barrier Reef when everyone on board except four of us were sea sick, so this came as a great shock to me. Can anyone explain this phenomenon? After I designed the track here in Arizona the client bought a locally made simulator and they loaded the track layout. It worked great, but I could only do a few laps before feeling very disoriented and queasy. Not much of an inconvenience for me, but it must be a huge problem for Michael, everyone else has the car set up before they even get to the track and he starts from scratch.

There is the start of a nice article by Julian Ryder on Superbike Planet today about how Superbikes started.

http://superbikeplanet.com/2007/Nov/071119l.htm

It interested me as it talks of Steve McLaughlin, "motormouth" who was instrumental in the first World Championship. I happened to be in Geneva for a meeting of the FIM Management Council the day Steve was there to have the agreement with the FIM signed. Sitting in the lobby for most of the day with Steve was an education.

Joe Saward in his F1 blog today asks the question "why are the media publishing comments from Briatore and Symonds?" As two of the key figures in the "crashgate" debacle he believes that they should not be heard of again, let alone be involved in the sport, and cites numerous examples of life time bans from other sports. He asks if he is on his own with this view, so Joe, since you asked, no.

Is it just me or has the USGP announced three times now that they have started? We saw before the New Year machines on site, but that was only a soil sampling exercise and putting up silt fence.  Then we had a "photo op" the other day of Tavo driving some machine on site, started again. And now today we read that USGP is set to receive digging permission. Now I do not doubt they will get it done, but please quit the over hype, it does them no favors.

The judge in the Lotus case quickly disposed of the first hearing refusing Lotus Groups submission to throw the action out even before their lawyers said anything, and rather than let it drag on he has set it down for March 21, suggesting they sort themselves out before then. Nice one judge. Tony Fernandes is quoted as saying the good do always win. Not in my world Tony unfortunately, so good luck.

Sounds as if Force India are set to announce Paul Di Resta as a driver for 2011 tomorrow in Glasgow. Why else would you go to Glasgow? So, what now for Luizzi, and his contract?

Pat Symonds, yes the one I said should not be heard from, but is, suggests that F1 needs to do a lot more research on just how much overtaking it needs. Good point, I don't think F1 fans want a NASCAR type lead change every lap, and Lewis Hamilton did not seem to have too much trouble to pass people at most tracks this year, and how about Kobayashi, so perhaps it is attitude not the car? We certainly do not want to see manipulated races.

The long dark days of winter are upon us, with a lot of people getting snow already, but thankfully not in Phoenix. Working hard to set up the sessions for Los Angeles which will be set up slightly differently this year, a lot of engineering sessions with great information. Racing is closing down, but we have the snippets of new cars and drivers.

Hamilton has "driven" the MP4-26 already, in the simulator, with KERS and movable rear wing and pronounced himself very happy. As I have said in my presentations, if simulation is so good why not just give each driver one and have them compete in cyberspace, very green. Very safe too, but I suspect not much fun for most of us, but who knows maybe that is the future? Not one I wish to see.

Sir Frank Williams is not one that would wish to see it either I suspect. He is not happy with sixth in the Championship. What a great warrior he is despite all his difficulties both personal and with the team, "never give up."

In a similar vein, Richard Petty has taken control of his NASCAR Team again after the collapse of the Gillette sports empire. Richard is 73 and still very much involved. His famous team has struggled for years to recapture the dominance of his years. I well remember as a boy in England reading Motor Sport and their one page reports on NASCAR. About the only thing I understood about NASCAR in those days was that Richard Petty was the man, and Wood Brothers the team. And they are both still fighting to compete.

Our young F1 Champion just cannot keep his mouth shut about Ferrari and Mercedes. Can you imagine the feeling in the Red Bull camp? What an ungrateful bastard. No wonder Christian Horner is tipping Webber for the Championship next year, I would nobble Vettel's car, if he is still in it.

I trust all my American friends had a great Thanksgiving, I certainly did. Spent it with Aussie mate also from Adelaide and we watched the movie made of the set up for the first Adelaide F1 GP that I recently managed to obtain a copy of.

It is sort out time for the remaining seats in F1 next year, so let's look at who's where and who might be. McLaren is set with Hamilton and Button, and it looks like despite everything Webber and Vettel will be back at Red Bull. Christain Horner is tipping Mark for the title, so he must think he will be back. Ferrari will have Alonso, but is Massa safe? Who is available that is a better #2 to Alonso? Kubica and Webber have been mentioned, but neither look like moving and would not want to be a number 2 anyway. Mercedes has Nico, and maybe Michael. He says he likes the Pirelli's, and I don't think his ego is going to let him give up that easily. If they wanted a German driver there is Hulkenburg or Heidfeld, or even Glock, that would do as good a job or better, but Michael's name is great marketing for Mercedes. Renault has Kubica and looks like it might keep Petrov. The car is improving all the time so Kubica will stay, and Petrov did well at the end of the season, and with the Russian connection it seems smart to keep him. Force India is likely to keep Sutil, another German that Mercedes could take, but it seems Liuizzi might be replaced by Hulkenburg which would be a smart move.

