Bob Barnard Track Engineering

I had an interesting afternoon yesterday visiting one of the world's best kept secrets,"The Mercedes F_Cell Round the World Drive" on its Phoenix stop over. If an old friend had not been part of the team I would not know it was going on, as I am sure most of you aren't. Regular readers will know that I have long championed hydrogen as the real alternative fuel of the future, it has just taken some time to get it going. Mercedes are driving four fuel cell cars around the world with selected journalists at the wheel, to prove the technology has arrived to a point that it is safe and reliable, much as manufacturers did with the Le Mans 24 hours 90 years ago.

I could not believe the lack of media coverage, the only place to see this is on Mercedes web site,

http://www.emercedesbenz.com/autos/mercedes-benz/b-class/mercedes-benz-f-cell-world-drive-kicks-off-its-north-american-tour/

Mercedes have arranged their own refueling through Linde as they need to refuel midday, the cars having a normal gasoline engine range, and there is not going to be hydrogen in the middle of the US at the moment. There is refueling in Phoenix though and California has twenty hydrogen stations already.



The beauty of hydrogen is it really is zero emissions, the tail pipe releases water vapor, so when the generation of hydrogen is by way of renewable sources, like Iceland with geothermal energy, then it is the perfect closed cycle. And no batteries to go and find lithium for and to dispose of afterwards.



So Lord Peter Drayson, when are you going to get real and race a hydrogen powered car?

One month you win the FI Promoters Trophy and the next your Company fires you. That's Mr Chung's "reward" for staging such a great event apparently. Most of us could not work out why he got it, and neither can KAVO, the ones putting up the money. "Investors felt that KAVO Management under Mr. Chung could not guarantee success this year." So who did they appoint in his place, the ex-ambassador to Switzerland. An obvious choice.

I've actually been there. In Adelaide we won the same trophy, for what it is worth now, and after the second year I was "let go." It seems the Board thought I spent too much, but my successor is quoted in the next year's program that when there is a problem you just throw money at it to get it fixed. When you are staging a race to promote a State or Country and it starts at 2 pm on Sunday you do what it takes to make it happen. Not suggesting this is what Mr. Chung did, he barely staggered over the start line. In truth he is the scapegoat for false illusions. If KAVO thinks its going to make money on an F1 race then they need to fire the guy who did the feasibility, and as Chris Pook told me, "If Bernie thinks your making money he will put the price up."

There is a very interesting post about England's anti-bribery laws about to come into effect. It seems it casts a pretty wide net over what is considered bribery, and could include corporate entertainment and tickets. So the British based GP teams are concerned that sponsors are going to think twice about handing over loads of cash in future. Australia brought in a tax on entertainment back in the late eighties, which covered company cars and meals etc., but the employer paid it, not the recipient. Could not upset the union members with their perks. Not sure if that is still in play, I cannot see a Government giving up a tax, but it did increase the cost of taking corporate boxes for example, as you had to pay a tax on it instead of it being a tax deduction. All very topical with the Gribkowsky bribery scandal going on.

A line in the quote from Mercedes about the launch of this year's F1 car struck me as odd. "The Brackley based team said its' new single seater." Haven't see a GP car with more than one seat for quite some time.

It appears all our fears about the 2013 engine sounding awful are ill founded. Alonso says he is sure his engineers can make it "sound sexy." This must be a first, engineers trying to increase the noise coming out of a car.

News on the sportscar front has Honda confirming it will race in the LMP1 class while still producing an LMP2 car. It's goal of an outright win at Le Mans by "I can do it without a wind tunnel" Nick Wirth sounds a bit far fetched, but anything that adds to the fight at the front is welcomed. Aston Martin are working to have one of their new for 2011 cars ready for Sebring and David Richards is satisfied that the ACO rule #19 will ensure they can battle the Peugeots and Audis. I will not hold my breath on that one.

Sung by Dean Martin originally, but by Bernie today. He has written to the Mayor of Rome to tell him there should only be one F1 race in each country. Never mind Spain has two, don't bother me with details, and Mallorca is an Island like Singapore. So given the Mayor's commitment that he would not push Rome if it means Monza losing the race, it's arrivederci. I wonder if Flammini's  little city redevelopment scheme will go the same way?

There is a curious piece from Marussia Virgin today telling us they have doubled the computing power of their CFD, and "With the new CFD facility due for completion in the next few weeks, Wirth believes his team will be unmatched in terms of how much it uses computer simulation to design its 2011 car." With the first test a couple of weeks away I would have thought that it is a bit late to be using this new simulation power to design the 2011 car?

Ian Gow is all up beat about the British Touring Cars for 2011 with the inception of their version of the "Car of Tomorrow," the NGTC, i.e. next generation. The cars will be better looking, better looking all the same, and "We are not trying to make a race car out of a production car, it is a proper race car underneath," Oh good, it just looks like a Toyota Corolla on the outside. We will put on our X-Ray glasses to see it is a real racing car underneath. More spec racing is what this is about, and he should ask NASCAR how the CoT worked for them. Now I am not saying people will not pay to see a bunch of biffing and barging, BTCC is good fun and good TV, so maybe I'm just an old fashioned purist. I can see DTM taking over the world.

According to Auto Motor und Sport in Germany only Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes have their finances in place for this and future years. That leaves eight teams they see as struggling to survive, and given the numbers for those they are not in danger of worrying the RRA anytime soon.

Not many compliments going around about the Rossi/Ducati color scheme. Rhubarb and custard seems to be the theme.

Alonso says he is most afraid of Michael in 2011. "There will be five world champions on the track and the most dangerous champion for me is always Michael." After Michael's move on Rubens last year I'm not surprised.

The latest post by Murphy The Bear gives a run down on all the latest rumors in sportscar racing here in the States, give it a read. http://murphythebear.com/blog/index.php/2010/12/04/179-speculating-and-adding-detail/#more-940

So Michael Schumacher says it is all the car's fault he was so slow this year, and his car had things go wrong that Nico's didn't, and he is not happy. So what is he implying? He has told Mercedes to lift their game, look in the mirror Michael.

Mike Gascoyne has told his team that this year was the dress rehearsal and next year they need to step up a gear and run with the big boys. Reminds me of the pep talks I used to give my team running events. The day before we started I reminded them that this was what we had been training and organizing for all year, so now we have to perform. And then when we got to race day it was "great job, but now is the two hours that really matters when the world is watching."

Mark Webber is a glutton for punishment, breaking his shoulder again prior to the last four races after another mountain bike accident. Shades of Montoya. C'mon Mark, look after yourself and go out and win the Championship, then you can ride all you want.

I watched part of the GT race from San Luis and it struck me that there were few if any passing opportunities around that track. One of those tracks that is probably really fun to drive on your own, but racing is a procession.

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.