Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Heat, we love it. Had breakfast outside this morning, no humidity and a great temperature. Place is looking like home already. This is what I remember from my years in Alice Springs, yes the sun is strong if you are stupid enough to stand out in it, but shade is great.

Had a very good session yesterday getting up to speed on the project. Visited with the architect on the graphic renderings of the track layout and buildings for the presentations. This is going to really surprise people, and not just in the US! This will be something really special, and the track layout I like more every time I look at it. Logo is just about there and web site will launch in two weeks. There will be a blog page on it with the latest development news and this blog will also be added to it. I will continue under this log in as well so you can take your pick.

San Antonio is looking to build a first stage of their track all in the base of the quarry, so hopefully that project will move forward. Still no news from Singapore or Saudi, but one of the expert witness cases is moving again. The wheels of justice grind exceedingly slow, but exceedingly fine, as someone once said.

Carl Edwards latest move at the weekend is not winning him many friends in the paddock, and the media are asking if the NASCAR move to allow more freedom for these guys to hit each other has gone a tad too far. Someone is going to get really hurt here soon, not that I want to take all the "rubbing" out of the racing, just the purposeful hit to take someone out.

You have heard me talk about Jeremy Burgess, the man behind Valentino Rossi, Mick Doohan and countless other Champions. Well it seems Jeremy is not likely to go to Ducati with Rossi, wishing to stay at Yamaha. Perhaps he sees Lorenzo as the future? Of course he plays down his value, it is a team thing, they can do without me. Yeh right Jeremy, I have been around you for twenty five years so tell that to someone else.

Jacques Villeneuve's F1 team bid has been rumored to be backed by Gadafi's son, with ties to the state owned oil company Tamoil. He denies it, but it reminded me of when I was promoting the USGP at Laguna for Kenny back in 1993. We were having trouble interesting US companies in sponsoring the race, and a "French Connection" said he had a deal for us, but could not tell us who it was. OK, the money was good, but as we got close to the race I said we had to start making signage so I needed to know who it was. He told us it was an oil company. Great, I thought, Total. Well, they then said they were working on State Dept. clearance! That ran up a few red flags. Iraq? can't be. No he said it is OK,  it is Tamoil, from Libya! In 1993 we were not so friendly as now with Libya, so I could see some definite downsides to the USGP being backed by a Libyan oil company. Grid girls in yashmaks? Libyan suicide squads parachuting from the sky? Needless to say we said thanks, but no thanks.

Lastly, there is a great piece on the Jaguar effort in the ALMS and Le Mans on the Last Turn Club page, http://lastturnclub.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=712&Itemid=51. I believe this is what I have been saying for a couple of months now. Sad.

Not much to comment on today. If you want a very good run down on the state of sportscar racing in the US following the Miller ALMS race then log on to www.lastturnclub.com.

Rossi says he will not win at Laguna Seca this weekend, he is saving that for a later race, so Lorenzo and the rest of the boys need to make hay etc. It will be interesting to see how Roger Hayden goes on a track he will know better than most and on a bike that has shown good form this year with de Puniet.

Red Bull are still at it. You must be getting tired of me writing about them , but they cannot help themselves. A week and a half later, and now the "engineer" come out and says Mark did not like that wing anyway.

On the home front the house is starting to look sorted, just need to recycle the paper and boxes now so we can walk around. Yesterday's meeting turned out to be defined by when people thought "tomorrow" was, so it is today. I'll update you tomorrow, that would be Wednesday, on the project.

One of the results of moving is changing the time zones. Has some good consequences, football starts early and we do not have to stay up all night to watch. On the other hand events like the Tour de France starts around 4 am! Good job they repeat it. We have a great race going, sure Lance is out of the running but he is hanging in there to finish and we have a terrific duel going on between Schleck and Contador. Great mental sparring going on and they are in a class of their own this year, except "class" is not a word I would use for Contador after today's move on Schleck. I cannot believe that Lance or one of the other greats would have taken advantage of a mechanical problem of his rival.

It is taking some time to get the house sorted, but it has only been two days. Kitchen is nearly done, but still boxes everywhere. Still found time to put the finishing touches to the web site, all we need now is the logo. Getting together this morning with the other partners so maybe we can decide on the final design. It will be good to catch up with the other guys and find out what has gone on while I have been moving.

My great friend Snoopy, who is French, says he cannot believe how much we move, Europeans cannot leave home like that. If I had lived in France perhaps I could not either, but England in the late 60's was not fun, and besides, most people in this sport have to move. When I worked with Kenny I asked why there were so many Australians and New Zealanders, and he said they were used to traveling and living in different countries.

Fantastic result for Valentino Rossi yesterday, he held nothing back despite the leg, fighting with Stoner for the last podium spot. Commentators made a lot of him riding with his broken leg, and sure that is very gutsy, but not unusual for motorcycle riders. Doohan rode just about all season with a broken leg and a thumb brake. Still do not know how they do it given the amount of effort it takes with the legs to turn these machines. Nice to see that Roger Hayden will replace De Puniet rather than some geriatric test rider, as it should be, give the young guys an opportunity.

