Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Well we at least have some GP racing going on at Brno, and Honda in the shape of Pedrosa is again leading the way. Stoner and Simoncelli are there as well so Lorenzo is running fourth fastest, but apparently working on race set up and doing consistent laps. Team mate Ben Spies was sixth despite a pinched nerve in his neck, can't be much fun. Rossi was happier with seventh, but still over a second off the pace. Rumors are that Ducati are thinking of going back to an aluminum frame instead of the carbon fibre. We've seen this before with the Cagiva in 1990. I can't help believing that a carbon frame and stressed engine is the way forward, it is just such a big step that it rewrites the set up and needs time to sort out. I'd hope they are given that time.

Suzuki are the surprise package with Bautista in eighth and ring-in John Hopkins right there in tenth. As Bautista said, nice to have John as long as he is slower than me. From there on down there are a bunch of guys making up the numbers. 

Elsewhere desperate web site are reduced to re-runs of THAT race at Dijon with Arnoux and Villeneuve, Gilles that is. Silverstone unveiled a very ambitious planning proposal for the site which will be great if they can fund it, but perhaps they should look carefully at what has happened at the Nurburgring with similar ambitious plans. Pirelli has raised the issue of qualifying tires for next year. Not sure I like the idea of going back to special tires, surely that is going to alter the set up on the car which has to be kept for the race? Anyway, the issue is teams saving tires during qualifying, so just give them extra sets of the race tires to use just for the qualifying rather than make something different.

Grand Am racing at Watkins Glen tomorrow, and Indycar at New Hampshire for something different.

This mid season summer break is getting old, and it is not half way through. Ross Brawn says it is the best idea ever, and then tells us what we all suspect. They can close the factories but cannot shut off the brains. Thinking on the beach gives Ross some inspiration, gets that ingenuity rebooted, and Mercedes need it. The "will he won't he" questions and "should he retire" advice keeps coming about Michael, and he admits that he is a part of the problem and not the solution. Now I admit a certain animosity to Michael, but I think he has had a fair go in his life, it is time to give di Resta a chance in that car, he has shown he deserves it. Nico seems wedded to Mercedes, and why not. I am sure he is paid well, it is a revered marque, and Ross will sort it out.

India needs sorting out. Those pesky farmers are not giving up and are now threatening to go and dig the track up if their demands are not met. No point in going after the stands, they won't be done anyway according to VJ.

Other than this there is the MotoGP at Brno this weekend where the Stoner/Lorenzo show will resume. The bikes silly season is off and running, with Divizioso looking like the one to miss out on a works Honda ride when the music stops. He's off to that satellite Gresini team, and rumors are that Simoncelli will go to a Ducati. Let's see if he can stay on that. There are a lot of even sillier rumors that I will wait and see over rather than bother you with.

As I said news is in short supply so we are interviewing F1 identities about the riots in England, why they should have any special insight I don't know. Bernie is worried that cancelling soccer matches will send the wrong message. Burning buildings and cars don't really get the message across eh Bernie?

A friend of mine involved with the sport confessed to me recently that he did not realize that tracks paid series to come and race. I was not surprised, most fans of the sport do not know of the commercial arrangements, mainly because they are usually confidential. I know some of you think I carry on about the business, but unless you understand how this runs then a lot of things don't make sense.

Not that many do even when you know. There is a good article today on ESPN F1 by Formula Money about the economics of promoting F1 races and why it is mainly Governments doing this.

http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/56182.html

The most telling paragraph is the one where they explain that "The race promoters' sole source of income from a Grand Prix is ticket sales and this usually barely covers the hosting fee paid to the F1 Group. Most promoters would then be pushed into loss by the costs of running the race itself and obviously no one would be prepared to do it on this basis. This is where the governments step in." I wonder if Tavo reads this, or Red McCombs.

Again, I do not wish to harp on the Indian GP, but why do we get a string of people reassuring us all is well if there is no reason for us to be concerned. VJ Mallya is the latest one to tell us "Everything may not be 100 per cent in terms of the grandstands and the spectator facilities, but the technical areas, the pits, the motorhomes, the paddock club and of course the track itself seems to be almost ready already." Well that's OK then, as long as the teams are taken care of why worry about the poor paying public?

Then we have Carlos Slim Domit, son of reportedly the world's richest man, talking about bringing an F1 race back to Mexico. "We know that racing is costly. There are a series of criteria that need to be met for the event, most importantly security." Really! One cannot help thinking that Carlos could do a lot more good with his money to help that problem rather than give a bunch of it to Bernie and CVC.

It's going to be a long month at this rate. Yes there is racing going on, the ALMS at Mid-Ohio skating rink for instance. Whoever thought putting sealant on a race track was a good idea should stick to Wal Mart parking lots. This has been a problem for a while and should have been fixed. Even with full wets it was impossible to keep the car on the track. Then there is the nice curb coming on to the main straight where two cars broke their suspension. I could go on. Let's hope the new owner fixes it.

Jean Todt has been on vacation in Mexico, or a tour anyway, and thinks it is a great place to have a grand prix. Does he not read the newspapers about what goes on there, and spills over to here? And how many GP's are we going to have? We already have 21 if we think Turkey is going to "do what it takes." Then there is Sochi, France wants one back but I guess they will share, New Jersey, and now Mexico, and I know I've missed some. And just why would Jean Todt care, what's his connection to Mexico? Maybe it is the direct connections available to Austin, just trying to make it easier for the teams to fit in all these GPs. Now I like to watch a GP as well as the next guy, but are we heading to NASCAR calendar territory here? How many is enough? I guess if you are CVC there is never enough.

The silly season is alive and well. Rubens says he was misquoted and he is not about to retire, but that is not what was reported, leaving Williams was. And we have the "Hamilton to Ferrari" game on while Domenicalli says Massa must stay calm, and his replacement will be an up and coming young guy, so who and when? Bianchi? Can you imagine the pressure on an Italian in the red car? Ferrari have usually avoided putting an Italian in the car, presumably for that reason. Perez is the other suggestion, and he does drive a car with a Ferrari engine, but losing the sponsorship would really hurt Sauber. Not a bad choice though given his form this year.

And finally back to Jean Todt who says the FIA must write rules that are more specific. Well why haven't you? Because the teams employ a huge number of very smart people to "interpret the rules in such a bizarre way they break them," as Jean puts it. Exactly. It has been that way since I was born, and long may it remain. It is called ingenuity, the origin of the word engineer.  

Almost none of the usual blog sites have anything new this morning, so I thought I would share with you the thoughts of Tony Dowe on racing in a recession, even more pertinent given the events of the last two days on Wall Street. For those of you that do not know Tony here is a link to his impressive bio:

http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/cref-dowton.html

Now here's the link to the Last Turn Club web site to read Tony's take on how to survive:

http://lastturnclub.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=784&Itemid=55

Tony is a member of my Motorsport Services International Team of experts.

ALMS is at Mid-Ohio with the race this afternoon, live streaming on www.espn3.com.