Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Looked at the web site for the new project. Nearly ready. Going to be in tune with the Spanish heritage of the area and the climate, Sol Real (Royal Sun) Motorsport Resort. Architecture will be Spanish Mission. Project will be very stylish. Need to agree on a logo so we can finalize the website, and just a few tweaks. Really hard to find good photos of country club type tracks, but my good buddy Greg Sarni has helped out. Need to catch up with what has happened since my little detour via Louisiana.

Next week will be busy with setting up the hanger for meeting prospective members, and actually starting sessions with them to explain the project. Just heard that the nearby casino has committed to building a new $20m tower as an addition, so someone else has confidence in the local economy, and it is a great amenity for our members. They will of course prefer our clubhouse, but it is nice to have options.

On the motorsport scene it seems Red Bull management cannot learn when to shut up. After saying they are all friends again, Helmut Marko comes out and says he does not know what Mark wants, he is in a great team and winning races. Vettel should be the one complaining due to all his mechanical problems. If you do not understand what Mark wants Helmut then you should do as Hans Stuck suggested and retire. Jos Verstappen said he would have trod on the wing so neither of them could use it, Go Jos!

Ferrari say they were not told "immediately" to let Kubica back past, Charlie Whiting took a whole 1 minute and 55 seconds. Wow! And of course Charlie only told them his opinion based on what he thought the Stewards would do, and he was correct, so stop whining Ferrari. If you had taken his advice, or better still do it your self straight away, Alonso would have re-passed Kubica easily as the Renault had a problem, and he would have been in a great position.

So Yamamoto did such a great job at Silverstone that he is going to replace Chandook for the next race. I guess HRT   think that if they keep giving him rides his wallet will weigh less each time so he will get quicker? Buemi denies he has re-signed with Torro Rosso and says the transfer market is still open, but where is he going to get a better ride? Does he know something we do not? Does he think a seat is coming available at the senior Red Bull Team? On a similar note Virgin hope to retain Timo Glock, but what seats are open to Timo, as good as he is? Nico Rosberg's new team mate?

Valentino Rossi amazed everyone with his pace yesterday at the German Motorcycle GP, finishing seventh fastest. His fit team mate, Lorenzo, could only manage one place better. Medical science and the willingness of these guys to ride with pain is unbelievable. I saw it with Wayne Rainey, Wayne Gardner, and Mick Doohan, the mark of a true champion, and basically anyone in this sport.

Well the loading of the truck and finishing packing took until after 8:30 last night, so everything ran late. Did not leave until 8am this morning and drive 12 hours and 820 miles with the car crammed full with the wife and the cat, knackered. I continue to be amazed at the amount of open space there is in the US with over 300 million people!

My daughter Dani came and  visited last weekend and as we are all starting something new we celebrated by opening my bottle of 1989 Motorcycle GP port. Despite all the years and all the travel it was still good. Nice crust on the bottom. Finished it off last night.

Rossi to race in Germany, Valentino that is. As I say, I hope he is really ready.

Saw one of those things that make you wonder today. Four orange cones in front of damaged guard rail. Well, they will not stop you hitting it, and if you had the control to steer away from that damaged piece presumably you would have enough control to avoid it anyway!

Another ten hours tomorrow, so off to bed.

House in total chaos, boxes everywhere, and the truck coming this morning, so short and sweet today.

The fall out from Red Bull continues with Horner saying he regrets not talking to Mark Webber before they took the wing off Mark's car to give to Vettel. What was going on that was so important you could not spend two minutes explaining that? I can only imagine my reaction if I walked in the garage and saw that going on without being told anything! Do these people know nothing about managing people, especially people as intense as top sportsmen. They need to call Phil Jackson for some tips, or just read his book.

Alexander Rossi finished third in the GP3 race at Silverstone the weekend, having a great first season, and someone in the US needs to make sure he has the backing to move on from here in a top team. Cypher?

Well done Valentino Rossi, tested on a superbike the weekend and lapped as quick as the WSBK guys. Just do not fall again!

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Well is seems the summer season has woken up and we have some news to comment on. Casey Stoner is off to Honda next year in MotoGP, not a surprise really, and the other shoe to drop will be Rossi to Ducati to get away from Lorenzo.

Over at F1 at Silverstone the HRT Team have put Yamamoto in to replace Bruno Senna, only for this race they say, and only for money is what they are not saying. Yamamoto has raced in F1 before but made such an impression I cannot remember. In practice he is was not the slowest, but only because Trulli's Lotus broke after three laps! Red Bull have led both sessions today with Vettel quickest in the morning and Webber this afternoon. Times are all over the place with Ferrari struggling in the morning and second fastest in the afternoon. Teams working out the new layout. Eddie Oliver, you mentioned the bike times were slower than the simulation, can you tell us how much? It would be interesting to know the prediction for the F1 cars. Drivers not saying too much about the new section, mainly worried about the high curbs at the Maggotts/Becketts complex and are asking for them to be removed. I can understand why being a really high speed corner, and that style of curb is used for slow chicanes. Why would you put those in and why did the FIA OK them? Nice quote in one report that Rosberg was half a second quicker than his "elderly" team mate!

