Bob Barnard Track Engineering

The flexible front wing saga is growing given the dominance of Red Bull at Hungary today. Shades of the ground effect days when the FIA mandated a 6mm clearance below the car to reduce the venturi effect under the car. They could only measure it when it was standing still, so the boys came up with suspension that lowered the car when out on track, pretty hard to measure it at 100 mph! Now clearly the front wings on the Red Bull, and the Ferrari, are touching the track at times, so they are moving when in motion, even though they pass the FIA static test.

Ideas of how they are doing this vary between laying up the carbon fibers in different directions in the wings or the floor somehow moving. It demonstrates the problem the FIA has, and always has had, of making rules that are clear, cannot be got around, and can be enforced. They are up against the smartest guys on earth it seems at times, who do nothing but sit and scheme how to beat the rules, legally of course. Bernie always said it is better to have no rules, so you cannot go around them, just decide yourself what is fair or not. Sort of what we did with the Spanish Motorcycle Championship back in 1993, keep the rules simple. No works bikes, we all knew who had them, no carbon brakes, and no trick tires, again we knew what they were with the help of the tire technicians.

The importance of ground clearance on these cars was brought home to me in Adelaide in 1986. For the first race we did not repave the main straight, it looked really good until the cars went down it at 200 mph. There was a long "hump" halfway down it that made the cars bottom out, and their titanium skid plates sent a shower of sparks skyward every time, very dramatic, but made us look bad. So between races we planed and repaved it. Come the race and the cars are sending sparks out all around the track. I was distraught, how could the track have moved that much under traffic in just one year! Saturday I woke up, the track was so smooth they had lowered the suspension so that the cars were basically sliding along the asphalt, which one of the engineers quickly confirmed.

Some surprises in qualifying at Hungary. Button not making it out of Q2, but Hamilton 5th. Confirms what we know, Hamilton will wring a cars neck, not always pretty, but effective. Button strokes it around, which has worked for him often, so let's see what the race brings tomorrow. Rosberg qualifies 6th, but his world champion team mate cannot do better than 14th. Yamamoto brings up the rear, how long can this go on, or should I not ask? Some good drives by rookies Petrov and Hulkenburg, both out-qualifying their more experienced team mates. This track is notorious for lack of overtaking, so tomorrow could be very boring, unless the Red Bull pair put on a show, or Vettel makes a mess of the start again.

Spa 24 hr going on as I write, but a long way to go, and it is raining. It is Spa after all. Love that race track.

Still waiting for the projects web site to go live, so you will have to wait another day. Remember, manana, which I learned in Spain means "not today."

A last word to Bob Varsha. I would like to think you read my blog, but thank you for the periods of silence today to just listen to the cars. See, that was not so hard was it?

Bob Varsha was in fine form today during practice for the Hungarian GP. As he said himself most of it was useless trivia, designed to show his extensive knowledge of things none of us actually care about. And then there are all the promos for things coming on Speed, which if I really cared about I would go to the guide to find. In between this we did get a bit of the practice. Bob needs to learn that if you have nothing to say then keep your mouth shut. Commentators do not have to talk all the time, we are quite happy looking at the pictures. If not we would be listening on the radio. I particularly liked his put down of how Andrian Newey designs his cars. Oh my gosh, he still uses a pencil, like a "cave man drawing on the cave walls with a stick" to quote Bob. So what does Bob use? I happen to use a pencil to draw my tracks, it is a process of creation, it is a tactile thing. The "design" that the two hundred guys behind Adrian are doing on computers is pure mechanics, if they could create what Adrian does then they would be doing it. Inspiration comes in its own ways.

Whatever Adrian is doing it is working much better than anyone else at the moment, the Red Bulls being in a different class to everyone except the Ferrari, and you suspect there was a bit of sandbagging going on there. Lotus again had hydraulic problems. C'mon all you tech guys out there, how can that continue for all these new teams. Mike Gascoyne is no newcomer to this, so why all the issues at every race?

