Bob Barnard Track Engineering

So NASCAR has "reacted quickly" to the death of Kevin Ward Jr. and made a new rule for drivers to stay in their car unless in dire emergency. Not so quickly as some local oval series, but they have reacted.

That is the point. They react to an incident and stick a band aid on it. How about being pro-active? Blind Freddy could see that sooner or later a driver wandering around on a hot race track seeking payback was going to be hit. It took a death to fix it. But what if Tony Stewart had not been the driver to hit Kevin? Suppose it was just another Saturday night local racer? Would we even have heard about it? We kill or maim people every week on tracks in the US, and unless someone well known is involved who cares? Ray Dunlap said on NASCAR Race Hub in the week that 25 people are killed a year, and I bet that is just in the NASCAR related races he knows about. What about kart tracks, private testing, track days etc?

I saw the reaction of one track after a 12 year old boy on a kart was decapitated for the lack of a barrier. They immediately installed a fence, straw bales, tires and plastic barriers. They said they could not do it beforehand as they could not predict where the accident would happen! There are tracks built all around the world where the basis of their design is the prediction of accidents and measures put in place to prevent or ameliorate them. We have over 100 years of knowledge and experience and now computer simulation to assist us, so why do we still have tracks that do not install the basic systems or do so incorrectly?

It took a big wreck at Watkins Glen for drivers to ask for improvements. Let's see how fast NASCAR reacts to that.

There was a lot of talk about how great it is that in 2014 Sebring looks like it did 50 years ago. What other major track looks 50 years old and has outdated safety. Probably the other track owned by ISC, Watkins Glen. And this is good why? I have said in past years that there is a point beyond which "character" becomes dangerous, and Sebring is long past this. Turn 17 is hideous with cars "kangaroo hopping" through it. Dorsey Schroeder said he was always amazed when he got through it each lap. Well we had a reg flag for a couple of cars that did not. The wall on drivers left at exit is too close and has one row of tires not properly attached. Compare that with Turn 5 in Melbourne where there are at least four rows if not five. Again the wall comes back to accommodate the bridge abutment.

That was just one crash however. After the three hours on Fox, with all the usual infomercials and historic photos we had a car almost burned to the ground and a previous crash so had about an hour of racing. It got a little better when it streamed on IMSA.com with fewer breaks, but in the end we had almost 6 hours of yellow and red flag in a 12 hour race. Part of this the ridiculous time it takes to clear a car and get back to racing under the closed pit lane system. In the last hour we had a car off at Turn 9, not damaged, just stopped. It took 30 minutes to go back racing, so we had a 20 minute sprint and no time to catch the Ganassi car which benefited from pitting just before the yellow.

The standard of driving was so bad that even Jim France suggested that they pass out business cards for racing schools. I know "gentlemen" drivers have been part of sports car racing since the first Le Mans, but some basic level has to be maintained or as was said, they will kill someone. It says much for the design of the cars that no one was, especially the crashes at 16 & 17. 

The US commentary was right up to it's usual standard. They must think we are idiots, Radio Le Mans where are you? On Motors TV in Europe that's where. Two gems when it got dark  Varsha, " now you can see why headlights are so important." His emphasis. The Justin Bell talking about how drivers cope with the reduced visiblity at night. "Generally the track doesn't change between corners." Really, so sometimes they rush out and throw in a chicane or something? Honestly, you couldn't make this stuff up.

I am at a total loss why Fox would even show this. Three hours of a twelve hour race, and the first three, not the last. Filled with ads and nonsense. It must be a condition of the NASCAR contract.

While Lewis Hamilton took the pole on a last gasp run it was Daniel Ricciardo who won the hearts of the Australian crowd, and the plaudits of most viewers with his well deserved 2nd place on the grid. He out performed his world champion team mate, and got between the two Mercedes who seemed unstoppable. Both Nico and Lewis made it through Q1 with ease only using the slower of the two tire choices.

The Rookies also put on a great show with Magnussen and Kvyat both putting in very sure performances, especially in the really difficult wet Q2 & 3 sessions, Magnussen out performing his world champion team mate Jenson Button. Kvyat made an amazing turn around from Friday where all he seemed to do was get in the way, but today we saw why he has the ride. Both Toro Rosso's made it into Q3, while their "parent" Red Bull could not, with Vettel struggling. 

Lotus continued their terrible form, with Maldonado not even getting in a lap, and Grosjean failing to get out of Q1. Both drivers very unhappy and saying so. What contributes to the problems of all the teams is the time it now takes to fix an issue. It is said it takes 6 hours to change an engine, and a lot, lot more to change the whole power system. Lots of teams are breaking the curfew out of shear necessity. We will see who can make it to the grid. With the time between practices and qualifying a problem can cost you a day, and time is something no amount of money or resources can fix.

It appears that all the cars will be able to start having done enough to avoid 107% rule problems. The start should be interesting as there are comments that some cars are better than others in getting off the line, so be sure to watch. Rain tommorrow will make it even more interesting.

Along with most commentators I was pleasantly surprised at how well the cars performed in the wet, some actually looking better. This can often be the case if they are down on power or have a softer set up, but with the torque available I expected a lot more problems. Williams was the only team that really looked uncomfortable in the wet, especially Massa who had some lurid moments even in a straight line. All the drivers were really having to perform, no running on rails with these cars, which is great to see. There were problems with the white lines and painted out lines on the track, which should just not happen in this day and age. The technology exists and is used in places like Singapore to remove the lines before a race, and non-slip paint is readily available and should be standard issue even for everyday use on a street track.