Buemi says he has now decided to re-sign with Torro Rosso, but Glock is one of the drivers being tipped to replace Petrov, despite a pretty good rookie season. Renault are obviously looking to build a serious team again.

Bernie is playing his usual games, saying he does not really need the Monaco GP. He tried to get rid of it once before as he does not control it and they do not pay the fess like everyone else, but the sponsors told him he had to keep it. Maybe the reduction in sponsor support has given him ammunition to do it this time. He is looking to bring in India and Russia, while keeping the teams happy by limiting the number of races to twenty. At the same time that argument over the logos on team trucks continues. It seems so petty I can only imagine APM is hurting for signage money.

Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz assures us that he will give both his drivers equal treatment even if it costs them the title. They cannot shut up about it can they? Just show us, don't tell us. Ferrari's Team Manager has told his men that anyone who does not still believe they can win the Championship can leave now. I like that.

IRL put on their annual crash fest in Toronto, and elsewhere Carl Edwards pulled his usual stunt to win a race."We came here to win," even if you kill someone I suppose? Grand Am had a race in New Jersey, but did anyone notice?

Furniture arrived this morning so a day or two unpacking. Won't unpack it all as we will be moving again when the actual track construction starts, need to be closer as the days will be long. These first months are for planning and selling, so need to be here in Mesa. Did this in Georgia, and it is hard as we always need something we did not unpack, so we have to start guessing which box it is in.

Still working with the webmaster to finalize the site. It is my 90/10 rule again, it takes 10%of the effort to get it to 90% finished, and 90% of the effort to finish the last 10%. Always tempting to go public with something close to finished, but that would be a mistake.

Well done Valentino with fifth fastest in qualifying for the German MotoGP. His team "mate" Lorenzo is on pole, and pole is looking very familiar in every class. Vale is aiming for fourth in the race, and who would bet against him?

Le Mans Series in Portugal at the Algarve circuit. Big guys missing so Oreca is on pole in the private Peugeot, but not by much from the petrol brigade. Good field, but it does not seem a real LMS event without the big teams.

Interesting that Jacques Villeneuve has submitted a bid to be the next team to join F1. He has kept that pretty quiet. Not saying if he plans to drive or just manage. If you recall he has done this once before with his manager Craig Pollock when they set up British American racing that morphed into Honda and then Brawn. So do  not write him off, he is apparently collaborating with Durango, a GP2 team, in the bid. The decision is supposed to be the end of this month. I am amazed that none of my readers has any scoop on who Cypher is.

Looked at the web site for the new project. Nearly ready. Going to be in tune with the Spanish heritage of the area and the climate, Sol Real (Royal Sun) Motorsport Resort. Architecture will be Spanish Mission. Project will be very stylish. Need to agree on a logo so we can finalize the website, and just a few tweaks. Really hard to find good photos of country club type tracks, but my good buddy Greg Sarni has helped out. Need to catch up with what has happened since my little detour via Louisiana.

Next week will be busy with setting up the hanger for meeting prospective members, and actually starting sessions with them to explain the project. Just heard that the nearby casino has committed to building a new $20m tower as an addition, so someone else has confidence in the local economy, and it is a great amenity for our members. They will of course prefer our clubhouse, but it is nice to have options.

On the motorsport scene it seems Red Bull management cannot learn when to shut up. After saying they are all friends again, Helmut Marko comes out and says he does not know what Mark wants, he is in a great team and winning races. Vettel should be the one complaining due to all his mechanical problems. If you do not understand what Mark wants Helmut then you should do as Hans Stuck suggested and retire. Jos Verstappen said he would have trod on the wing so neither of them could use it, Go Jos!

Ferrari say they were not told "immediately" to let Kubica back past, Charlie Whiting took a whole 1 minute and 55 seconds. Wow! And of course Charlie only told them his opinion based on what he thought the Stewards would do, and he was correct, so stop whining Ferrari. If you had taken his advice, or better still do it your self straight away, Alonso would have re-passed Kubica easily as the Renault had a problem, and he would have been in a great position.

So Yamamoto did such a great job at Silverstone that he is going to replace Chandook for the next race. I guess HRT   think that if they keep giving him rides his wallet will weigh less each time so he will get quicker? Buemi denies he has re-signed with Torro Rosso and says the transfer market is still open, but where is he going to get a better ride? Does he know something we do not? Does he think a seat is coming available at the senior Red Bull Team? On a similar note Virgin hope to retain Timo Glock, but what seats are open to Timo, as good as he is? Nico Rosberg's new team mate?

Valentino Rossi amazed everyone with his pace yesterday at the German Motorcycle GP, finishing seventh fastest. His fit team mate, Lorenzo, could only manage one place better. Medical science and the willingness of these guys to ride with pain is unbelievable. I saw it with Wayne Rainey, Wayne Gardner, and Mick Doohan, the mark of a true champion, and basically anyone in this sport.