Interesting to hear Ron Dennis say how ticked off he is to hear his drivers complain about lack of speed in qualifying. According to Ron, McLaren have purposely gone for race speed not qualifying, and seeing as how they have both won races and are leading the Championship, then he would like to hear a lot less complaining thank you.

Cypher have announced they are not pursuing their F1 entry, no money. Not surprising given the USF1 debacle, they cruelled it for anyone following for a while I suspect.

Nice piece on www.lastturnclub.com about ALMS and Lime Rock, well worth reading as it raises some broader issues with tracks being selected on purely commercial grounds despite their unsuitability, and the lack of any centralized or coordinated licensing system for tracks in the US.

World Superbike at Silverstone this weekend, and nice to see someone other than Biaggi on pole. In fact five different makes in the top five grid spots, interesting.

Here in Arizona the project web site is due to go live tonight, so watch for the address here tomorrow. Another overseas approach for a track overnight, and another here in the US. If only a couple of these come about I am in trouble, busy enough as it is.

If you think racing runs on gasoline then you are gravely mistaken, it runs on money, and always will even if the cars are electric. There used to be an honest team in F1 called Moneytron. A couple of pieces yesterday reinforce this, both involving Bernie.

He came out yesterday and said he did not think all the three new teams would survive to Abu Dhabi, the last race. HRT and Virgin were the two he really meant, and we can see HRT's problems as they have Yamamoto, Mr. "see the size of my wallet," driving again in Hungary. I commented the other day that Sir Richard Branson would get tired of paying for an under-performing business. To quote Bernie;

"All we ever want is 10 teams," he said. "Lotus is a good name. I wouldn't want to lose them. But in general this year has been a bit of a nuisance because it has cost money to keep these teams in. It has cost a lot of money to pay for them to compete. The bottom line is they haven't really and truly given us value for being there. If suddenly these teams don't turn up at races then I don't think the crowds will get any smaller, or the TV sets will turn off, or the newspapers will stop writing, will they?"

As always brutally honest, but that is what F1 is, brutal on new boys. Unlike US sports where the bottom teams are given a break through the draft system to try and even competition, and money is equalized, Formula One rewards success. Those that succeed will survive, but those that struggle disappear. Survival of the fittest. Not sure what Bernie is on about with the new teams costing money. No team in its first year can receive money, in fact they used to have to put up a huge bond, a practice Bernie wants to revive. Money to teams is based on where you finished in the Championship last year, and if you score no points then you get no travel assistance, that's why you hear that even scoring one point in a season is absolutely critical. The new teams were brought in by the FIA on the premise that there was to be a spending cap of 40m, not sure if dollars or euros, but that never happened, so good luck competing with Ferrari or McLaren. As they say, like bringing a knife to a gun fight.

So, we will see. There are at least three teams trying to get in next year, so maybe they will all make it, but bring your check book.

Despite his contention only last week that he could do without a Monaco GP, Bernie signed a new deal with them yesterday, without of course revealing any details except it is for ten years. Seems the teams and sponsors had a different view, or Bernie was using his negotiations skills. Usually it is take it or leave it. He is an absolute master at knowing just how close he can push it, and as he has said, it is the thrill of the deal that keeps him going. He also said last week that he liked lighting fires so he could put them out.

My Australian mate, Marcus Ambrose, who has done well for an outsider in NASCAR, has decided to leave his team at the end of the year. Let's hope he does not go home and can find that rumored drive with a top team.

Don't know if you have followed the "flexi wing" saga from Germany. Seems Ferrari and Red Bull have a front wing where the end plates "seem" to flex during the race from photographs, but the FIA have deemed them legal. McLaren say they can see it, but do not know how they are doing it, so cannot copy it. Reminds me of Honda in 1992 with the "Big Bang" engine when I was with Kenny's team and we could not work out what they had done, and when we did we could not copy it with the Yamaha.

