Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Jean Todt and Bernie are obviously not having a summer break. As I said Jean is gladhanding himself around South America, kissing babies and promising and reassuring, must be an election coming?

Bernie is setting a cracking pace for an 80 year old. Today there are stories all over the internet. The sale of the QPR shares, his and Briatore's, has been completed, so I guess he does not have to go to all those matches now. He is reassuring us that India will not only be ready but it will be very nice. Of course he says that F1 will have a problem getting the Indians to watch it instead of cricket, so the Indian GP and sponsors have to work very hard. How about CVC working hard for their $40m or whatever the fee is? Bernie says India is important, and it is and becoming more so, so shouldn't he work to make F1 relevant? Of course he says F1 will be good for India, and as Pit Pass says, as good as it is for Valencia, Turkey, China, and I could add Melbourne, Spa, Hockenheim and Nurburgring, not to mention France?

That's not all though. He was seen on his yacht, don't know how he found the time, and Vettel was with him apparently. They took time off to go to Paul Ricard to watch a Spanish lady racer, Maria de Villota, drive a 2 year old Renault F1 car. Now if Bernie wanted to get a women in F1 then I would have thought there were a few others in front of a 31 year old daughter of a Spanish driver who drove so well in F1 I don't even remember him. 

And it goes on, what a day he had. Commenting to Italian newspapers that it was sad to see such a superhuman driver like Michael struggling.

Last but not least come the news that the old partners in the F1 ownership, EM.TV, now called Constantin Medien, are suing Bernie, his Bambino company, partner Steven Mullens, and poor old Gribkowsky, for $100m in loss of profits due to the sale to CVC. Doesn't sound like this business is going away any time soon, but still Bernie has all that free time now he does not have to watch QPR.

Jean Todt is continuing his world tour. After telling us Mexico should have a grand prix he is now in Sao Paulo and telling us the Interlagos track is safe, it was the cars that caused the deaths not the track. So now Jean is a track design expert? He may well be right, F1 cars have become very safe for the drivers so they would probably survive a similar accident, but why not remove the cause of the accident?

Not a lot else going on today. Interesting article by Miles Geauxbye, sounds like he is from Louisiana, on The Last Turn Club about the future of ALMS. Some of us have suspected for a long time it does not have one, but it is still there.

http://lastturnclub.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=786&Itemid=51

A couple of articles in this month's Motor Sport. Mat Oxley talking about the lack of overtaking in MotoGP, sound familiar? Too many rider aids, and too much manufacturer influence, something I've said for years. I think if you asked the fans we would still be racing 500cc two strokes.

The other is about our friend Tavo and Austin. I think Austin is probably a great place to stage it, like Adelaide, small enough to have everyone involved but big enough to have all the restaurants and entertainment people want. The Oz GP went missing when it moved to Melbourne. Tavo had an odd statement though that "many of the circuit's details will be unfinished by next year's race." He went on to say he hoped "the fans understand that there will be some components that aren't exactly ironed out...some things will have to wait until 2013, 14 or 15." Sounds like the Indian GP, the pits are finished but sorry about the grandstand. 

Nice to see another Aussie doing well in motorsport last weekend. Well Monday actually as the NASCAR race was rained out and run Monday morning, so by the time I remembered it was over. Marcus Ambrose had a break through win at the Watkins Glen road course, now we need an oval win. Confirms what I always thought, the V8Supercar drivers are as good as any tin top drivers in the world. Just look at how drivers from other series struggle when they come to Bathurst, very few have been successful.

That other winning Aussie Casey Stoner tested next year's MotoGP bike along with most of the others and was still fastest. They all enjoyed the extra grunt from the 1000cc engine. Casey and Lorenzo seem to be waivering about not going to Japan, you can imagine the pressure from their teams, while Rossi now says he probably will not go. Riding for an Italian team lets him make up his own mind presumably. Interesting to know how many Ducatis are sold in Japan though. Just maybe Ducati won't mind one GP where they are runnning around out of contention?

Over at Mercedes Michael says he will definitely be back next year, and Haug says they cannot expect to win for a while. Are the two related? Norbert says it took Red Bull 5 years to get there, but this was a team that won the Championship two years ago, so how does that work? 

