Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Those of you who have followed my blog will know my views on the English Autosport weekly magazine as the best there is. It turned 60 this week, nearly as old as me, and celebrates with a whopping 330 page issue looking back on those 60 years, the cars, the drivers and the tracks. It is a keeper. Have not read it all yet of course, but a look through is enough to see the quality of what they have produced, so make sure you get a copy wherever you are.

The article on iconic tracks is interesting, and they did a great job on Adelaide, but then again I am biased. I'm sure Ron Walker from the Melbourne GP is getting ready to sue them over their comments that Melbourne has yet to reach the standard Adelaide set. It is interesting to see the other tracks from each decade. I would have got them wrong. 50's Pescara, 60's Suzuka, 70's Paul Ricard, 80's Adelaide, 90's Texas Motor Speedway!, and 00's Algarve. Of course the word "iconic" does not necessarily translate to the best, but there are some interesting omissions.

I forgot for instance that Suzuka was built in the sixties. You tend to think of it in terms of its' F1 life. What a track it must have been when built, quite unique, and still is. Paul Ricard is a good choice for the seventies, but Texas for the nineties? I am trying to think of its place in the development of the 1.5 mile tri-ovals of that period, and why that one is particularly special. Guess I will have to read that article. Then the noughties. I would have picked the Chinese F1 track for sheer extravagance, and the grandstand/pit complex is certainly iconic. But there you are, we each have our own opinions, and thank goodness for that.

Of course these are tracks built in those decades, so Spa, Monza or Monaco pre-date the magazine.

Talking of Spa, it is raining, imagine that. Spa is notorious for rain. It is one of those places where that old saying, "if you can't see the hills it's raining, if you can see the hills it is going to rain" is most apt. Makes for interesting races on an already amazing track. Hamilton is still confident there is more to come out of the McLaren, and he had better be right if he and Button are going to maintain a challenge for the Championship.  The real interest is still going to be the fight inside the Red Bull team, and the FIA's latest moves to beef up the testing of the front wings and floors. There are heavier test loads at Spa, and apparently even more stringent tests to come at Monza, especially on the floor. It will be interesting reading when someone finally explains how they did this.

In a previous issue of Autosport they had a half year review of how the F1 teams were doing, and of course the RB6 was the class of the field. Gary Anderson makes the point that it is just better everywhere, it is not just the exhaust blown diffuser or the front wing, it is the skill of Newey. I have a 90/10 rule that works for lots of things, and Gary uses it here. He believes Adrian understands 90% of what makes a car work, because no one can know 100%, where others only know 80%. So the 90/10 rule, you can calculate 90%, but the last 10% is instinct, experience, call it what you like.

Roll on tomorrow when we have F1 and MotoGP practice to get our teeth into. Can Valentino win at Indy, or does Yamaha want Lorenzo to be the new hero?

My day started early with calls and e-mails from here and the UK. Long talk with an old friend who had some interesting information about recent departures at NASCAR and ISC. The downturn in interest is starting to hurt at very high levels. Talked about the direction of the sport and the growth of country clubs, and the Cologne Forum on tracks.

No sooner had we got off the call with me promising to send him details of the Forum but there was an e-mail inviting me to a panel discussion in an extra session at the Forum on "The Future of Motorsport Circuit and Venue Design." That should be interesting and very nice to be asked as the first panelist. Apparently the Track Engineering session that I am moderating is being well received.

Then had a call from the UK about a software/hardware system to manage our memberships and operations at Sol Real. Certainly an interesting morning.

Thank you Eddie for some insight into Rossi's potential problems, but it also occurred to me that Yamaha may be being less than helpful to him now. There was a piece that said he was not given the new front forks to try at the Brno test the day after he formally announced he is going to Ducati.

Marcus Ambrose is going to Richard Petty Motorsport and Ford. RPM have not had a lot of success lately, but they do seem to be on the way back, so let's hope Marcus can continue a successful NASCAR career with them.

Here in Arizona it is the monsoon season. You probably thought monsoons only happened in places in Asia, but no we have them. Usually just means the humidity is a bit higher, nothing like Louisiana, but enough for the natives. Last night we had a heavy storm which curtailed the attendance a bit at our Tuesday presentation, but still went well. If all the people who put off till next week come it will be standing room only! Have an interest from Los Angeles for a group of members, so word really spreading. The searches for this blog site include a number using Sol Real, so that tells us we are having an impact despite only being "live" for a couple of weeks.

As the motorsport world is getting back to business I thought I would just bring you up to date on the Sol Real project. Still early days and we continue to present to would-be members. Starting to move beyond that to begin the engineering process and think through the operations and management once we are up and running. Potential members ask a lot of questions about how this is going to work, so we need to have the answers, and be ready to turn the switch on once we do have pavement.

Looking at membership databases, and what sort of information we want to store on our members. No point in re-inventing the wheel if there is something out there that will do what we want. We have the people to write exactly what we need, but then there is all the testing to make sure it works, and the ongoing support.

Meeting with the local engineer down at the site later this week. I always like to work with a local engineer, he knows the codes, soils, materials and contractors better than I obviously do, so with my input on the racing side we get the best of both worlds.

Seems we are stirring up the other tracks in the region. First there was the one who did not want me to come and inspect it for the SCCA, and now another is getting all out of shape about some things on our web site. We must be doing things right. Healthy competition is what this country is about. I recall when I rebuilt Phillip Island and wanted a Touring Car race CAMS said we had to get the OK from all the other tracks within 200 miles! You can guess how well that worked. Talk about restraint of trade. If you have confidence in your own product why do you fear the competition. As I said before, let's grow the market by providing more places for people to go rather than fight over the last couple left because there are no decent tracks. Some Country Clubs are collaborating by offering driving rights at each others venues, now that is building the market. Not sure that I would want to do that unless the other venue is on par commercially, it might devalue our membership.

