Bob Barnard Track Engineering

It took Kimi to make me watch the NASCAR Camping World Series! Me and a lot of others I suspect. Watching him out on a mile and a half tri-oval for the first time I thought he did really well, although the truck was so loose it looked like rallying at times. Still, his reflexes and ability kept it on the track and tonight's race should be fun. You have to admire the guy, just like the old days when F1 drivers drove everything and raced every weekend, sometimes two races a weekend in Europe and America. F1's loss is the world's gain.

The really big news of the weekend for me is the ACO moving to live up to it's regulation on parity between the diesels and petrol cars. Petrol cars will have an air restrictor increase of 0.3 mm and can lose 10 kg, and if they cannot take weight off the car then they get a 0.5 mm increase. In addition the fuel hose for the petrol cars is increased by 10 mm, nearly half an inch, and the diesels decreased by 0.3 mm, so faster refuelling for the petrol cars. The ACO have made the changes after seeing all the new cars in action at Spa for the first time, and believe they will allow the petrol cars to do an extra 5 laps during the 24 hours. The older ORECA Peugeot benefits from a 15 kg weight reduction. It will be interesting to see how all these pan out in a few weeks time.

F1 is in Barcelona and not much has changed, Red Bull and McLaren on top with Alonso and Ferrari fifth. Mercedes big step forward has not improved their position. News is that Williams are the team that pushed the FIA to act on the engine mapping, but it seems that Cosworth are the problem in not being able to match the big guys. The top teams are of course resisting any changes, as they are the new engine for 2013. The opposition to the change to 4 cylinder turbos is growing, with Renault apparently the only manufacturer now in favor, for obvious reasons. Talking of Renault, the big rumor from Barcelona is that Kubica has signed to drive for Ferrari, the latest in a long line of drivers similarly rumored to go there. Massa must be feeling very unloved, despite Montezemolo telling the world Massa will drive for them next year. He did not look very happy with the car during practice.

The gap between the teams seems to be growing, with HRT still 7 secs off the pace, but then Lotus and Force India are around 4 secs off, and so on up the order. Alonso is a second off, and you quickly get to 2 seconds around tenth place. On these times the HRT are in danger of not making the cut at their home race, but I guess with Q1 times on hards they may make it. Lotus seem to have made the jump across the gap to the midfield teams, only to see the front of the pack just as far away as ever.

So now we get reports of practice and qualifying from Paul Ricard LMS, and guess what, the Autosport story is about the Aston! Apparently it was there yesterday, just had engine trouble and did not run. Not that it is setting the world alight when it ran, six seconds off the pace and down with the LMP2 cars. Now it is brand new, but compare their debut with the Honda HPD at Sebring. The AF Corse Ferrari carried on where it left off at Sebring by topping the GTE standings, GT2 to most of us. The Rebellion Lola Toyota was fastest for your information, but it is close among the four, yes four, LMP1 cars.

If you thought I was being pessimistic about ALMS yesterday you need to read two excellent articles on Last Turn Club,

http://lastturnclub.com

Qualifying in Jerez for MotoGP was predictable with Stoner in front of Pedrosa, but only just. Perdosa is not likely to last the distance at a pace to worry Stoner, but Lorenzo is lurking right there, and Spies has found something to be fourth, but crashed. Valentino's good run came to an end with a crash and he ended up twelth. How many more times can he afford to crash before he says enough? Young Bradl took the pole again for Moto2, but there are 40 machines on the grid and the top 28 are covered by 2 seconds, should be some race.

Let us all wish Nicolas Hamilton well in his race debut in the Clio Cup at Brands Hatch this weekend, with big brother flying in to watch. As most will know Nicolas has Cerebral Palsey so is an example to us all to never let adversity stop us from achieving our ambitions.

So Bob Varsha, "how do ya like them apples?" Kimi is confirmed for NASCAR trucks in Kyle Busch's team no less! No mention of the Gillette connection now. Nothing like starting in a top team with a good teacher. I think Kyle and Kimi will get on well. Even I might watch that.

