Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Who recalls and understood what Renault were doing with the mass dampers that were finally banned by the FIA after nearly two years of using them? Well the boys at Enstone who used to be Renault and are now "Lotus" are at it again. No forward exhausts this year so they have come up with a brake set up that emulates the mass damping. and legally according to the FIA. Now a mad scramble by the others to follow before the season starts. Never a dull moment in F1, unless you count the last few weeks.

Williams has finally confirmed Bruno Senna as the other driver, who knows if either of them is a number one, but they both have money. Luizzi is complaining that a contract doesn't mean much in F1, so presumably he is out of a ride at HRT.

The Gribkowsky court case continues quietly in Munich, with Bernie's Swiss financial adviser, Andre Favre, detailing how the hush money was paid to Gribkowsky. Read Joe Saward's piece of the 16th:

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/

Bernie went to a lot of trouble to hide where the money was coming from.

Lots of pictures posted of the New Jersey Streets on Motorsport Nextgen:

http://motorsport.nextgen-auto.com/gallery/pictures/2012/f1/index-uk-new-jersey-16jan-1.php

The shots of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty are cute, didn't know the track went around there. Reminds me of the Grand Prix of Gibraltar with Peter Ustinov and the underwater harbor section. Not exactly glamorous.

Poor Robert Kubica breaks his leg, not looking good for a return, and Morgan announce they are going back to Le Mans with Oak racing and a carbon fiber tub. HFS must be turning in his grave. No more can enthusiasts like me rebuild the frame themselves in the garage.

A belated happy new year to all my readers. News pretty thin on the ground and my travels continued unexpectedly with hopefully more to come with a project in China on the horizon.

Nothing much seems to have changed from 2011. Bahrain still in trouble over human rights, and saying the race will not be disrupted does not address the problem. Valencia and now Barcelona are saying they cannot afford Bernie's price any more, but the French can every other year if they share the losses with Spa. Bernie's legal problems are still hanging around with the Gribkowsky case ongoing and the case in London pending. The teams are still arguing and some are reported to have signed the new Concorde Agreement already, although that is not supposed to be possible until the old one runs out this year.

On the driver front Buemi gets the reserve driver role at Red Bull even though Helmut Marko says the Toro Rosso drivers were not winners. That must make you feel loved. Williams have lost their main sponsor and are still looking to fill the other seat with Senna and Brazilian sponsorship being suggested as favorite for it. Alguersuari says he does not want the HRT seat, so that is still vacant. Kimi is back, fitting for seats and getting ready to test a 2010 car in Valencia later this month to get his eye back in.

Not much else going on, so see you tomorrow.

 

Just when I am saying that Williams should be worried about a lack of pace and reliability Barrichello goes and bangs in the quickest time of the test session. So we may as well wait till the first race to find out anything useful. Only 28 days. McLaren has everyone tricked about where the exhaust exits, the poor photographers are going mad trying to get a shot of it. Senna is in the Renault doing respectable times, but not matching Heidfeld and spinning it. Alonso and Massa have put the most miles on a car so the Ferrari looks pretty bullet proof, and close to the pace.

NASCAR's season kicked off last night with the Bud Shoot Out, and we saw in practice and the race what to expect from the repaved track. It has given a new dimension to team orders as cars ran in pairs like two love bugs tied together. If you don't know what love bugs are then you are lucky. They invade parts of the southern US and once mated cannot uncouple, so fly around like a "push me, pull you" until they die. Odd thing was that the motors did not die with the high revs and overheating from running so close, but it will be interesting how long they can sustain it in a 500 mile race. Makes for weird racing though, not sure that this was what NASCAR wanted. And who decides which driver is going to sacrifice himself to push his team mate over the line? Yes we've seen that before, but this was something different.

Christian Horner says that a budget cap is back on the table in F1. This time as a true overall amount by the sound of it, "We agree with restricting activity but don't cherry-pick ... let's do a transparent once-and-for-all deal with this," he said. I still cannot see the big teams cutting back to the level of the small teams, so the level is going to be set above what the small teams can raise anyway. Is this about "fairness?" Are we trying to "level the playing field?" I know the NFL does this stuff, not sure that it works though. This sport is about competition, both on and off the track. By all means stop teams spending more money than they have so they are stopped from going broke, but if they can raise it why should they not spend it? Perhaps there should be controls on excesses like the crazy "motor homes" that add nothing to the racing, but you could argue add to the spectacle. It would probably be cheaper if the teams funded the building of permanent structures like we see at overseas tracks, rather than pay for the cost of transport and erection, for what is now less than half the season anyway. Has anyone suggested Peugeot and Audi should be limited on what they spend on sporstcars?