Mercedes should be applauded for helping out a young man who did not have a hand. In a wonderful piece of PC he is described as having "a lower arm deficiency that means his left arm stops at his wrist." You can read the whole story on ESPNF1, and it is certainly one of the best things F1 has done lately. Thanks to Ross Brawn and the team they have arranged for a new bionic hand to be supplied free as part of a deal for technical cooperation with the manufacturers, Touch Electronics. It seems when Ross started making enquiries both parties realised how much technology they had in common. A nice feel warm story, and again displays the incredible technology in an F1 car that most of us do not see.

I watched the Indycar race from New Hampshire yesterday and I hope a few more did than were at the track. I've seen bigger crowds at an SCCA race at Texas Motor Speedway. Of course the track's General Manager said how pleased he was at the attendance, I bet Bruton Smith wasn't. Dario had the race won until he and Sato managed to run into each other on a restart, and it looked to me like Dario moved down on him, but that was not how he saw it. Rain was a factor, bringing the race time forward to try and beat it, but the boys did not need rain to crash, Conway taking out Rahal at the first corner, and the Castroneves losing it there the next lap. Nice tire wall there made of used race tires! Could barely hold themselves up let alone stop a car, and in the wrong place. Will Power got all hot and bothered at the last restart after being taken out when he had a chance of closing the gap on Dario in the Championship. Lots of talk about the track being too damp to restart it, but in reality only one driver spun and caused the rest of the carnage, all the other drivers managed to keep it straight. Now that's not to say they would not have spun later, but in racing someone has to make a decision and live with it, it is not a democracy. Have the ratings really improved so much that ABC will now carry the races and not Versus, or did they work out the ratings would never improve on Versus?  

Missed the MotoGP race but was fortunate to see a great Moto2 race, just like the 250cc days. I like the Brno track and it has aged well. Great use of the topography. A little repetitive in the corners, but produces some good races, and a lot of spectators. Interesting Honda are saying they will limit bikes for next year in MotoGP, but one has Bradl's name on it already. Northern European market must need a boost, but well deserved. Great news that Gardner Senior and Junior, and Mick Doohan are to ride at Phillip Island this year, nice touch, and Remy is to have the Moto3 bike for 2012 to ride.

No blog would be complete without a reference to Bernie. News today that he is going to sell his shares in QPR soccer team to Tony Fernandes. Good time to sell as they have just been promoted to the Premier League, so sell at the top, it probably will not last. Apparently he cannot get on with the other shareholder, Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal. Now Lakshmi has in the past shown an interest in F1, and it is a shame he does not have a team because then we really could have had a driver "put the pedal to the Mitall."

Is it me or has it rained on just about every race this year at some stage? The "best drivers in the world" if you believe NASCAR are sitting it out at Watkins Glen, a road course, 'cause it's raining. Put some treads on and race, it's not an oval.

In Brno yesterday's third practice was wet and saw a number of falls, including Friday' surprise package John Hopkins who will not race due to broken fingers. Hero to zero. Stoner won handily from Dovi and Simoncelli after Pedrosa crashed out early. He just tried harder in the race was Casey's comment on the win. Lorenzo chose the wrong tire and had to settle for fourth with team mate Spies riding shotgun for him. Only 13 bikes finished, with Rossi sixth in front of his team mate Hayden. Suzuki's weekend went from looking good to disaster as Bautista crashed out of 7th place. This cannot do Suzuki's chances of running a team next year any good.

The F3 Masters was run at the Zandvoort circuit, of which I have fond memories from growing up in England. It brings together all the various F3 series runners and is part of the new FIA F3 Championship, won by Merhi despite being disqualified after making contact with Juncadella as his nearest rival had a DNF. British F3 star Kevin Magnussen finished third despite a recurrence of a misfire problem with his VW engine in practice. This has plagued him all season and it is hard to understand why VW or the plug manufacturer cannot get on top of this. A bit like Trulli's power steering.

Kevin's dad Jan also had a bad break, a driveshaft actually on his Camaro while leading the GT class at Watkins Glen.