Bob Barnard Track Engineering

As you may have gathered by the absence of a posting yesterday there was "nothing stirring" as they say in the Christmas poem. Very little going on except Bernie and his mate Luca exchanging pleasant shots across the bows. Luca is clearly upset about the engine changes, "Ferrari does not make a four cylinder," and about CVC and the money they take out. He is quick to reassure Bernie that it is not a criticism of him personally, in fact he would need him to lead the new order, what ever it is called. He does not see the problem if it is not "F1," presumably as long as Ferrari are in it people will know they should be watching it. Ferrari did not seem to have a problem last time we went to 1.5 liter turbo cars when they ran V6's, but I see his point, it does not relate to the road cars Ferrari make, which is what this is supposed to be about, not that I agree with it.

The boss of the Russian GP says they are not behind schedule. Good, seeing as how they only just started it is hard to see how they could be late. Especially for a race in 2014, personally I have never had more than a year to design and build a track.

Joe Saward picks up on the hypocrisy of the French Sports Minister in respect of F1 compared to the Tour de France. Not sure if it is great minds thinking alike or Joe liked my blog, either way it is correct.

Disappointing to see the Piquets involved in another scandal, this time tax evasion. Thought more of Nelson Snr. than that.

Nice to see Sir Frank Williams being honored by the BBC Sports Awards for "outstanding courage and achievement in the face of adversity." I'll second that. He threw his mate Patrick Head under the bus though. "In those days he really made the world's best racing cars." My italics. Pity about these days Patrick.

At the recent track conference we had a session on how to make your circuit more energy efficient and truly green, and to look out for "greenwash," the BS that some people put out to make themselves look green. We see a lot of this in racing today, it is as if just because we are involved in a sport that runs on gasoline we have to apologize for it. The latest today from Infineon Raceway, Sears Point to me, and NASCAR, is that these heroes have planted 74 trees, a whole 74! Some forest that will be, and think of the carbon offsets, must be at least one lap by one car don't you think? My wife and I donate trees to people on special occasions or in their memory through the Arbor Day Foundation. We have over 700 planted so far, so come on NASCAR and Bruton Smith, get real. And to everyone else, think about donating to the Arbor Day and have a forest of memories growing, it is not expensive and a much better gift. You can actually go and see your trees if you wish.

It seems to be a day for stating the obvious. Graham Rahal wants to be at Ganassi for a long time. Really? What else are you going to say Graham, a couple of races will do me?

Tavo Hellmund says that Tilke knows his stuff. He sent the FIA  "all the civil engineering. It's a big book, a massive document. It's a blueprint for what the track is going to look like with all the cross-grading and everything." Not the cross-grading and everything, wow who would have thought. Tilke does not expect to have a problem with the FIA. I bet he doesn't after some of the stuff he gets away with like Turn 17 and the pit entry at Korea.

So Sir Stirling Moss thinks Michael Schumacher needs to clean up his act? Bit late now don't you think? Where have you been Stirling? He thinks the new rules on dirty driving will cramp his style. I would hope so, and why did we need a rule, the Stewards should have done something about this years ago, and maybe not just to Michael.

The media is having a field day with Montezemolo's comments about the future arrangements for F1 after the current Concorde Agreement runs out. Joe Saward again has a great piece on what he actually said, which was really no more than laying out possible alternative paths. I think it is just early maneuvering to improve the team's cut of the pie in the next go round. He likens the current regime as "like being in prison."

Looking forward to seeing the McLaren in GT3, that is getting to be the best racing with so many closely matched makes and top drivers.

The biggest motor racing story of the day seems to be Briatore selling his shares in QPR to Bernie. That's sad. You would think with all Bernie's millions QPR would be up with Chelsea by now. Maybe this is his fun and not his business.

The newly repaved Daytona track got the thumbs up from the drivers, but the combination of a new surface and a smaller restrictor plate may make for some boring races. Jamie McMurray said, "You're not really having to turn the steering wheel because the car has so much grip,"  while Jeff Burton said "You don't even think about having to lift unless you're trying to keep from wrecking. In the past it was quite a bit of throttle control to keep your car going around the racetrack." What else is left for the driver to do?

So the end of season FIA Gala is to be held in New Delhi next year. What fun for everyone to drag themselves there after flying around the world all year. What next, the FIA Headquarters?

Sad to see Johnny O'Connell has lost his Corvette drive and been switched to the CTS program in World Challenge Series. Johnny has served Corvette long and well, good luck with the CTS Johnny.

Nice piece from Joe Saward http://joesaward.wordpress.com/ about the dangers inherent in Ferrari's suggestion to run three car teams, worth a read.

Truthfully there is little else in the news worth talking about, must be Christmas. Had a great evening with an old friend, Jean-Marc Bonnay, "Snoopy." Snoopy has done pretty much everything on two and four wheels except F1 and we bemoaned the current state of most of it. Must be getting old. Waiting on plans to start the Grand Bayou project in Louisiana and to see what will come of the Arizona project. Need to get back to finishing the book.

Stands for hypocrite race team, or rather their manager. HRT did not perform because of their inexperienced drivers. And who employed them? And did Klien do any better when he got in it? Kolles pointed out that Hispania had achieved impressive reliability compared to its nearest rivals. Really? I do not know the numbers but it seems to me Bruno Senna in particular often did not turn a lap. This is some impressive spin here.

Very little else going on, the who is driving what continues with not much clarity. Montezemolo is still going on about running three car teams, and Autosport has created a stir with their front cover saying the "real Lotus is back." It does not matter which team they are talking about, no it is not, and never will be. Drivers are promising to lose weight so that the extra weight of the KERS can be accommodated. I would have thought if they had weight to lose they would have done it this season.