What a strange weekend, the only race that did not end with someone really upset was the MotoGp at Laguna. Not a great race, but great result for guts and determination on the part of Valentino. Cannot imagine how hard the corkscrew is with a broken leg, although as I said before it is the shoulder that is giving him the most trouble. using more arm strength to turn the bike and he hurt his shoulder anyway. Roger Hayden at least finished the race which is more than a lot of the full time riders did, and was not last, so well done.

Ferrari are being hammered about the German GP debacle. I guess on balance my feelings are that if Alonso was faster he should have overtaken Massa without team orders, but we know how hard that is to do with cars so closely matched. From Ferrari's viewpoint I would have thought the team championship would be the prime target, and they got the same points for that whichever way round their drivers finished, so clearly there is a number one driver in that team. So, where do I stand? Let them race. It is going to be potentially a very stressful time for Ferrari until they know what the World Council is going to do, they have been known to strip a team's points for the season.

Over at Indy I guess Montoya thinks there were team orders at Ganassi, with his team mate being sent with two tires and him being delayed to take four and losing the race. I love Montoya for his passion, but then getting caught up in an accident seems to have been a "red mist" moment, although I did not see it so cannot really comment. Must be interesting in some teams debrief sessions. Managing these elite athletes is a special talent, and at the moment McLaren seems to  be the only ones doing it well, although they had their problems too in 2007. Maybe Martin Whitmarsh is the new Phil Jackson. If you do not know Phil he is the Coach of the Lakers Basketball, and was Michael Jordan's coach at Chicago. Known as one of very few men who can make egos work together. One funny story, he ran what he called the "triangle offence." When he went to the Lakers the players said they were confused as they could not work out which two of them could sit down.

Over at the IRL I watched the Edmonton race with the sound off as I was not really interested, but, like most I suspect, I am mystified how Castroneves was blocking? No wonder he was hot after the race, that was a terrible decision. About the only thing interesting about the whole race, except why there are walls right on the edge of the asphalt at an airport?

On the home front it has been an interesting morning with three e-mails about overseas projects. Never know where any of these end up, usually nothing happens, but it is nice to know people are out there finding me. Interesting the projects that get thought up. It is difficult to know whether just to give them a fee for what they are thinking of, or to try and redirect them to what I think probably works. It is also summer in most places that want to do something so they are on vacation and things take longer. That is a little of what is going on here in Arizona, but schools go back soon and things will get back in full swing.

Well Ferrari have done it again. I must say I thought they did it very tactfully, but obviously Massa did not think so. He could have staged it better, but chose to make it very clear to everyone. Loved the press conference, and the atmosphere inside the team must rival Red Bull. I hope Ferrari thinks it was worth $100,000 to get 7 points more for Alonso, that works out at about $14,000 a point. Probably cheap compared to what they spend on the cars. It will be interesting to see what the World Council does about it.

Personally I think the rule is silly, everyone knows that it happens, and as Mark Hughes said the other week in Autosport, as long as it is not done in a way that disrespects  the sport and the fans, as it was in Austria in 2002.

Race itself was actually all over at the first corner, not as interesting as those of late. McLaren are still not as quick as Red Bull, although they finished in front of Webber, so what does that tell us. It will be interesting to know where Ferrari found the extra pace, and whether it translates into future races. The gearbox woes of the new teams continue. It's hard to understand why they cannot work this out. I can only presume it is in the hydraulics and not in the box itself. Sir Richard Branson must be wondering what he has got himself into.

Interesting that the race did not sell out with six German drivers. It seems to go against my theory that the US needs a top driver to really make a US F1 GP "work." Maybe it is a wealth of riches, the Germans have got used to winning with Michael, but it is probably more to do with the cost of the tickets. Overseas, i.e. not in the US, the cost of F1 tickets is very expensive, $300 +, at a time when a lot of people are hurting for money.

Not a good weekend for the US drivers in GP3, but it is all a learning experience, and they are at least in the show.

Over at Laguna Lorenzo stole pole at the death, but it should be a good race.

Sad to see the Tour finish and Lance retire from it. I'm sure we will see him at the Tour with his team, and he will continue his amazing work for cancer victims.