Bob Barnard Track Engineering

So Sir Stirling Moss thinks Michael Schumacher needs to clean up his act? Bit late now don't you think? Where have you been Stirling? He thinks the new rules on dirty driving will cramp his style. I would hope so, and why did we need a rule, the Stewards should have done something about this years ago, and maybe not just to Michael.

The media is having a field day with Montezemolo's comments about the future arrangements for F1 after the current Concorde Agreement runs out. Joe Saward again has a great piece on what he actually said, which was really no more than laying out possible alternative paths. I think it is just early maneuvering to improve the team's cut of the pie in the next go round. He likens the current regime as "like being in prison."

Looking forward to seeing the McLaren in GT3, that is getting to be the best racing with so many closely matched makes and top drivers.

The biggest motor racing story of the day seems to be Briatore selling his shares in QPR to Bernie. That's sad. You would think with all Bernie's millions QPR would be up with Chelsea by now. Maybe this is his fun and not his business.

The newly repaved Daytona track got the thumbs up from the drivers, but the combination of a new surface and a smaller restrictor plate may make for some boring races. Jamie McMurray said, "You're not really having to turn the steering wheel because the car has so much grip,"  while Jeff Burton said "You don't even think about having to lift unless you're trying to keep from wrecking. In the past it was quite a bit of throttle control to keep your car going around the racetrack." What else is left for the driver to do?

The long dark days of winter are upon us, with a lot of people getting snow already, but thankfully not in Phoenix. Working hard to set up the sessions for Los Angeles which will be set up slightly differently this year, a lot of engineering sessions with great information. Racing is closing down, but we have the snippets of new cars and drivers.

Hamilton has "driven" the MP4-26 already, in the simulator, with KERS and movable rear wing and pronounced himself very happy. As I have said in my presentations, if simulation is so good why not just give each driver one and have them compete in cyberspace, very green. Very safe too, but I suspect not much fun for most of us, but who knows maybe that is the future? Not one I wish to see.

Sir Frank Williams is not one that would wish to see it either I suspect. He is not happy with sixth in the Championship. What a great warrior he is despite all his difficulties both personal and with the team, "never give up."

In a similar vein, Richard Petty has taken control of his NASCAR Team again after the collapse of the Gillette sports empire. Richard is 73 and still very much involved. His famous team has struggled for years to recapture the dominance of his years. I well remember as a boy in England reading Motor Sport and their one page reports on NASCAR. About the only thing I understood about NASCAR in those days was that Richard Petty was the man, and Wood Brothers the team. And they are both still fighting to compete.

Our young F1 Champion just cannot keep his mouth shut about Ferrari and Mercedes. Can you imagine the feeling in the Red Bull camp? What an ungrateful bastard. No wonder Christian Horner is tipping Webber for the Championship next year, I would nobble Vettel's car, if he is still in it.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the US, so probably will not write a blog, not that there is much to comment on today. Hendrick is changing his crew chiefs for three of his teams in NASCAR, except Jimmie Johnson of course. Smacks of deckchairs on the Titanic, but I guess he knows his business and different personalities can make a better team. Earnhardt Jr. is a curious case. We know he can drive so why is he running around at the back when a sister car is winning the Championship? I'm sure if the answer was simple Rick Hendrick would have done it, but I cannot imagine it is just a change of crew chief.

Mario Theissen is stepping down as BMW's motorsport chief, and I don't know about you but I'm not sure he achieved much for them. Is he retiring or going somewhere else, the press release did not say.

Torro Rosso say they have a long hard winter in front of them to stay ahead of Lotus and Virgin. I guess you can say that for all the teams. I agree that Lotus, in whatever name, could challenge them, but not sure that Virgin, or whatever they are called next year, can make a big step.

Kobayashi says he intends to make no mistakes next year. I for one hope he does as he is actually going for it, not just driving around, and as we have seen with Hamilton, that will lead to mistakes, but it also leads to some exciting races like Kobayashi ran at Suzuka.

So, to all my American friends, Happy Thanksgiving!

So Martin Whitmarsh believes that Abu Dhabi needs to make changes to the track to correct the "flawed" design. I think I may have been saying that from the start, but most people were blinded by the hotel and marina and all the other pieces of the development that have nothing to do with the quality of the race track. Apparently Whitmarsh saw the problems from the beginning and presumably said nothing or no one listened. As he said "There is a massive commitment here to make this a great venue, so in the scheme of things priority should be given to looking at the circuit." My emphasis. Richard Cregan the circuit boss says that "we are looking at different circuits..and we will pick the best bits and improve the circuit." Seeing as how Yas Marina is almost the last track built I would ask why they did not do that before they built it? As I said in Germany, we are being left with a legacy of a generation of bad tracks.

We enter the dark days of winter, well for most of you anyway, it is still sunny and 70 degrees here, so finding interesting items to comment on may be difficult, but there will be driver changes and team news, so I will endeavor to keep you amused and thinking. Congratulations to Jimmy Johnson for his fifth Sprint Cup Championship, not that I watched much of it, and I was surprised that Homestead had empty seats given the three way title fight. Taking nothing away from Jimmy, and obviously he and his crew chief do a great job, but it is difficult for me to reconcile the number of very good drivers in that series who cannot beat Jimmy to the title.

The Porsche hybrid cleaned up at the awards dinner in Cologne last week. Williams won for their KERS system which is fitted to the Porsche GT3 which won the car of the year and was designed by the person who won the engineer of the year. Is that a full house or royal flush?

How do you measure success? McLaren are saying that this season has not been a "failure" just because they have failed to win a championship, and they are correct. They won races, something only two other teams did, so what does that say about the rest of the teams? Some drivers, in fact most in F1, never win a race, does that mean they were "failures?" No, they joined a very elite group who made it there. I remember vividly a conversation with a school friend who had just been signed by Leyton Orient Soccer team, at that time a third division team. I made some disparaging remarks about "only signing for them," and he said "oh yes, and who do you play for?" Touche!

NASCAR's secret is to somehow make everyone a winner, the 43rd car still gets prize money and will get on TV. Fans follow drivers forever who never win, second place is not first loser in NASCAR. It is a lesson society could well learn, there are points for just being there and have the skills to compete, and yes just trying. And before anyone tells me that I have been guilty of picking on Checa and some others for being there, they had their shot, it is time to give someone else that chance. And it should not be about who has the fattest wallet either.

I find it interesting that the day after the last MotoGP most of the top riders have swapped teams, and they all like their new machines. How can that be? Didn't the other guy leave because he thought someone else's bike was better? I guess no one is going to come out and say, "well that was a mistake, this thing is a dog." Or are they all so evenly matched that it does not really make a difference? And how come the teams have new bits for the bikes to test the day after the last race, why didn't they put them on the bike for the last race if they were better? Just a question.

Just a few days to go until the Abu Dhabi finale. It is a sell out they say, 50,000 tickets. Well, if we guess $300 a ticket plus some corporate and the track has an income of $20m? Bernie's fee is $40m by reports, and then you have to stage the race, so you are paying somewhere north of $20m for the privilege. Hamilton is relaxed and can afford to just go for it, but that presumes he has the car to "go for it." I'm sure Varsha and the boys will be there with all their permutations and combinations of who can win. As a fan let us hope it is an exciting race and not a procession.