Bob Barnard Track Engineering

I have just started reading Bill Bryson's latest book. If you have not read any of his you need to find them. Always entertaining and full of great information. The latest is about the year 1927 in America, which was quite amazing actually. He focuses early in the book on aviation and how the US lagged behind the rest of the world. He has one paragraph about the state of aviation at that time.

"Aviation in America was almost wholly unregulated. The country had no system of licensing and no requirements for training. Anyone could buy a plane, (or a track) in any condition, and legally take up paying passengers. The United States was so slack about flying that it did not even keep track of the number of airplane crashes and fatalities." And so he goes on.

If this sounds familiar he could just have easily have been commenting on the current state of motorsport in America. Indeed, with the number of deaths worldwide this year he could have been commenting on a wider stage. As I have said before, motorsport at the top level gets the attention while the majority of the sport goes its merry way, ignoring the basic measures that could be taken.

I continue to receive expert witness cases involving death and horrific injuries which should have been avoided if a professional were consulted as to the proper way of designing, constructing and running a track, but it seems most track owners know better, and who is there to tell them otherwise? Just building tire barriers correctly, not hard, not expensive, would save so many injuries and fatalities. But as I keep asking, does anyone care? 

Let's all send good vibes to Michael Schumacher. Not my favorite driver, but not one I would wish ill of.

And so on to 2014 and all that beckons. F1 with 1.6 liter turbo engines, the United Sports Car here in the US and Porsche back at Le Mans. Happy New Year everyone, and safe racing!

Who would have thought, well I would and anyone else who has watched racing at Spa. I recall being there for bike GPs, now that was scary. They were still public roads with oil and white lines, and Blanchemont had no run off. Not quite the Isle of Man but close.

Anyway we have F1 back with us, even if at a reduced pace. The boys did get half an hour in the dry with Webber fastest, but nothing very exciting. Schumacher's 20th anniversary is getting all the attention. That's a long time to drive and I still say he and Rubens and perhaps Trulli should move over and give the young guys some options. To follow on my comments on GP2 there is an article in Autosport about how hard it is to move up from there and to keep finding the 2 m Euros budget each year when the prospect of an F1 drive is fast disappearing.

Senna is in the Renault and had a crash in the first session, but is quicker than Petrov who is very unhappy with his car. Reports are that it is a financial deal rather than Boulllier expecting Senna to be quicker than Heidfeld. Rumors of Renault's money problems continue. These are not helped by Boullier whining about the money coming to the teams from the Commercial Rights holder and how it is split up. He says that in no other sport does the rights holder keep 50% of the income. Not sure that's correct. One would suspect NASCAR keeps a chunk, although it is fairer, and I'm sure there are others. Anyway he seems to think teams should not have to raise their own money, a bit like Premier League paying everyone to play, can't see that. He goes on to suggest that the current set up that rewards success should be changed so the top four teams get nothing and the rest is shared equally. Goes against Bernie's whole rational so good luck with that one Eric. Bernie's a bit of a "law of the jungle" man, or as Trueman put it, "if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." You knew the rules coming in, so don't complain now.

A lot of people are all of a lather over a girl riding a MotoGP Suzuki at Indy. No, not in the race, but doing some laps. Like F1 there have been females in racing for a long time, perhaps not in the top class, but back in the days when the 125s and 250s were real classes we had them. Let's not get all gender conscious, if a person is good enough let 'em race, but let's not get into reverse discrimination. On that note Danica has said she is leaving Indycar and going to NASCAR full time. So after never really achieving much in open wheel she has followed the money. Let's see how long that lasts.

I don't know who rattled Max Mosley's cage but he had a Bernie day yesterday, pontificating that "F1 does not always have to be exciting," "It will survive the Gribkowsky scandal," and "the Sky TV deal will be good for fans." Max apparently cannot waste an afternoon watching soccer on TV so likes just the highlights, not someone in touch with real fans I suspect.

 

This mid season summer break is getting old, and it is not half way through. Ross Brawn says it is the best idea ever, and then tells us what we all suspect. They can close the factories but cannot shut off the brains. Thinking on the beach gives Ross some inspiration, gets that ingenuity rebooted, and Mercedes need it. The "will he won't he" questions and "should he retire" advice keeps coming about Michael, and he admits that he is a part of the problem and not the solution. Now I admit a certain animosity to Michael, but I think he has had a fair go in his life, it is time to give di Resta a chance in that car, he has shown he deserves it. Nico seems wedded to Mercedes, and why not. I am sure he is paid well, it is a revered marque, and Ross will sort it out.

India needs sorting out. Those pesky farmers are not giving up and are now threatening to go and dig the track up if their demands are not met. No point in going after the stands, they won't be done anyway according to VJ.

Other than this there is the MotoGP at Brno this weekend where the Stoner/Lorenzo show will resume. The bikes silly season is off and running, with Divizioso looking like the one to miss out on a works Honda ride when the music stops. He's off to that satellite Gresini team, and rumors are that Simoncelli will go to a Ducati. Let's see if he can stay on that. There are a lot of even sillier rumors that I will wait and see over rather than bother you with.

As I said news is in short supply so we are interviewing F1 identities about the riots in England, why they should have any special insight I don't know. Bernie is worried that cancelling soccer matches will send the wrong message. Burning buildings and cars don't really get the message across eh Bernie?