Talking of fairness, Flavio's mate Pat Symonds is OK to be a consultant to Virgin. Now I am a consultant, and the only difference to being an employee is how you get paid and benefits, so let's cut the BS and hypocrisy.

Well that's a surprise, Charlie Whiting approved the Korean circuit. There are ongoing concerns though, but to be fair to Charlie he is looking at the safety aspects which if it is built to the approved drawings then should be OK. The Koreans announced that Charlie was walking the circuit and inspecting all the corners, as if that were something special. What did they expect, he would ride around at 50 mph and say it looks OK? When I inspected Shah Allam many years ago I said I was going to walk, and the locals thought I was mad and refused to come with me. They rode around in a mini van about every ten minutes to make sure I was still alive and bring me water. They said the only other person who walked was the FIA inspector. Of course, how else are you going to have the time to properly see all the minute details that can make a track safe or dangerous. When I build a track I walk it all the time. I've tried trail bikes and scooters, but there is something about riding or driving that takes a piece of your concentration away, and it is too easy to ride past something.

So, we will see what happens. I am told that Australia is sending a bunch of marshals and officials to help run the race, so at least there will be someone there besides Charlie who knows what they are doing.

Not much else brewing on the motorsport scene, the mid week lull and there are no juicy rumors about who is going where. Saw a headline that Panasonic might sponsor Sauber. After Kobayashi's drive on Sunday I'm not surprised. Let's see some more of that in Korea.

The movie on Ayrton Senna's life premiered in Japan over the grand prix weekend, and has got great reviews from the journalists who were lucky enough to see it. It seems the rest of us will not see it until mid 2011. Have they only got one copy?

How sweet it must have been for Mark Webber to win the British F1 GP  yesterday. "Methinks they protesteth too much" is how I would treat Red Bull's continual assurances that Vettel is not getting preferential treatment. Team Principal Christian Horner insisted that the differences between the two wing versions were minor, and only affected driving characteristics. If that was true why risk having a problem with Mark by changing it over to Vettel's car after Vettel's wing had broken in practice? Sources have revealed that there was both a lap time and a weight difference between the two versions. Mark commented that the car felt better with it on. Horner saying that they gave the wing to Vettel because he was ahead in points makes more sense than "there were minor differences." It's like the Turkey deal all over again, they cannot stick to a story. So, if Mark wins the World Championship are we going to see a Champion walk from his team again? You have to love him for his honesty and lack of PC!

Not that winning the Championship is going to be easy. They said that Jim Clark could just drive around a car's problems, as did Senna. Now I am not yet saying that Hamilton is in that illustrious company, but you have to admire his ability to take a car that is not well set up and putting it fourth on the grid when  his World Champion team mate can only manage 14th and says it is undriveable. Then he runs a strong second in the race, setting fastest times. Cudos to Button to take that ill handling car and get it up to fourth, he has a different style to Lewis but is still very effective. You do not really see how he does it. McLaren have a great team with these two and of course the engineers and mechanics, and yes I am biased.

Ferrari are again exercising their selective memory and "the rules do not apply to us" mentality. Do they not recall Spa three years ago and that great duel between Raikkonen and Hamilton? When Kimi pushed Lewis wide at the "bus stop" and Lewis did pass Kimi, let Kimi back past him again, and then overtook him, only to be penalized for not letting Kimi by far enough! Lost the race and the Championship. So why was Alonso's pass on Kubica any different?

Nice to see Williams up there again, and the Cosworth is obviously not too shabby. Yamamoto ran around last, must have been weighed down by his wallet! Well done Nico Rosberg, beat your elderly team mate again. Michael is not driving well and cannot be enjoying his time back in the car. Even the TV commentators are now comparing his age with every other driver he gets passed by.

Did not get to see the ALMS at Miller, but well done Highcroft, and it seems that the Drayson car ran well. Keep Emmanuele in the car so we have some competition for Brabham and co.

Did not see WSBK either, but it is turning into a Biaggi benefit. Pity about Corser and the BMW's. Did anyone see the accident in practice? Brno is a safe track so I am surprised at his injuries, was it just a high speed get off?

Congratulations Spain for the World Cup. I lived in Spain for a year and love the people and the Country, so if England could not win I am glad Spain did. Hard to believe it was their first final and win.

Sad to see Lance Armstrong having such a tough time on the Tour, but I guess when your luck runs out. He is still amazing, but in a way he is finding out what Michael is finding out, the current crop of riders are pretty damn good! I know I am an Aussie, but I think Andy Schleck is who I would like to win.