Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Don't know which lagoon to comment on first, the one at Lime Rock or the one in California. Qualifying at Lime Rock could not have been fun for the ALMS boys, but David Brabham showed his class with pole for the Highcroft Honda. Watching the race today two of my pet peeves come to mind, gentlemen racers who should not be out there, and running races at tracks that do not showcase your product well. Lime Rock is a lovely little track, but too short and too narrow for a full field of ALMS. I say full field, but it is actually far from it. Good job the prototype class is so depleted. Speed TV did its usual job of running an infomercial for 2 hours plus. I guess Don has to make money somewhere. If you want to know who makes the money then check the archives at Last Turn Club, they did a three part examination of the money trail. The Jaguar actually ran the whole race, not the quickest car, but it did at least run. Pity about the puncture to Brab's car, spoiled a good finish.

On the other side of the country it was good to see Casey Stoner fastest in Friday practice, let's hope he can keep it up today and stop the Lorenzo show. Roger Hayden has been thrown in the deep end on the LRC Honda, and was slowest, but not by a lot compared to the geriatric Japanese test riders we have been seeing lately. Perhaps with yesterday's sessions under his belt he can qualify OK. Good to see a young guy getting a break though.

At Indianapolis a couple of ex F1 drivers are at opposite ends of the field after Friday practice. Montoya was fastest and Villeneuve 42 nd! Looks like Jacques has his work cut out to qualify that car, pity after his run in the Nationwide car at Road America. I'll admit to being a Montoya fan and would love to see him break through with an oval win, especially at Indy. Wrap up an amazing season for Ganassi.

Over in Germany McLaren has decided to stay with the blown diffuser for qualifying and the race. At some point if you think it is the way forward you have to stay with it and get it to work. Like a lot of things in life, make a decision and go with it, it is better than not making one at all. You rarely, if ever, get the chance to do the exactly the same thing twice, so you never ever know if the decision was right, so live with it. Seems to have worked OK, not on pole but not too shabby. Great qualifying session with Ferrari pushing Red Bull all the way. Button obviously happier with the car in qualifying after some very bad practice times. So sad to see Michael not making it into Q3, not! Mercedes obviously struggling at their home GP, cannot be happy with that. Rosberg commented that the basic car is not good this year, and though they are working hard on making changes it is hard to make a big difference if the base is off. Times are so close it is still anybodies race tomorrow, and if it rains? The Virgin cars are still suffering gearbox problems, which seems to have plagued them since the start of the season. Hard to see why they cannot get on top of this. Nick Worth is under a lot of pressure, but this should have nothing to do with the aerodynamics, which is what Nick and CFD is about, but I guess if you are responsible for the cars design then you have to carry the can for whatever is going wrong. Still, the gearbox is a bolt on piece, unless the hydraulics and the way they are built into the car are at the heart of the problem.

Tour de France going out with a bang. Great time trial today and watch out for Andy Schleck next year, he really put it to Contador who looked totally wiped afterwards. Roll on 2011. Got to go and see this race one year. As an event organizer the logistics of making this happen are amazing. It is one thing to put an event on at a track over three or four days, but to do this for three weeks and move it every day, that is some organization! It is one of those things that to start now would be a real challenge, but these guys have been doing it for a hundred years and building it every year.

How sweet it must have been for Mark Webber to win the British F1 GP  yesterday. "Methinks they protesteth too much" is how I would treat Red Bull's continual assurances that Vettel is not getting preferential treatment. Team Principal Christian Horner insisted that the differences between the two wing versions were minor, and only affected driving characteristics. If that was true why risk having a problem with Mark by changing it over to Vettel's car after Vettel's wing had broken in practice? Sources have revealed that there was both a lap time and a weight difference between the two versions. Mark commented that the car felt better with it on. Horner saying that they gave the wing to Vettel because he was ahead in points makes more sense than "there were minor differences." It's like the Turkey deal all over again, they cannot stick to a story. So, if Mark wins the World Championship are we going to see a Champion walk from his team again? You have to love him for his honesty and lack of PC!

Not that winning the Championship is going to be easy. They said that Jim Clark could just drive around a car's problems, as did Senna. Now I am not yet saying that Hamilton is in that illustrious company, but you have to admire his ability to take a car that is not well set up and putting it fourth on the grid when  his World Champion team mate can only manage 14th and says it is undriveable. Then he runs a strong second in the race, setting fastest times. Cudos to Button to take that ill handling car and get it up to fourth, he has a different style to Lewis but is still very effective. You do not really see how he does it. McLaren have a great team with these two and of course the engineers and mechanics, and yes I am biased.

Ferrari are again exercising their selective memory and "the rules do not apply to us" mentality. Do they not recall Spa three years ago and that great duel between Raikkonen and Hamilton? When Kimi pushed Lewis wide at the "bus stop" and Lewis did pass Kimi, let Kimi back past him again, and then overtook him, only to be penalized for not letting Kimi by far enough! Lost the race and the Championship. So why was Alonso's pass on Kubica any different?

Nice to see Williams up there again, and the Cosworth is obviously not too shabby. Yamamoto ran around last, must have been weighed down by his wallet! Well done Nico Rosberg, beat your elderly team mate again. Michael is not driving well and cannot be enjoying his time back in the car. Even the TV commentators are now comparing his age with every other driver he gets passed by.

Did not get to see the ALMS at Miller, but well done Highcroft, and it seems that the Drayson car ran well. Keep Emmanuele in the car so we have some competition for Brabham and co.

Did not see WSBK either, but it is turning into a Biaggi benefit. Pity about Corser and the BMW's. Did anyone see the accident in practice? Brno is a safe track so I am surprised at his injuries, was it just a high speed get off?

Congratulations Spain for the World Cup. I lived in Spain for a year and love the people and the Country, so if England could not win I am glad Spain did. Hard to believe it was their first final and win.

Sad to see Lance Armstrong having such a tough time on the Tour, but I guess when your luck runs out. He is still amazing, but in a way he is finding out what Michael is finding out, the current crop of riders are pretty damn good! I know I am an Aussie, but I think Andy Schleck is who I would like to win.