To follow on my personal news I am in the process of forming of a unique motorsport service for would-be and existing track owners, team owners and car collectors. I have invited some of the world's best and most experienced individuals and companies to join with me to offer a one-stop ability to provide a complete range of services from feasibility through design and construction, operations and maintenance, vehicle preparation, storage and detailing, team management, school operations, food and beverage, ticketing and credentials, race series and race direction and event management. You name it I have the people, currently a total of thirty, all known to me personally and among the best, if not the best, in their field. Any or all will be available to collaborate on a project, conduct due diligence, inspect facilities and conduct operational and financial reviews.

There is so little news the web sites are making it up with the excuse it is April Fools Day. What are they going to do tomorrow? What is not a joke is the announcement that the Victorian Government is going to audit this years race. I would have thought they would have audited every years race. Ron Walker says he is confident it will show they did not lose more than last year, and he hopes a bit less. I'm sure the good people of Victoria are glad to know that they only tipped in about the same $50m as last year, and not more!

It's good to see that the DTM have dropped that crazy street race in Shanghai as the last round of their series, both because the track was awful, and second, why would you end your major Championship half way around the world? Send the TV signal instead if you want to sell cars there.

In what must be an April Fools joke there is reported to be ongoing discussions to put Bahrain back on the calendar. I'm sure we could squeeze in Libya while we are in the area.

In Jerez the Stoner/Pedrosa/Honda show goes on where they left off in Qatar, swapping fast times in the two practice sessions. Lorenzo managed to get himself up to third in the second session, and Valentino is showing much better form in the sense of grid placings, but is still a long way off the time of Stoner. Ben Spies seems strangely off the boil.

You would not think the LMS race is on at Paul Ricard, or whatever you want to call it today. The only news I see is from Guy Smith's Linkedin. Still, I suppose if Audi and Peugeot are not there, nor the Aston, then why bother? Is this how ALMS is going to go?

On a final note this "fools day" Bob Varsha believes it is a "joke" that Kimi is going to race in NASCAR. The only joke is you Bob

This is getting very boring, news is hard to come by obviously. Helmut Marko says Hamilton is a "topic" of interest to Red Bull, presumably once they think they have got all they are going to get out of Webber. Eyebrows are raised over at NASCAR about Raikkonen's choice of financial partner for his Truck racing debut, one of the Gillette family of Richard Petty Motorsport and Liverpool Soccer Club "fame." The Gillett's still owe some money around the paddock, so is it payback time on track when Kimi hits it in May?

Charlie Whiting says the Red Bull front wing is still legal, even though it drags on the ground at speed. Damn clever these F1 engineers. What is interesting is that elsewhere in life these ideas are patented and no one else gets to use them for a long time. In F1 if you can work out how to copy it, then good luck. Adrian Newey is bemoaning this fact as he now fears McLaren is going to beat them with their own version of the Red Bull exhaust.Timo Glock is finally worried about the Virgin car not being good enough. Where have you been Timo, you've driven that dog for a year?

MotoGP will kick off in Jerez tomorrow as will the first round of the European LMS at Paul Ricard, minus the big boys.

Thank you for asking but my allergies are subsiding after a visit to the Doctor. In the middle of an amazing exercise to assemble a team of experts in every field involved in the design, construction, and operation of a motorsport facility. Just wait till you see who is going to be available from one source!

Having traveled the world for 65 years I have finally succumbed to allergies here in Phoenix, so until the drugs kick in this will be short and sweet. Not that there is much to talk about, everyone trying to make the best out of the Melbourne race, or find out what went wrong in the case of Mark Webber. They are going to strip the car and try and find the reason, but Mark is man enough to say it could just have been him.

The Indycar star drivers are complaining about the double file restarts resulting in too many accidents. Well you are the ones driving the car dummy! And Kimi is now going to join Juan Pablo in NASCAR having had his fun in rallying. He certainly knows how to crash and will have plenty of practice here.