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.

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.

It is a bit sad when the news includes items like "Santander ups Ferrari presence with a cap deal." A salary cap perhaps? No, they now have their logo on the front of the Ferrari Official Cap. Now I guess they paid a lot of money for that privilege, but personally I don't give a toss. The front of a Ferrari cap should say "Ferrari" or better still the prancing horse.  Santander are certainly throwing their money around at a time when I heard the Spanish banks are not doing so swell.

Is anyone else fed up with the non-stop nonsense about HRT, horrible racing team. They have left or been thrown out of FOTA, they do or do not have more money coming, they are suing Chandook, and they are going to run an "updated version" of the 2010 car this year, i.e. we have no money to make a new one. They need to just go away, as Bernie said, they are an embarrassment. If they were the real deal surely Santander would throw a few caps their way?

According to Helmut Marko every man and his dog are trying to steal Vettel away. This is another man who just needs to shut up and go away. After the Turkey affair who cares what he thinks anymore.

One of my friends commented on the Rossi photo from "Wrooom" that he looks like a clown. Certainly an odd combination of colors, and he has always played the fool to his adoring crowd, perhaps that is part of his attraction. Apparently his shoulder is taking longer to heal than expected. More games, who knows anymore. No I am not a Rossi fan any more than I am a Schumacher fan. There are some people who may be excellent at what they do, but I just do not like who they are. Watching the BSC Bowl game last night I can admire Farley for his ability, but with so much ability he does not need the attitude.

Kimi Raikkonen has been entered in the WRC by Citroen so that ends the "will he or won't he" that has been going on about returns to F1, driving for Ford, or not driving at all. Now I know people say Kimi has no personality, and on occasion may not "turn up" but I still miss him. When he wanted he could really put on a show and F1 is poorer for not having him.

It's Kenny Roberts' birthday today, so happy birthday Kenny, and many more. I have only had the privilege of attending one of his New Year's and Birthday bashes, and it was quiet by the usual standards I guess. There may be no "beater" races, but I bet the cannon fires!

So the headline says that Rome Authorities "approve GP plans." Not so fast, the story actually says that they "are not opposed" and will continue to review the plans. Just a small distinction, but important. You've got to love headline writers. After the first test at Eastern Creek the screaming headline was "Track Unsafe!" Nowhere in the story did it say that and the writer of the piece just shrugged it off and said that was the headline writer, not him. Some responsible journalism there. And we all know most people just skim the headlines.

In a similar vein the Austin F1 track construction is not started just because a truck is taking soil samples and there a few pegs out there. Now I do not doubt that it will be built, they just do themselves a disservice with this sort of stuff, it smacks of what USF1 did with all the PR. Just get on with it, even if it makes no sense economically to me, you are obviously smarter.

Now we know why Michael Schumacher did not win the championship this year, he did not have a driving simulator! Well that's what Ross Brawn says. Funny Nico did not have a problem beating him without one? It is  a sad day when F1 is won by the team with the best simulator. As I have said, if the simulators are that good, and obviously the top teams ones are, then why not just run the races in cyberspace?

Happy New Year everyone and thanks for reading. See you in 2011!

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.