So the first day of the 2011 season has come and gone and what did we learn? The usual suspects are at the top of the time sheet, surprisingly perhaps in the shape of McLaren. They obviously did something special in the second practice as they found around two seconds. It is still a lot like testing, we won't really know I fear until the race who has the best race set up. The tires did not seem to give up as quickly as I expected, with drivers setting fast times after three laps on them. There is still an unpredictability about what to expect every time you go out on a new set, and the Stewards authorised the use of additional tires after there were problems with mounting some. Does not sound like good quality control, more like a lottery.

Chandook said he was glad to be back in F1, all 50 seconds of it. That's how far he got in the Lotus, Turn Three to be exact before plonking it against the inside wall courtesy of a heavy right foot, cold tires and damp track. Lotus must have regretted that decision. They are strangely off the pace they showed in testing where it seemed they had dragged themselves to within two or so seconds of the fast guys, but here they are back where they were last season. Gascoyne says there is a lot more left. Let's hope so, they are barely in front of the 107% rule.

Not so lucky are Virgin who are still 6 seconds adrift, only faster than HRT because that mobile, sorry bad choice, embarrasment only managed one lap with one car right at the end of the second practice. They are due an "early bath" as they say in soccer, barring a miracle. Aussies love a battler, but this is way beyond that now.

The good news for McLaren is not so much the pace they are now showing, it is the reliability that was sorely missing in testing. All the top runners looked good in that respect, and Mercedes seem to have resolved their problems. Rosberg looked like setting the morning's fastest time on a couple of laps, only to run wide and lose time, and Michael is sixth fastest on the day. Massa seems to be struggling, and Alonso did not appear until very late in the morning session for some reason, but was right on the pace immediately, impressive. Renault were strangely off the pace they threatened in testing, but new boy Perez  was an impressive eighth, a second faster than his more experienced team mate.

Adrian Newey says he is confident that they are still up to half a second faster than the pack, and if anyone knows he does. Still tires are going to play a part. Vettel had a large chunk out of a front tire that Red Bull say was due to running over debris on the track. Let's hope so. Domenicali from Ferrari is concerned about the amount of traffic in pit lane if each team is making three stops, and the new pit entry is really tight to accommodate the V8Supercar garage brought over from Homebush. I guess Tony Cochrane did not want his series to look like second class citizens.

It was interesting watching the movable wing in operation during practice, but the FIA are still playing with the rules so it is hard to keep up. The overtaking zone in Melbourne will now start BEFORE the last corner, not sure how that helps, you need the downforce to get through the corner I would have thought, and as soon as you bolt on intermediates you can no longer use the wing. They tried a race simulation during the last half hour of second practice just to totally confuse the crowd. And there are suggestions Red Bull did not use it in practice, so who knows where the times are.

The WSBK is at Donnington Park this weekend and Carlos Checa continued where he left off at Phillip Island topping the first free practice.

Le Mans Series cars tested at Paul Ricard yesterday, with the Aston Martin still to turn a wheel. The first race is next weekend. I did see a piece about the FIA talking to Peugeot about another flip by their new car. It has  had more than few big accidents during testing, although it ran faultlessly at Sebring, and the FIA are concerned about the aero on the car.

I am a little concerned about a report from the Portugese Rally special stage where a wheel came off a car and struck a spectator, and all the driver was reported to say afterward was "I can't believe I have been that stupid." To have crashed I suppose, but I would have thought he might have asked about the condition of the spectator and expressed some regret, or is rallying a sport where the spectator takes their chances?

Had a call from King Kenny last evening, very nice chat about old times and the current state of racing. I'm not really surprised, but he is still more in demand for appearances than the young guys, and he says he gets paid more now just to show up than he used to to race. Ah, the good old days. He says he is selling the ranch because he cannot stand still being quicker at his age than all the young guys who come there to train!

You know my thoughts on the failure of the spectator driven tracks as a business model, well New Jersey just filed for bankruptcy, how long has that taken? Good luck with Mid-Ohio boys. Silverstone reported a profit of 2m pounds on a turnover of around 50m. Richard Phillips the MD said “I think we are probably the only privately-funded grand prix circuit that does make a profit in the world but the UK is quite peculiar because there is a huge motorsport following, there's a lot of industry here." Well it is an achievement to make a profit of any sort, but given the level of investment in the facility, which is continuing with the new pit building which is costing around 28m pounds, that is not much of a return. Good job it is run by a club. Hard to see how the numbers stack up though. They run the British F1 GP and Bernie's fee has to be half that turnover.

HRT showed up in Barcelona with this year's car, well almost. Parts are stuck in customs apparently and it will not run today. Isn't the car made in Spain? Day four of testing is again all over the place. McLaren had an engine let go so Button has not done much running, but what he did was slow, only faster than the Virgin which has improved to being 6 seconds off the pace. Mercedes are showing their legs with Schumacher topping the charts, fastest of the four days thus far, and Rosberg carrying on where he left off in third place.  Ferrari still up there, but Red Bull stooging around today. One thing seems certain, race averages are going to be way off the qualifying times.

Daytona bike week is on but who really cares any more other than some die hards? How do you kill what was a real world class event at one time?