Not much other excitement, MotoGP had a test day at Brno and Lorenzo was still quickest. Rossi still running around fourth. Do we think this is still the leg and shoulder problem, or is he accepting this year is done and waiting for Ducati? Hard to see such a competitor doing that, but I am surprised how he did not run better at Brno. Any comments?

After watching as much as I could take of the ALMS offering of the race from Mid Ohio yesterday, which was not much, I asked my mates Tony Dowe and Tom Kjos their view, just to make sure I was not over-reacting. Most of you were saved this latest idea from the brains trust. It looked and sounded like a movie, aimed at the complete idiot who knew nothing about the sport, and mimicked a NASCAR offering featuring the team radio traffic. As Tony said "They are trying to attract the “casual” viewer that has little or no knowledge of what racing is about for the lowest possible cost, they will kill it!"

Following my comments in yesterday's blog about Dorna and Moto3 I had to ask is motorsport dying as a spectator sport? Tony in his usual fashion was blunt. "Yes, thanks to the suits and accountants who think they know what the public wants." It seems they most care about what their bottom line wants, what the TV wants, what the manufacturers want, and least of all about what we want to watch.  With even NASCAR struggling to fill the stands you have to ask where is this going? OK, some will say it is the economy, but can they tell me that soccer and football attendances are down? What about the TV figures, it does not cost most folks to sit at home and watch.

Is motorsport turning into a "hobby" for enthusiasts? For years the joke has been that to make a small fortune in motor racing start with a big one, but it is true for almost everyone except a fortunate few, and very few, who make money at this, so yes it is a hobby. That would account for the rise in country club tracks to cater for this growing number that want to drive fast and not go racing, at non-spectator tracks. For most series you may as well say they are non-spectator events now, look at Grand Am.

FOTA has just staged a fan town hall meeting so at least they recognize the need to address what the fan wants, but their hands are tied for most of the changes that we want by the "powers that be."

There seems to be general agreement that the Czech MotoGP was a pretty boring event. So what went wrong? Motorcycle GP's used to be the most exciting form of racing. We know what went wrong. The manufacturers wanted four strokes, Dorna wanted to make it "cheaper" and no one invested in young talent, so now when the Doctor retires it is basically done. Oh Yes, Valentino and Yamaha et al confirmed what we all knew, he is going to Ducati. That will spice things up for a season, maybe, but what then.

In other news Mr. Schumacher is blaming the car for all his woes, I guess it steered itself into Barrichello? Bahrain is to revert to the original track layout for next years GP, it seems you can have too many corners after all. Korea has delayed the obligatory race meeting prior to the F1 GP, so they are cutting this fine, although with a street race like Adelaide we had no "dress rehearsal." Jean-Eric Vergne clinched the British F3 title with a win in the third race at Silverstone, so presumably is free to go off and try his hand at something faster.

Saw TV footage of the desert race that claimed the lives of eight spectators. To say it was totally out of control would be complimentary. It looked like a cross between Spring Break on Daytona Beach and the Portuguese round of the World Rally Championship. People right next to the course  and on it, not that the "course" was defined in any way. How do the organizers, and I use the term loosely, live with themselves?

Yesterday's and this mornings results were predictable. Danica lived down to her expectations and finished 27th having struggled all race and went laps down early on. This was a Nationwide race and on this form she is a shoe-in to get an F1 ride. She does get press coverage though, more than the winner of the race did. If that is why you are racing then I guess it is a great result, but most of us go racing to try and win.

In Brno Mr. Lorenzo continued on his winning way. One English friend called it the dullest race all year, and there have been a few. I expected Valentino to do better with his couple of weeks to recuperate, but no. Looks like Lorenzo has the Championship sewn up baring a major crash. The Moto2 race sounded a far better race, but we won't see that till this afternoon, and we do not get the 125's at all, not that it sounded great. The young English pole setter faded in the race so I guess that was not much fun to watch either Eddie?

The big news is that the last two-stoke class will disappear in 2012 and be replaced by Moto3, they were up all night thinking that up. So instead of three great classes, all worthy in their own right, we have now a distinct system of second and third class citizens. It is a 250cc single, four stroke of twice the size to presumably make the same horsepower. And this is progress? That is what made the two stroke so popular, it was more efficient, and isn't that what being "green" is all about?  It was simpler too. I remember Brian Hart who was making an F1 engine at the time being in our garage at Mugello and being astounded that we stripped the engines after each practice and warm up! He said they did not open an engine at the track, too complicated, just got another out of the crate if one went bad.

Of course this is done in the name of cost cutting and progress. At least it is not a one make series. Have the ticket prices been cut as a result of all this cost cutting? How about Dorna's profits? Has anyone asked the punters who pay to watch what they prefer? I for one vote for the two stroke days, and I do not feel alone, or someone living in the past.

Back in Britain Mr. Vergne had to settle for third in the reverse grid F3 sprint race, not much point putting it on pole in that scenario is it?

Here in the US there was an horrendous accident and eight deaths at an off-road race in Baja California. Unprotected spectators hit by a car. That is going to have repercussions. Driver had to run away to escape the wrath of the crowd, but who's fault is it, probably not his. Motor racing in whatever form involves drivers pushing themselves and their equipment to the limit of their performance, and inevitably beyond it. So as a track designer I start with the basis that there will be an accident, now how to mitigate the impact on the driver, and avoid harm to spectators. So, don't blame the driver when he crashes, after all that is what most of the punters have come to see. Ask why were the spectators there without protection? My condolences to the families and the injured. As I said, predictable.