Bernie is calling for tire with a maximum life of 100km so the cars have to stop twice and spice up the show. You know my thoughts on that sort of idea, a circus is entertaining but that is not what we are running here. Seems that Bernie did not keep his mates at the FIA informed of the deal in Austin, with both Jean Todt and Nick Craw, head of ACCUS, and I know no one knows what that is but look it up, reported as saying they knew nothing and still do not. Todt is saying it is a "project," i.e. not yet real. This all comes from an article in the Austin Business Journal, seems they are still sceptical of the whole deal. Tavo Hellmund is reported off in South Africa, at the World Cup or raising money? Tilke say they will have a track layout in September, but no one knows where the site is yet.

Jonathon Summerton seems to have become the spokesperson for Cypher, the latest would be US F1 team. Jonathon tells us there is a lot going on and he is learning a lot from these ex F1 guys. Hard to see how they are keeping this so secret, surely someone out there knows who these guys are? Tony Dowe, you always know everthing.

Sir Frank Williams is handing over the CEO role at Williams to Adam Parr, but will remain the Team Principal and front up at the shop every day. Amazing man, it would be great to see Williams bounce back. Not that they are doing bad at the moment, but we remember the glory days and their innovations.

Over at the Rally of Bulgaria there are two headlines almost side by side, have to laugh, "Raikkonen for a podium," "Raikkonen crashes and stops special stage." Just about sums up Kimi's year. I hope you are enjoying it Kimi.

Bernie is up to his usual tricks. No room for FOTA in F1. This is the man who got his power by taking over what was FOTA and with Max Mosely wresting the commercial control of the sport from the FIA. Seems there is a fight going on in the background over teams showing their sponsors logos at the track. What a cheek! In Canada it was about trackside, and at Silverstone it has moved into the paddock. The teams have been forced to take their prime movers with their logos off the trailers and park them outside. What petty BS. Of course Bernie says it is not him, it is Allsport, Patrick McNally, who is the signage rights holder who is doing it, and of course Bernie has no connection to "Paddy", just as he does not with Tilke. You just cannot have an F1 race without Alllsport having the signage.

Chris Pook is reported to be involved with the New Jersey aka New York F1 GP bid. Now Chris ran F1 at Long Beach and gave up trying to make money and went to CART. Chris told me in Detroit in '85, "If Bernie thinks you are making money he will put the price up." So why is he involved again? Most promoters have found out what Chris learned the hard way, and now Bernie has a built in escalator of 10%, so he makes sure you cannot make a profit. There is a great article in the June 10 Autosport about the money in F1, and a telling number is that it takes $250 from every spectator just to service the debt of the rights holder CVC. The average cost to buy the rights is $30m, and Abu Dhabi apparently paid $50m. Now do you fans understand why Austin does not seem a smart idea?

I am forever surprised at the naivete of fans, God Bless Them, but if you are into a sport so much then take the time to find out how it works, who runs it and who is getting the money. Yes, what happens on the track is the key, but it is only the end result of everything else that has got them to that point.

Emanuele Pirro is to step in for Lord Drayson in his Lola as the Lord has hurt his foot. It is a blessing in disguise, and it will be very interesting to see Emanuale and Johnny Cocker in that car at Miller Park this weekend. Not that there is much opposition, but that car has been struggling to beat what there is. GT's should put on the best show as always lately.

The Cypher would be US F1 team has come out at last and said it has lodged an official application for 2011. Still no details of who or where other than these are supposed to be the engineers and designers who have the knowledge and can make it happen this time. Confirmed that Jonathon Summerton is their driver if they get in. Good luck to you all, you are going to need it.

Saw an article by Jonathon Ingram about how F1 is not making a foothold here because the US has so much other motorsport that there is too much competition. My comment was have a look at Europe, there is way more going on over there, so that argument does not wash. I still stick to my premise that the US needs a very successful driver and/or team. No one here took much notice of cycling until Lance dominated, not just won, Greg Lamond had won, and then nothing. No one here cares about soccer until the US gets into the World Cup Finals and wins a game or two, then it is headline news. TV audiences in Germany bounced back when Schumacher returned. Sport is about heroes, forget that at your peril. IRL will struggle until an Unser or Andretti reappears. No one cares about a bunch of Brazilians, Englishmen, Australians or Frenchmen.

Rossi was back on a bike yesterday for the first time since he broke his leg. Seems it went OK, did a bunch of laps and his shoulder seemed to be more of a problem than his leg. His Father is counseling him to go easy, but Champions do not know how to. Good advice though, the last thing he needs now is to fall again.