Bob Barnard Track Engineering

So New Jersey is postponed because good old American know-how cannot get a road paved with two years notice! This is no surprise, not much about this race has made much sense, and the photo they keep showing as evidence that things are happening look like a parking garage at the ferry terminal to me. As I have often said, I have never had more than a year to build a track, and yes that includes a street track. My last construction job was a $3.5 billion oil refinery built in just over two years, and rebuilding Daytona took less than a year and we needed permits from just about anyone you can name, include FAA, FCC and the Corps of Engineers. So what is really going on? No money to pay Bernie or do the work would seem the likely answer. As with USF1 Team, it makes us, that is the US, look incompetent.

Which leads me to the inevitable question, why is it that would-be track owners do not hire people who know what they are doing? There are a few of us, but it always seems someone turns up who has never done it before. Are these just mates, or do owners just not get it that this is not an easy thing to do if you don't know how? There is no manual for this, experience is the key.

As readers will know I have been off in Mooresville finishing the kart track there which opened October 8th and has been acclaimed as the best in the US by anyone who has seen and driven it. Modelled on the famous Parma track, reworked to modern standards by my friend Jarno Zafelli, it is a technical, fun track to drive. So much fun that NASCAR drivers like Joey Lagarno went out and bought a kart! Working the last few weekends to get the lights installed and the last barriers set up means I missed the last two F1 GP's. Not much loss by the sound of it. Is it not strange that Hamilton suddenly has suspension issues?

So Lewis is off to Mercedes. The rumors were true, and as predicted as soon as Mercedes signed the Concorde Agreement Lewis signed for Mercedes. Interesting that McLaren announced Perez before Mercedes announced Lewis, so they were obviously not confident to keep him. Hopefully Michael Schumacher will hang the helmet up for good. Ross Brawn is putting a good team together at Mercedes after he had to gut the place when Honda left. I for one look forward to what Lewis will do with that car. Not knocking Rosberg, but he is not in the same league as Lewis. Everyone thinks that Lewis had his eye on the 2014 car with the new engine, but not sure that was a factor, Bernie is still trying to can that with the help of Ferrari.

So the silly season can now start in ernest. McLaren have an interesting pair with Button presumably the number one now, and as good as he is he is also not Lewis. Perez has shown us something at times this year and now has the chance to prove he is the goods. Interesting to see what happens with the Telmex money. Sauber will have two new drivers next year, so another young guy with a bag of money and someone like Kovalainen? Ferrari are running out of options to replace Massa, and again Kovalainen could be a good number two for points in the constructors championship. Red Bull are set, and Force India will probably keep their pair, nowhere else to go now. Toro Rosso should keep Ricciardo, but not sure about Vergne. Lotus should keep their guys, even with Grosjean's problems. Who knows what Williams will do. Maldanado is like the Curates egg, "good in parts," while Senna isn't going to make it. Let's not even talk about HRT, Marussia and Caterham, who cares.

A sad indicment of F1 these days is an item in Autosport about the possibility of the French GP going back to Magny-Cours. They are upgrading the circuit. Making more overtaking chances? Widening, repaving? Improving run off? No, they are of course building a new pit building. Let's understand what's important here.

It may just be me, but are politicians clueless? The Governer of Texas is interviewed on the grid at Monza, the oldest, best and most famous GP track, and tells us how much better Austin will be! Wait till you have had a race and let others say how good it is.

So the worst kept secret from the weekend, and no it is not Kenseth going to Joe Gibbs, is the "merger" of ALMS and Grand Am to be announced this morning. It is no merger, Don Panoz is selling the series with Road Atlanta and the Sebring lease to Jim France and Co. down in Daytona. Jim is the Chairman of the new company to manage the new series starting in 2014, with Don as the Vice Chairman, and good old Scott Atherton as the President. What did we say about Baltimore on the weekend? Quoting Einstein, doing the same thing and expecting a different result is stupid. Who ran ALMS to a point it could not survive, and now you put them in charge of the new series?

Check out the latest from Peter De Lorenzo:

http://www.sportscarinsider.com/the-edge/2012/9/4/grand-am-alms-pt-ii-de-lorenzo-goes-deep.html

Peter asks a lot of good questions, and I for one am afraid of the answers. As I have suggested before, perhaps the only really sustainable sports car racing in the US is the GT class as run in the ALMS. If Grand Am manages to neuter that class with its tube frame cars someone might just start their own. We can only hope.

Sunday was a day to relax, stay out of the heat, and watch some racing, for professional purposes mostly.

The day started early with a real Grand Prix from Spa, that wonderful track that never fails to deliver a good race. Having the La Source hairpin right after the start is my one criticism as it inevitably leads to a first corner crash, and we saw a really scary one yesterday thanks to Grosjean, who has rightly been excluded from the next race as a result. With the topography of Spa it is hard to see where else they could start an F1 race, so I guess it is down to the drivers. No hope then. The crash seems to have revived the closed cockpit calls, which I for one will not be happy to see. Are we going to mandate closed sports cars, Formula Vee etc?

For me Spa has delivered the three most memorable passing manoeuvres of recent times. Hakkinen on Schumacher at the approach to Les Combs, Webber on Alonso at Eau Rouge, and yesterday Raikkonen on Schumacher at Eau Rouge. They all combined immense skill and commitment, trust, and a large dose of balls.

And so to Baltimore, another "Grand Prix." When will America stop devaluing this title? There is a great post about doing the same thing twice and expecting a different result:

Once again we see Indycar shoot itself in the foot with the debacle at Baltimore. At the risk of being repetitive, why run a race to show off your sport and/or a city and not take the necessary steps to make sure it runs right and puts on a show? We had Detroit earlier in the year, and of course the usual crash fest at Sao Paulo, and Edmonton is a disaster waiting to happen. There are people who know how to do this, and I'm not just saying me. Kirk Russell, late of CART, set up St Petersburg, and while I don't like all of it, it is safe and done well. Baltimore had twelve months to sort this out, despite the change of promoter, and learned nothing from the same problem in San Jose. Yes it takes some investment, but once spent it reaps the rewards of an ongoing successful show.

Speaking of investment, I want to applaud my client at Mooresville Motorplex, Justin Marks and his partners, for making the investment to do it right, setting a new standard for karting in the US. And the rewards have started even before we have finished. SPEED were on site Wednesday for three hours for a show next week. Has SPEED ever shown karting? NBC is coming September 14 for a reality show episode, and Justin has two major races booked for next year already. It is such a pleasant change from previous clients I will not mention. 

My absence from blogs recently is partly down to working all hours to finish Mooresville, but also due to the lack of anything interesting. F1 has been on its holidays, and not much else stirs the blood. Spa has predictably been wet, but congratulations to Button on his pole for the race. Interesting grid could make for a good race, but how long is Sir Frank going to put up with Maldanado? While the check still clears I guess. He obviously has a good car this year, now he just needs someone to drive it.