Bob Barnard Track Engineering

It is a sad indictment of our sport that one of the main stories is Bernie being willing to sell his shares in QPR, Queens Park Rangers soccer team. QPR have had moments of success, but have always been the bridesmaid to other London teams like Tottenham and Arsenal, and lately Chelsea. As always Bernie will make money on the deal.

Joe Saward poses the interesting question about Bernie having been the subject of extortion by Gribkowsky. This is the latest version of where the $50m, or $40m, whichever the story, came from. Bernie has been cooperating with the German Authorities, and if true could get his money back. The question Joe poses is, what did Gribkowsky know about Bernie that made him pay up? As he says, the Authorities may not care, but a journalist somewhere will.

Tony Fernandes confirms the Caterham purchase amid rumors that he will change the name of the F1 Team if he loses the court case, the decision on which we are still waiting to hear. The Caterham has a lineage that goes back to the start of Lotus, beginning life as a barely legal road car you built out of a kit called the Lotus 7. Without any need for a connection to F1, Tony has made a very smart move to bring low cost sports cars and weekend race cars to the far east. Here is a man building the sport and the business for the long haul.

How is it that cigarette advertising is banned, but Suzuki can have Rizla on the bike? Is there another use  for Rizla cigarette papers I am not aware of? Or is it only tobacco that is banned? Just a question.

Ducati meanwhile have been testing a new chassis at Mugello. I thought testing was not allowed, unless it is an ineligible machine?

Despite all this fun there is little else going on. MotoGP getting ready for Estoril and having a couple of riders fit again. The numbers look a bit thin otherwise. No F1 this week and not much else, so see you tomorrow.

So now we know what the proposed changes are to Abu Dhabi to make it more overtaking "friendly." They start with the 5-6 chicane before the Turn 7 hairpin. Now Turn 7 looks like the Adelaide hairpin which is a key overtaking spot, in Adelaide. But what do we do in A-D? We put great big grandstands around it so there is no run-off. Solution? Put in a chicane before you arrive there. That kills the whole deal, so what are we going to do? Widen it. OK, making it wider gives some options for up-and-under, but not sure of this obsession with making corners wider. Adelaide is 40 feet and works just fine. Have cars got wider? Not that I know of. It is like a friend suggested Phillip Island needed to be wider. Have motorcycles become wider since Gardner, Rainey et al put on those great races in '89 and '90? Perhaps these guys need to give lessons if the current crop cannot pass on a 40 feet wide pavement.

Then there is the off-camber corner after the Turn 9 hairpin that they are going to turn into a "banked" corner. Now I always thought adverse camber, or off-camber corners were a no-no anyway and could not work out why they were built at A-D anyway. Lastly there is 13-14 they are going to turn into a sweeper for "better flow" at the end of the lap. Oh goody.

Bernie received an open letter from the opposition in Bahrain telling him to stay away until basic human rights are in place. That could take a while. Meanwhile Bernie says he would rather retire than work for people he does not like, presumably Rupert Murdoch and Carlos Slim. But I thought F1 was not for sale? Part of the CVC empire is not doing so well. Pit Pass web site tells us that the hospitality arm lost money again last year despite charging $4500 per head for the privilege of using it for the weekend! Must be serving some great champagne.

Back to the racing. Christian Horner is said to be re-evaluating the benefit of qualifying given Mark Webber's great drive in China. He is probably not alone, and I heard the Radio Le Mans boys talking about just this last week. It is another NASCAR type situation where your qualifying position does not really matter as long as you stay out of trouble. So, the fight might be to see who can go slowest in Q1 so you miss out but conserve your tires. Reminds me of a slow bicycle race. Or do the three sessions on one set of hards? Doesn't sound like F1 to me.

Happy Easter everybody. Easter used to be a traditional motor race weekend, but it seems to have died out. Except for the Le Mans Test Day, and WTCC, F3 and of course the Camping World Truck Series where F1 bad boy Piquet Jr. finished second. It will be interesting to see him and Kimi on the same track again at Charlotte.

Strange lack of interest in the Le Mans test day. I failed to find live timing and the only web site to report anything was Autosport, and that only has the morning times. The Audis lead the way with the three of them and one of the Peugeots the only cars under 3 min 30 secs. 3 min 27 seconds to be precise, about 8 seconds off last years pole time, so they have slowed the diesels down a little, but "equalization?" The best petrol car was 10 seconds slower the last times I saw, and the Aston is in real trouble at 14 seconds slower than that. Engine trouble continues to plague the car. The 458 Ferraris top the GTE time sheet, so they have them sorted quickly.

Robert Kubica is out of hospital and resting before starting rehab and training. Great to hear.  An August return is being mooted, and who would doubt it with his determination?

If possible it is even quieter today than yesterday, so I will keep this short. Besides, I am producing the business plan for my latest ventures. Watch this space.

Turkey is the latest Government to say "enough" or actually more than enough. After letting Bernie take over the track, which he just sold to himself for a dollar, that sets the price for an F1 track, they continued to pay him to bring the race there! What a turkey that event turned out to be. Sorry about that. Now the fee is to be doubled for next year, so the message is no GP in 2012. Not that many will miss it, although it probably is the best Tilke track, well some of it. It is probably a negotiating ploy, but it shows the worms are turning. Between the Government revolt and the new Concorde Agreement it is probably a good time for CVC to sell.

Say it isn't so! Virgin are going wind tunnel testing to try and find out what's gone wrong with this year's car.

And as I always say, if it's Good Friday, it's good any day! Don't forget to listen to Radio Le Mans on the web for the test day on Sunday.