Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Bahrain and Bernie. It is not Bernie's finest hour. He is getting his news from one of his cameramen in a hotel there. What's wrong with watching Al-Jazeera, or better yet consult the British Embassy? Just because it is quiet for five minutes does not mean it is safe to go there. OK, there is a lot riding on an F1 GP commercially, but how can you balance that against a human life. Last year Bernie laughed off the attack on Jenson Button in Sao Paulo as "someone trying to sell him a hat." Insensitive is not quite right, tone deaf might be better. He lives in a different world. He has a history of odd statements, didn't he once say that Hitler got things organised? The Chairman of CVC stepped in then as I recall, and maybe he needs to again.

The UK Foreign Office has issued a warning against travel to Bahrain, so you would expect that as most of the teams are based there with UK personnel that this would make the decision not to go obvious. We seem to be back where we were with Korea, for different reasons. Do we send freight, book flights and hotels or not? If we send the freight it may then not get to Australia. Pirelli are saying just changing the test location to stay in Barcelona is a problem as they have those tires headed to Bahrain. How can you continue to run a world series that cannot guarantee that events will go on? It sends a bad message to your sponsors and fans, and the TV. Some common sense has to prevail here, money cannot be the only consideration.

In a letter to the Editor in this month's Motor Sport a fan decries the need to go to all these "sand races." As he rightly says, if race times are adjusted to make it prime time in Europe then that is where the fans are, so why not keep the races there? Because the European Governments won't  foot the bill. The writer suggest a fans association to pressure for a say in where races go. We already have that. It's an association of us fans that tune in to watch. If we had the courage not to watch those races, and only Spa or Monza or Silverstone, how long do you think the TV companies or these Governments would continue to pay Bernie for the rights? A year should be enough.

Time heals all wounds they say. Not sure about that, but it does allow a better perspective about events. As most of you would know from reading the blog I am writing  my life story, my memoirs I guess you could say, a challenge I have attempted a few times in the past, but events and wounds were too fresh. I can now write about those events and look upon them as part of life's great adventure, a learning experience, and hopefully I can pass on some of those lessons for others.

In a similar vein a friend mentioned the other day an article in Car and Driver from earlier this year.

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/10q2/america_s_best_road_courses-feature/road_atlanta_page_2

When we rebuilt Road Atlanta back in 1998 there were some who were very much against the changes, as the article implies. Among the most vehement was James Weaver who saw the "gravity cavity" as an opportunity for him to gain on opponents who were more wary of that series of corners. It is interesting that time has allowed the changes to be viewed more dispassionately for what they were and what they did to ensure the track maintains it's place as one of America's best tracks. Not sure James would have changed his mind though.

As I have said recently about the possible second track at Bathurst, the trick with working on famous old tracks is to make them safe without losing the character and history, not easy to do, and it will be a challenge at Bathurst, expectations are high. Looking back at the 'gravity cavity" it was America's Eau Rouge, and perhaps the solution would have been to remove the bridge which was the real issue, but then how to access the infield? The new tunnel only went in because we raised the dip, so that would not be a solution. Perhaps move it back up that long back straight, not sure that would work with traffic flow either, so no easy choices. One of the things I have learned is that you never get to do exactly the same thing twice, so unless you make a real mess of things it is not possible to know if you were right or wrong. Doing nothing is what is usually the biggest fault, so make a decision and live with it.

A bit like Ferrari at Abu Dhabi, there are a lot of suggestions about what they should have done, and I guess in hindsight you can simulate the race and see what would have worked, but in the heat of battle make a decision and live with it, it is a sport between humans, not machines thank goodness.

Well we now have the design for the Austin F1 track, and I think it is everything we feared. They say it will be a classic track, and it is, classic Tilke. How many corners can we fit in? Over 20 is the answer.

In other bad news, Cycle News has ceased publication, the only weekly motorcycle magazine here in the US. When I came over to run the USGP for Kenny in '93 I was amazed at the lead time for the other monthly's, we could barely run a couple of ads for a race nine months away. Victim of the internet or is there something else going on here?

Rome is the latest place that says it is going to run an F1 GP in 2012. Is anyone keeping track of how many races there will have to be in 2012 to accommodate all these? Or who is going to lose their race is probably the better question. Spa? One thing is for sure, Bernie has plenty of options for squeezing more money out of, Russia, India, Qatar, Bulgaria, Rome and Austin. We won't have a race at a track we recognize soon, or worse, one that we want to watch.

On the home front I moved house over the weekend, not a lot of fun even though we have done it often. Still sorting out the mess. Looks as if the Grand Bayou track in Louisiana is ready to move on a redesign, and still having contacts with overseas potential circuits. Sol Real has been going through some introspection and rethink on the site, but we are about through that. Basic layout will not change as the lots here are all based around a section, one square mile. So I can now get into the detail of the layout and look at how to build in some elevation without moving a million cubic yards of dirt! Good presentation again last evening and another likely founder. Once we have the legal documents finalized we can move on closing some deals.

What a weekend! Crashes marred almost all the racing, and unfortunately took the life of an up and coming young American rider, Peter Lenz, at Indianapolis. The description of the incident shows that whatever we do with a track as designers the worst can still happen, and does, when two cars or bikes get together. The number of falls at the MotoGP, Rossi fell four times in the weekend, begs the question of what is wrong with the track surface? Indy has a history of problems with grip and tires for NASCAR, F1, and now MotoGP. From looking at the race I was amazed at the extent of the cracking on the infield track, which is not really that old. I know Indy has some bad weather in winter, but that seemed strange. The bumps cannot be bad asphalt laying, it must be movement in the base, but again, why?

