Bob Barnard Track Engineering

I had a lazy day yesterday after being up watching the F1 race from Melbourne, and what a good race it was. So, I tuned in to the NASCAR race from Bristol.

Now I should tell you that in US sport folklore there are two stadiums where you cannot buy a seat, you have to wait till someone dies. These are Green Bay in the NFL, and Bristol. Well there must have been an epidemic in Tennessee as to me it looked two thirds empty! Shocked is the only word to describe my reaction. As you will know if you read my blog recently about the death of spectator racing this is how most race tracks look, and NASCAR has been struggling, but this was something different. If you cannot fill more than a third of the seats at Bristol then you are in real trouble. It seems you can tinker with the way the cars look, and I do prefer the current crop, but if there is something inherently wrong then that is not going to fix it. You cannot keep on blaming the economy, it is slowly recovering, and there is a great crop of good young drivers, so what is going on here?

Those of us that live here in the US, and trust me I love to live here, have to suffer through the worst race coverage thanks to SPEED and now NBC. SPEED, aka "The NASCAR Channel and those things owned by NASCAR, "showed the Sebring 8 Hour yesterday. Yes I know it is a 12 hour race, but it seems they did not. Despite Bob Varsha promising we will not miss any of the action they promptly signed off and went to NASCAR practice, not a race, for an hour. They then came back for an afternoon of the usual "infomercials" for other shows on Fox stations, Michelin, Chevrolet, Mazda etc, broken up by the inane commentary. I say commentary, but it is actually huckstering for the series as the station has a vested interest in telling us this is the best racing on earth. How about some honest reporting, and oh yes, some silence so we can hear the cars?

I watched the F1 race via live streaming of Sky, and was delighted when their pit reporter just held his microphone out during a Ferrari pit stop so we could hear it, without the necessary female telling us they were putting on Pirelli tires. SPEED meanwhile left the 12 hour race at 7:30 PM, with three hours to go, and crossed to watch AMA Supercross. That tells me how sports car racing rates! They were to come back at 10:30 pm, and as the race started at 10:45 am we were to be treated to the last couple of laps and the podiums, or a taped delayed version once the result was known by anyone with a computer. Needless to say I did not bother. An endurance race is complex, and it is impossible to follow who is where in each class and on what strategy when the broadcast is so broken up and commentators so stupid. For some reason Radio Le Mans was not working.

Over at NBC, who are covering the F1 races this year, things are very similar. Practice and qualifying sessions were scheduled about an hour or so after the actual times they are going on. Do they think we are stupid? Don't answer that. They obviously think the average viewer is by what they show on Network TV. I cannot complain about their commentators as I did not watch NBC, but knowing Leigh Diffey is one of them is enough. Makes me cringe as an Aussie.

I would guess that most of you have read the book "The Art of Racing in the Rain." Good book, and so popular the FIA have brought you a sequal, "Racing in the Slightly Wet." It is more of a serial, as it happens often during the year, the latest edition being Melbourne qualifying last night, for me anyway. I got up at 2 am to watch, and like so many I would guess gave up at 3 am and went back to sleep.

The FIA have regulated themselves almost into NASCAR where we cannot race if it rains a bit. NASCAR must laugh when they see the high tech brooms being wielded by marshals to dry the track. How did we get to a point where it is not possible to stay on the track when it rains? The stupid regulation putting cars into parc ferme when qualifying starts. Now I understand how that started, but like always they go too far. No one wants to go back to 1000 hp plus qualy engines good for two laps, but the current restrictions go too far. If teams could alter ride height and change wings for more downforce we might see some racing, instead of the medical car running around. Common sense is not very common it seems. Why not just draw lots for starting grid, the current system is just a lottery anyway, and is damaging cars.

No one wants to see drivers hurt racing in unsafe conditions, but there must be a happy medium here. And what's the idea of three sets of rain tires other than to save Pirelli money? Are we being "green?" We will get to a wet race one weekend where they use all the tires and the race is cancelled. If teams had more tires they could be out circulating and moving water off the track, instead of sitting in the garage saving tires.

