Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Well it is here at last, and with a good field of cars. To help you sort them out Radio Le Mans web site has a "spotters guide" you can download and print so you can keep up with the cars and drivers, very useful. Radio Le Mans coverage is live for all the sessions, and qualifying for Petit is streamed on SPEED's web site at 3:10pm eastern. Peugeot driver Anthony Davidson, who has not been to Road Atlanta for ten years, had forgotten how awesome the track is, and difficult for drivers with so many cars on a much shorter track than Le Mans.

It is a round of the Intercontinental Cup, the unofficial sports car World Championship, so it has attracted some serious contenders, not the least of which are the Peugeot's and Audi's. Peugeot won last year's rain shortened event, but expect Audi to want this one badly. Peugeot will have fixed the engine problems that robbed them of victory at the 24 hour this year, and won handily at Silverstone recently, but informed comment says that the development of that car has peaked while Audi is still potentially finding more speed. For once SPEED are showing the entire race without going to a truck race, so enjoy. I know what I am doing Saturday, and it does not involve college football.

The MotoGP is off to Motegi for the next round with plenty of racing left yet, including Phillip Island. Lorenzo still has a 56 point lead over Pedrosa, but with the number of races still to go it is not over yet. Lorenzo would still have to DNF in my book for Pedrosa to get up, but it keeps it interesting doesn't it? Not sure that I am a great fan of Motegi, Suzuka has some fond memories, but I guess Honda owns both, so he who has the gold makes the choice?

Rumors resurfaced about the possible sale of Toro Rosso. Since Gerhard Berger sold his interest it always seemed likely it would be sold. Owning one F1 team must be expensive for Dietrich Mateschitz, let alone two. It sounds like a bargain for one of the would-be F1 teams that wanted to enter next year. How about it Jacques? The cars have performed well this year, so it would be much better than starting from scratch.

Again, based on rumors, it seems Chandook could be going to Lotus, or whatever they are called next year, to drive with Kovalainen. They just announced Trulli as the other driver so it is probably time to fire him based on the musical seats going on. There is a piece on ESPN F1 about "no money no drive" goings on at HRT. There are also more great photos from India.

Will the real Lotus please stand up? This situation over the use of "Lotus" would be silly if it were not for the history behind that name. This is a fight between two Malaysian groups that both use the Lotus name. One is Proton, the Malaysian car maker, owned by the Government I think, that owns the rights to make Lotus road cars, and has obviously decided to go racing in a big way. They sponsor a car in IRL for Kato to drive, and have just extended that deal, and have just announced an LMP2 Prototype for 2012. In between they have announced they are sponsoring the ART GP2 team next year. So, despite licensing Tony Fernandes, another Malaysian, to use the Lotus name this year in F1, I guess they have woken up that this is a great name to have if you are going racing and have decided not to renew the agreement, or rescind it, depending on what you read.

The plot thickens, as "Team Lotus," the original F1 Team, was presumably run as a separate entity to the Lotus road cars, and that name is apparently owned by David Hunt, relation of James Hunt F1 Champion. Tony Fernandes says he has acquired the rights from David to use the Team Lotus name next year. It is all headed to the courts to resolve this mess. As nice as it is to see Lotus racing again, some of us would probably have been just as happy to remember them as they were and save us all this. How about "Force Malaysia" Tony?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, or paddock. It seems FOTA met at Singapore and agreed a "Resource Restriction Agreement" RRA, to run through 2017. Reading between the lines it sounds as if they have just extended the time for the existing "Resource Restriction" out to 2017. Quoting Renault Team Principle, Eric Boullier, "The decision taken last year [with the original RRA] was maybe in a special context with manufacturers threatening to break away for another championship. The RRA in its old version could even have damaged the sport by being too radical and I was keen to change the slope and extending it – and why not? We know we have to enter into a transition period. Everyone has done a reasonable job and I am happy we have signed this agreement."

So, it is business as usual, find as much money as you can and find a way to spend it. Martin Whitmarsh said that a number of loopholes have been closed and the RRA should be harder to fudge in future. Let us remember that this is basically a "Gentlemen's Agreement" between the teams, and there are few gentlemen in that paddock. You just have to look at the ludicrous amounts of money spent on the "motorhomes," McLaren being the biggest offender, to see where it goes. How is that making the racing better? Yes the drivers and engineers need somewhere to work and debrief, but that is a mobile Taj Mahal used for only half the races anyway. Never mind a test team, how big a team and how many trucks does that take to cart around and assemble, let alone run. Can you imagine the kitchen?

Just look at the musical drivers going on. A contract is not worth much apparently. Heidfeld did bring a sponsor to HRT as I suggested, but his drive to the end of the season seems to have lasted one race. Let's see who gets in that hot seat for Japan. Ask Petrov how his contract is going, with Boullier now saying he wants to meet Kimi face-to-face to see how serious he is about returning? Luizzi is confident his contract and good relations with the team will save his seat for next year. Let us know how that works out for you Tonio.

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.

Sitting at home yesterday watching the first Sunday of football, American style. The night game was the Cowboys and Redskins, and towards the end there were two incidents where players went down with potential neck injuries. It struck me the difference in approach to the Misano accident at MotoGP. Play stopped, medical staff ran out, the first guy there knelt at the players head and held it in position so as not to endanger a spinal injury. Everyone took their time. There seemed to be no pressure to restart the game despite what must be a similar situation to the MotoGP telecast, if not more due to the network's schedule. The player is given the opportunity to walk off, no one rushes out with a stretcher and throws him on it just to clear the pitch. When footballers can run 40 yds in just over 4 seconds, or less than 20 mph, and bikes are running at over 100 mph, it makes you think. The NFL has learned the hard way about head and spine injuries, and sometimes I wonder if motorcycle racing has learned anything.

Hero to zero? Hamilton is now the one being questioned by journalists over his rashness after his dive down the inside of Massa resulted in broken steering. It is called racing guys, and Martin Whitmarsh rightly has told Lewis not to change. I do not put it in the Vettel at Spa class, even if it was very optimistic. When he pulls these passes off we all applaud his skill and bravery, he seems to be able to create passing maneuvers where others cannot or will not.

The rumors about Lotus switching to Renault power next year seem to have come true with the announcement that they are ending their contract with Cosworth. Interesting decision given that the Williams is doing very nicely thank you with the Cosworth.

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.