Williams are retaining Barrichello, how long can this man go on, and I presume Maldonando with his sponsorship, although that is not announced.  Torro Rosso has given a big hint that Buemi is not coming back and could make room for Ricciardo. When was the last time Australia had two F1 drivers? Answers on a postcard please. Sauber has Mr. Overtaking, "I do not see the other cars" Kobayashi and the young Mexican driver Perez. Lotus, or whoever, will have Trulli and Kovalainen back, but the other two new teams are still up in the air. Glock will probably stay at Virgin, or whatever it is next year, with just maybe a Russian partner, Aleshin. HRT will take whoever has a big check book, and will anybody care?

So the GP2 winner may again not find an F1 seat, and drivers are bypassing it from FR3.5 and GP3 etc. Far from being a stepping stone it is becoming a support series for F1 for drivers that are not quite good enough.

On a final note, Bernie was mugged entering his home last night. Some journalists are unkind enough to repeat Bernie's comments after the attempted muggings in Sao Paulo, "They look for victims, they look for anyone who looks like a soft touch and not too bright," Bernie said in Sao Paulo. "People who look a bit soft and simple, they will always have a go at." I cannot for one moment subscribe to Bernie being "a soft touch and not too bright" so it seems no one is safe.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the US, so probably will not write a blog, not that there is much to comment on today. Hendrick is changing his crew chiefs for three of his teams in NASCAR, except Jimmie Johnson of course. Smacks of deckchairs on the Titanic, but I guess he knows his business and different personalities can make a better team. Earnhardt Jr. is a curious case. We know he can drive so why is he running around at the back when a sister car is winning the Championship? I'm sure if the answer was simple Rick Hendrick would have done it, but I cannot imagine it is just a change of crew chief.

Mario Theissen is stepping down as BMW's motorsport chief, and I don't know about you but I'm not sure he achieved much for them. Is he retiring or going somewhere else, the press release did not say.

Torro Rosso say they have a long hard winter in front of them to stay ahead of Lotus and Virgin. I guess you can say that for all the teams. I agree that Lotus, in whatever name, could challenge them, but not sure that Virgin, or whatever they are called next year, can make a big step.

Kobayashi says he intends to make no mistakes next year. I for one hope he does as he is actually going for it, not just driving around, and as we have seen with Hamilton, that will lead to mistakes, but it also leads to some exciting races like Kobayashi ran at Suzuka.

So, to all my American friends, Happy Thanksgiving!

How do you measure success? McLaren are saying that this season has not been a "failure" just because they have failed to win a championship, and they are correct. They won races, something only two other teams did, so what does that say about the rest of the teams? Some drivers, in fact most in F1, never win a race, does that mean they were "failures?" No, they joined a very elite group who made it there. I remember vividly a conversation with a school friend who had just been signed by Leyton Orient Soccer team, at that time a third division team. I made some disparaging remarks about "only signing for them," and he said "oh yes, and who do you play for?" Touche!

NASCAR's secret is to somehow make everyone a winner, the 43rd car still gets prize money and will get on TV. Fans follow drivers forever who never win, second place is not first loser in NASCAR. It is a lesson society could well learn, there are points for just being there and have the skills to compete, and yes just trying. And before anyone tells me that I have been guilty of picking on Checa and some others for being there, they had their shot, it is time to give someone else that chance. And it should not be about who has the fattest wallet either.

I find it interesting that the day after the last MotoGP most of the top riders have swapped teams, and they all like their new machines. How can that be? Didn't the other guy leave because he thought someone else's bike was better? I guess no one is going to come out and say, "well that was a mistake, this thing is a dog." Or are they all so evenly matched that it does not really make a difference? And how come the teams have new bits for the bikes to test the day after the last race, why didn't they put them on the bike for the last race if they were better? Just a question.

Just a few days to go until the Abu Dhabi finale. It is a sell out they say, 50,000 tickets. Well, if we guess $300 a ticket plus some corporate and the track has an income of $20m? Bernie's fee is $40m by reports, and then you have to stage the race, so you are paying somewhere north of $20m for the privilege. Hamilton is relaxed and can afford to just go for it, but that presumes he has the car to "go for it." I'm sure Varsha and the boys will be there with all their permutations and combinations of who can win. As a fan let us hope it is an exciting race and not a procession.