Oh yes, then we have the 5 pm start time thanks to Bernie to suit European viewers. If the US is so important then why do we have to watch at 2 am? We saw in Malaysia a few years ago the problems a delay then causes, and we saw it again last night, because it was almost night in Melbourne by the time they gave up. The next call will be for two day GPs again if you can fit in Qualifying and race on Sunday.

Spectator motorsport in the US is dying, and I suspect that Europe is not far behind. OK, NASCAR can still fill half the stands, which is still a big crowd, but it is not what it was. Look at the Nationwide and Truck series and see who turns up. And then there is the Daytona 24 hour, arguably the best field of drivers put together for a race in the US, and it used to be a serious world wide event. I couldn't be bothered to watch most of it, and even less spectators turned up despite the best efforts of the SPEED Team to beat it up. So what happened? ALMS/Grand-Am combined is not going to change the series from a "back gate" supported basis, i.e. those that race pay entry fees to go race. Rich boys toys. IndyCar is going nowhere, and let's not even talk about motorcycle road racing. Supercross and Monster Trucks are what people seem to want to watch.

We saw the announcement today that the once mighty British F3 series, what was THE proving ground for young talent, is down to 4 rounds this year for lack of entries. The Italian F3 is cancelled altogether. Marussia let Timo Glock go because they have no money to pay him, they need a driver to pay them. How long can they go on?  So Glock is off to the DTM, which seems to have a clue how to make this work. Perhaps it is the three manufacturers paying for it? The Australian V8Supercars also seemed to have a formula for success, but now a venture capital firm owns it watch out. They are off the bill in Abu Dhabi, and the entry of Nissan and Mercedes will not please the Holden/Ford faithful, especially if they win!

Bernie for once is faced with a less than full calendar due to promoters and Governments not willing or able to meet his price. Are the cracks in the business model starting to show?

So what's wrong? Motorsport is expensive. It costs a lot more than a tennis racket and a pair of shoes to go play. Would be professionals, their families or sponsors, have to spend millions to get anywhere near the top and make money. Even at the top, F1, very few drivers are earning and not paying. Compare this with the three major, and successful sports here in the US. Football, Basketball and Baseball. All have systems in place to develop talent, either through colleges or minor leagues, knowing that their success depends totally upon new players coming in to keep filling the seats. Players get there on merit, not money. Motorsport, apart from a few schemes, has no such succession planning in place, not even for Bernie! The money gets sucked out, and nothing is going back to make people want to watch.

Now this is somewhat simplistic, as there are other social and generational factors going on, but that is the point. The game is changing and no one in charge is doing anything to make sure motor sport survives, and electric racing is not the solution.

Happy New Year everyone, let's hope it's good for us all.

As I wrote the other week I for one have been waiting to hear what they actually have as evidence on Lance Armstrong. What a witch hunt. Now there is a great piece from a cycle racing photographer that at least provides some balance. Read it for your selves at:

http://www.grahamwatson.com/view/viewmain.html

But I will quote a few extracts to make you interested.

"Outright angels do not win a Tour de France. That is the domain of the most talented, hard, driven, ruthless and selfish riders. Lance did what he had to do to win, and he clearly did it very well. If he cheated, he cheated the other cheats of that era, even if by doing so he also cheated an adoring public. He didn’t kill anyone along the way, and as a father of five, he’s no child molester either. For me, his punishment outweighs the alleged crimes, for a lifetime ban from all sports seems quite draconian in this day and age."

" Still, there were so many sides to USADA’s Reasoned Decision that it has been hard to separate the trees from the forest. I for one would have liked to had seen Armstrong appeal, if only to hear the other story that I am sure is out there. Like it, or not, USADA has done its work very well. It’s gone where no other national anti-drug agency has dared go, or could go without the millions of US$ afforded to its operations. Never mind that USADA has plunged a blunt knife through the heart of the sport – they got their man, after a ruthless hunt, and that’s all they care about. I have winced at their tactics, and at the paucity of any scientific evidence, and cringed at the scandalous sentences handed out to those who informed, willingly or otherwise, on Armstrong. Yet in the absence of any appeal, any reaction, any hint of a response, nor any confession, the case against Armstrong is closed – it is what it is." My italics.

2013 marks the 100th Tour de France, and I am making plans to go, it remains one of the World's great sporting events.