The Moto2 race looked insane, with riders going down everywhere. Looked like a GP2 race! Speed did their usual bang up job, replacing the regular commentators with Larry and Mo, Diffey and Russell, and was more interested in giving us "background color" than showing us the race. Not that the race was very exciting, but more than Nicky Hayden at the dirt track!  I thought Australians were jingoistic, but American commentators beat us hands down.

I see that Valentino is calling for the removal of the electronic aids from the bikes to make the show more exciting. It certainly needs something. Apart from Ben Spies leading for a while, there was little to keep me watching except for professional interest. Not sure just removing the aids will do it though. It needs a group of equally good riders on equivalent machines, no not spec racers, but manufacturers all producing good machines. Suzuki certainly is not, Ducati is not on par, and Honda is up and down. And not just two from each either. Back when we saw Yamaha for instance with KR, Ago, and Sarron's team, six "works" bikes with good riders.

Spa turned on its' usual show. We moved house over the weekend and for some reason my DVD did not record, so will have to watch the replay Wednesday, but from the accounts it was a very good race. Well done Lewis and McLaren. Red Bull shot themselves in the foot again. Webber's anti-stall kicked in at the start which let Hamilton jump him and never look back, and Vettel did his now accustomed self-destruct, this time taking Button out instead of his team mate. Barrichello ran into Alonso and put himself out early, while Alonso took himself out later. Good result for Kubica and Renault. What would he do if he had a McLaren or Red Bull? Mercedes continue to be the mystery of the season. Season is building to another close finish, but now I have a problem. I have always liked Lewis, but I love Mark's grit and he is an Australian. So I cannot lose whoever wins the Championship, but who do I want to win?

And then there was Mosport, that 50 year old jewel. Well those 50 year old pine guard rail posts did not take kindly to being smacked by a 2010 Porsche. I told Don that they needed changing when I inspected the track after he bought it in 1998! Timber posts can be used if already in place, but are supposed to be rectangular hardwood, not old, round, pine. As soon as I saw that crash I knew they were never going to get that rail repaired. Even steel posts would still have given, that is the way rail is supposed to behave, and that is why I personally prefer a concrete block wall. It still moves, but is easy to pull back into place. The race? Shades of Lime Rock with cars running into each other all over the place. Interesting rather than exciting.

Good to see Boris Said finally win a NASCAR race, even if it was a Nationwide event. Sounds like a good race with Papis and Villenueve right there at the end.

Well Spa is living up to its tradition of throwing up odd results. Rained of course, but not all the time, which is also as usual. We are actually moving house as we speak and my recording of practice, it starts a bit early here in Arizona, was interrupted by the cable company swapping the service earlier than we expected, so I have yet to see any of it. Just reading the reports though sounds pretty bizarre. Practice held up by spectators climbing the debris fence! I've seen them climb it in Suzuka at the end of the eight hour and run across the track, and I've seen grandma and the kids break a hole in it at Paul Ricard during the GP to get a better look, but not heard of this one. Then the lights at the end of pit lane would not change? Whole session disrupted so the times are a bit pot luck. Alonso quickest and Hamilton third, so that's not so strange, but Sutil second? It shows that some characteristic of the Force India car especially suits Spa following last years performance. It will be interesting to see if this will continue through the weekend. Webber is way down the field, but says he is not concerned. The comment I liked was Michael showing you can go through Eau Rouge with opposite lock. Now that would be something to see! Not that it did him any good timewise by the look of it.

Red Bull passed the flexi wing test, not that there was any doubt it would, they are way too smart for that.

GP2 qualifying sounds even more chaotic than F1 practice, with the track flooded at one point and a load of accidents. Shook up the order, so that race could be more fun than usual. Series leader Maldonado ended up third in his Rapax team car. Always wondered where the name Rapax came from, and it comes from a Roman Legion with the motto, "we came to win." Very apt for the race team, but it seems the Legion got wiped out!

Lots of activity on the motorcycle front with Ben Spies being confirmed as Lorenzo's team mate for next year. Well deserved after a good rookie season, if you can call a World Superbike Champion a rookie. Colin Edwards is apparently still hoping to retain his Tech 3 ride, while Divizioso is looking to keep his ride at Honda when Casey Stoner moves over. Stoner meanwhile is fastest in first practice at Indy with Lorenzo second and Valentino fifth. What is the story there, Vale still nursing his shoulder and leg? Ducati has withdrawn its' factory team from the World Superbike, a series it has supported and at times dominated since it inception. It says it will leave it to privateer teams to race their machines, but did not sound too please with the direction the class is heading. It sounds as if WSBK is heading away from production machines, which I thought was the whole point, and MotoGP seems to be dumbing down. So in the end we arrive at two series both looking the same? That always seemed inevitable as soon as MotoGP went to four strokes. IRL v's Cart, Grand Am v's ALMS anyone?

ALMS is at Mosport this weekend, a track described by ALMS this way on it's web site. "When it comes to old-school, Mosport International Raceway is as close as it gets. The site of the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón’s eighth and penultimate round has many of the same features it did when it opened 50 years ago – high speed, dangerous curves and a certain level of risk." Could not have put it better myself. Sounds just what you want for an International Race Series in 2010.

Grand Am is supporting the Nationwide series up in Montreal, which should be worth a look to see them on a decent track for once. Can anyone beat Ganassi though?

Finally, congratulations to Rubens for his 300th race. Who could have imagined any driver reaching that milestone? Just putting up with the travel would stop me a long time before that. Eddie Lawson said that he would not have retired if he could have had a helicopter pick him up at his front door and drop him at the track.