Bob Barnard Track Engineering

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?

It seems in motorsport, and maybe in life, it pays to have a rich or famous father, or preferably both. Now I'm not saying these guys should not be out there, in most cases they are good enough, but so are many more who never get the chance.

Two news items today prompted these thoughts. Paul Menard has signed to run with Richard Childress in 2011. Now this is not so much Childress signing a new driver as Menard Senior taking his bag of money from one team to another, as Childress is adding a car to its team for Paul to race. Ed Carpenter is also back in IRL, courtesy of step-dad Tony George, late of IRL and part of the Hulman family that owns Indianapolis Speedway.

Over at the US F1 track and promoter Tavo Hellmund says that the race could be in Austin for forty years. he needs to hope so as then he may finally make a quid. But how did Hellmund get the rights, well his dad promoted the Mexican GP way back when.

Then there are all the famous sons in racing at the moment, Alex Gurney, Nico Rosberg, Jacques Villeneuve, Joylon Palmer, the Mansell and Taylor brothers, Tambay, Brundle, Piquet, Magnessun, the late Henry Surtees, Damon Hill, Derek Hill, Conor Daly, Prost, Nicholas Todt, Paul Stewart, Bruno Senna(I know he is a nephew), Scheckter, and I'm sure there are a lot I missed. Let's not even start on that family business, NASCAR.

Bernie must be reading my blog as he has decided that he and Tavo need an American driver for the US race, but who does he pick? Rossi, Newgarden, Summerton? No, Danica Patrick, the driver who is doing so well in the Indy Retirement League and crowd favorite, personality of the year. C'mon Bernie at least do your homework and look past the face and the gender. She might get some column inches but is unlikely to make F1 popular in the US. I guess if you think Schumacher is a good advert for your sport then Danica could be a good choice.

Another great presentation session last evening for the Sol Real project. We are getting great response and the word is spreading. I was contacted by the SCCA to inspect a track in the same region, but the owner knew of this project and my role, and was concerned about me working on a track that might compete with his. He might be questioning my integrity, but he confirmed his.

I guess everyone is on vacation as there is not even much spam! Very tough keeping you all entertained when there is so little to prompt the mind. It is like when I worked for Kenny Roberts in Spain and I was warned that everyone went on holiday in August, so do not plan on getting anything done. Did not treat that advice the way I should, and was pretty shocked when everything, and I mean everything, "cerado por vaccasiones" or something like that in Spanish on the door.

Great race between Montoya and Ambrose at Watkins Glen yesterday, even kept me watching. Good clean hard racing, Ambrose must have enjoyed that, like being back  in the V8Supertourers. Pity Marcus missed out on second right at the end, he deserved second. Nice to see Montoya win again, now we need him to win on a speedway.

Elsewhere Franchitti won at Mid Ohio, not that I watched. Chip Ganassi had a dream weekend, Grand Am, NASCAR and IRL victories. I had that lazy day reading a book apart from NASCAR. Vergne continues his winning ways in F3 and must be winning himself a seat in an F1 car the way he is driving. Spengler won the DTM race, and BTCC  saw Plato win a couple of races and retake the championship lead, and in a Chevrolet.

Even the motorcycle world is quiet, I guess because it is run by Spaniards and Italians and they are on vacation.

I'm off to the printers to look at the business cards and pick card stock, looking to get the video updated again with the casistas added, and the web site is also being updated. Next presentation tomorrow evening, so we roll on.

You know there is little to write about when the headline on Autosport's web site of "Montezemelo hails Ferrari fightback" has not changed for a week! Yes we have had the ALMS race from Mid-Ohio which ALMS has deigned to let us watch next week, and Dyson not only finished a race but won. Nice going, now let's see you do it some more. Four cars do not make a race for me, especially these four.

My mate Marcus Ambrose won the Nationwide race and I hope there were a few more people to watch than there were at the Grand Am race that followed. I can't imagine they all left? Piquet made his debut and did well, but I bet he never expected his life to end up trying to make it in NASCAR. Villenueve also did well, but you would expect that from road racers at Watkins Glen. The Grand Am was the usual Ganassi benefit with little to excite me in the time it was on. If the rumored takeover of the ALMS classes and cars does happen let's hope it spices up the races and we do not have one boring series instead of two. I agree with the view that we should just run the GT2 class.

The only other news of interest is that Adrian Newey crashed in a Ginetta single make race in Britain, but was not seriously hurt. Nice to see the top designer still has the passion to go out himself and have a go. Pretty good he is too.

On the Arizona front we are updating the web site with latest renderings. Check out the Casitas. For those not familiar with the term Casita, it is a garage with accommodation above, and these are exceptional, especially the ones right on pit lane.

"The devil is in the details" as they always say, and they would be correct. Starting something like Sol Real from absolute scratch is about details, and what to attack first. Projects evolve, so you do not want to lock into some things too early, but you still have to give sensible answers to questions, and "I don't know" does not instill confidence. Following the successful first presentation we met yesterday to go over the questions that prompt the need to fine tune the details of our package. Country Clubs for motorsport are still in their early stage of development as an idea, and each of the existing  clubs are working from their own model, so there is not a set path to follow, which is both good and bad. There are so many possible scenarios as well, and some of the answers will have to be developed over time and experience.

Working through mundane stuff like business cards and some corporate clothing takes time, but are important part of building our brand. More meetings scheduled in the coming days with small groups or individuals, and a group presentation will be staged every Tuesday from now on. Moving forward and moving fast!

Not a lot else going on. ALMS at Mid-Ohio this weekend, but don't look for it on TV, it is delayed a week. Hope I can remember or be bothered to watch by then. How can you take this seriously with this sort of timetable. Can you imagine NASCAR doing this?