There were a couple of casualties in the wet. Raikkonen hit the wall on the exit of turn 3 and admitted he was fiddling with his steering wheel. Why are there no tires on the inside of the exit of that corner? It is a pretty popular spot to hit. Kvyat lost it on the back of the circuit and collected the wall on a sweeper which is not a spot you'd expect. Lines again. Both cars should be OK.

Even in the dry Martin Brundle made the comment that instead of losing cars from unreliability he is now concerned how many will be lost to accidents. The brake by wire continues to cause drivers to miss their braking points and apexes, and running wide at entry and exit is proving to be a risk all on its own.

So, the most interesting Grand Prix for some time awaits us tomorrow. Mercedes look the goods, but in the dry had issues with tire wear. Whoever wins this is going to need all the skill, experience, intelligence and all the luck he can call on. One not to miss. 

Sebring 12 hours is on today, and we are certainly not going to see much of it. Lots of good drivers, but without the LMP1 cars not what it used to be. Big crash yesterday in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge when Marc Miller was spun into the wall protecting the bridge abutment. This was an accident waiting to happen, and I am surprised it took so long. Why when you started with a wide open airfield did you have to build a bridge to the infield that was narrower than the track and verges leading up to it? Again in this day and age not good enough. A classic case of making the track fit the obstacles instead of the other way around.

You may wonder why I prattle on about track safety here in the US. Here is a photo of an incident at what is supposed to be one of our top tracks, owned by the largest track owner in the world.

The photographer suffered three broken ribs, three broken bones in his upper left arm along with two puncture wounds in his arm from the breaks, a small “brain bleed,” and multiple cuts and abrasions. Lucky to be alive. Not much in this photo is correct.

Meanwhile, NASCAR has made up new rules to prevent a recurrence of the "race" at Richmond, including the need for drivers to race at 100%. 100% of what? If a driver is leading but in fuel saving mode, is he disqualified? And then we had the Chicago farce. After sitting around for 5+ hours most of the few spectators that were there had gone home. So what did we do once they actually put cars on the track? Went to a pit stop under yellow. Why not start the race and let them take their chances with a green flag stop? The TV guys were even better, no sooner had the pit stops finished they went to an ad! At that point I turned off, as I suspect both the other viewers did too.

So JPM to Penske in IRL. It always struck me as odd that Ganassi sacked JPM from the NASCAR team and then suggested he might like him in his Indycar. Why not just transfer him? No wonder JPM said yes please to Roger. Should be interesting to see him next year, might liven up the racing.

No surprise that Baltimore is not back next year. Good riddance, awful track, and how they could say they had a larger crowd this year is beyond even most promoters imagination.

Kimi to Ferrari, you read it here.

Well it would be if it wasn't so serious for the teams that have to repair the cars. I asked the question a while ago why anyone watches Indycar, a rhetorical question, but the one that follows is why would Baltimore want to stage a race on a terrible race track that has for three years now shown the city in nothing but a bad light. Some people would give them a pass in year one, not me, but some would and did. But by the third year they have learned nothing, and done nothing to resolve the safety issues. Doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result is the basis of stupidity. 

So we have damaged cars, lost points, and short "races." The cost to the teams would pay for the improvements, and if I were a spectator I would be asking for my money back for the amount of racing I saw. The Indycars were hard pushed to do a lap before running into each other, and let's not talk about the ALMS start! If possible there were less spectators on Sunday than Saturday, maybe they saw enough Saturday to know what to expect Sunday. As Gordon Kirby rightly says on his race report for Motor Sport magazine, when are Indycar going to realize that putting your show on at bad tracks does no one any good. I think I have said this a few times myself. Like staging Sinatra in a pig stye. 

It was a big weekend of racing with WEC at Sao Paulo, MotoGP at Silverstone, and NASCAR at Atlanta. WEC lacked any real interest once the Toyota was punted off. The most exciting time was the Ferrari catching fire, and being destroyed due to the lack of effective fire response. Not good enough for a World Championship. MotoGP put on their usual good show, but let's hope there are more competitive machines next year. Marquez is an obvious worthy Champion and following in Kenny Roberts footsteps in what he is achieving in his rookie year. NASCAR was the usual biff and barge, but good to see Kyle Bush winning. With Tony Stewart a real racer. Good to see Kyle Larson getting a ride too, well deserved, he has driven just about anything he can get into this year. Chip Gannassi has had him under contract for a while it seems, but still not sure why Ryan Newman is out when Danica can only run midfield at best. Checkbook race politics. Kurt Busch deserves the chance after what he has done with the Denver Mattress car this year. 

Not sure Daniel Ricciardo has done enough, but I hope to be proved wrong. At least it answers one question about who goes where next year. Kimi was never going to Red Bull, but Ferrari? He was pushed out if you recall, so he might enjoy going back to prove them wrong, but will Alonso really want him? Alonso had everyone going last weekend with the tweets on a big announcement, and great to see him support his local cycling team and hopefully get them up winning with the top teams.

We are still waiting to find out about whose tires F1 is using next year, and where we will be racing, and of course the new engine and car package will shake up the pieces. In the meantime we have Monza to look forward to.