Bob Barnard Track Engineering

It's OK expanding racing to the far east, so long as they can build the tracks properly. We have had the earlier saga of Korea not building a track and paying Bernie a chunk of change not to run a GP, and now we are presumably still paving a track to race on in two weeks time. A couple of years back we had a Shanghai street race where the hairpin was so tight the cars had to do a three point turn, and no I am not joking, and then the manhole covers were not secured and the race was stopped to weld them down. Now we have the second practice for Superleague cancelled at a new Beijing street race because the curbs are coming up. It is actually worse than this as it is being run as non-championship race to a Chinese National Sanction as the track was not approved safe for an FIA Grade 2 status. So, the drivers are not going to race as hard if it is a non-championship race? It is OK to have a serious accident so long as the Chinese are approving it? What piece of unsafe are we missing here? As I said yesterday some people get a pass because they do not know better. Who built this anyway?

Suzuka already looks to be a Red Bull benefit. I know it is only Friday, but the signs are ominous. Ferrari nearly a second off the pace, Button struggling with the car, and Lewis dumping it into the wall almost from the get-go and doing very few laps in the second practice. Let's hope the new rear wing arrives in time for him. I guess they only had two of the new wings, and unlike Red Bull, did not want to take the one off of Button's car for him. It must be hot off the press or you would think they would have brought more than the two with them. The Degner curves are catching people out just as they did last year, despite the curbs being altered, but obviously not improved. Barrichello in particular commented that they love Suzuka as drivers, but it does have some safety issues and they have to drive accordingly. Not easy to make changes to Suzuka, being tightly wrapped in the valley as it is. Let us hope the rest of the teams can get it sorted and we can see another good race, and one not spoiled by the weather.

Trulli says he is looking forward to next year with Lotus and applauds their improvement this year. Looking at the practice times they are the class of the new teams, but are still over 4 seconds adrift of the quick guys. HRT are some 6 seconds back, so it seems not surprisingly the new teams have not made much progress this year. They are going to have to make a very significant redesign of their cars in the off season if they are to survive, which so far only Lotus seem to have put in place.

In other F1 news it seems the engine builders are agreeing with me, rule changes cost money, so they are trying to change Jean Todt's mind about the four cylinder turbo for 2013. Cosworth is saying it will cost Euro 20m to design a new engine, and who is paying, HRT,Virgin? The other guys are saying this is a Euro 100m deal, so where's the cost saving in F1 now? They sensibly suggest they can do a lot with the existing 8 cylinder if Jean wants "green," otherwise it is going cost lot of green stuff. Resource Reduction Agreement anybody?

Over in Malaysia Rossi seems to be riding around his shoulder problem, or maybe it is the chip on it that is helping? I'm sure after the comments of Yamaha management he is out to prove something. He is now saying he will go to Australia, which I am sure the Phillip Island Promoter is very relieved to hear, and make a decision after that. Stoner will be looking for a good result to take to the Island, while Lorenzo I'm sure will be looking for a nice quiet race to the World Championship.

Bathurst is on and practice times are as competitive as you would expect from this series, with 1.5 seconds separating the top twenty cars. I'm really sad we do not get the race here, although after ten hours last weekend of Petit I need to get some things done. I think we have had a highlight show on occasions. If any of my US friends know please tell me. David Brabham looks like it could be a long race as his car is well down in practice, but as they say in the classics, and F1 driver's interviews, it is a long race.

Murphy The Bear has a new post today, it is the usual mixture of rumor,opinion, and truth, but as always funny and worth logging in to.

"The Korea International Circuit is ahead of schedule in its bid to host the country's inaugural grand prix, according to circuit official Kim Jae-ho."  I have heard some promoters spin before, but this post on ESPNF1 has to take the prize as the best! How can you be months behind on the inspection date required by the FIA and "be ahead?" Actually it gets worse. The paving which was supposed to have started Tuesday did not start until today, is now going to take three days and will be finished by Friday. These Koreans must have a different calendar than the rest of us. Now some of you may think I am picking on Korea, but I do this for a living, and it is criminal that they are both incompetent and appear to be getting cut a whole load of slack. I found out the hard way that if the powers that be know that you know how to do it they want it perfect, but if they know someone has no idea they will settle for what they can get. Life is not very fair sometimes. This Grand Prix is going to be a circus. As I have said many times, do not take your show to somewhere that does not allow it to put on anything other than it's best performance.

There is an article on Speed's web site by Marshall Pruett about how Grand Am is listening to its fans for a change, and making changes to the cars to make the series more interesting. Things like making the "greenhouse" on the Daytona Prototypes smaller, and the GT's changing to central nut wheels. Changing deckchairs on the Titanic is what comes to my mind, and he lost me completely about the possible DTM cars. Read it yourself and see if you can work it out?

VJ Mallya had a bad day in court. He originally won a decision in the English High Court over sponsors of the Spyker car that he bought to get into F1. They conflicted with his airline and brewery business which he stuck on the cars, so they pulled out. The High Court gave VJ a $4.7m payout for their leaving, but the Court of Appeal, disagreed. "both companies were contractually guaranteed the status as the team's most prominent sponsors, appeal judge Sir Bernard Rix ruled.

"In my judgment ... Force India rode roughshod over all these rights and protections." So VJ now has to pay it back. There have been rumors all year about Force India and money, this can only make matters worse.

Williams are losing sponsors at the end of this season, and have said that they are confident about replacing them. Their recent good form should help them , but it is suggested that a key figure in that good form, Nico Hulkenburg, could be out of a drive in favor of Maldanado who has a bag of money from a sponsor to bring. I know this is how F1 has run for years, but that does not make it right. What other sport can you buy your way onto the team? Not that Maldonado is not a good enough driver to get an F1 drive, but what happened to loyalty?

I hope Korean paving is good, in fact I hope it is the best in the world. If not we are in for a sorry weekend there. The track has released a communication that the track is 98-99% complete. That's good because the inspection is Monday. They go on to say: "The last crucial element is the top layer of surface asphalt, with other less important things likely to go unfinished."

"The inspection team may put first priority on safety and appropriateness of the race track ahead of other factors such as cleanliness and makeshift stands," Kim admitted.

Work on the final surface layer began on Tuesday(!) and will take six days -- exactly the time available until Charlie Whiting arrives at the venue direct from Suzuka.

"Before the inspection the only thing left to do is working on the surface of the track," Kim confirmed." Oh, is that all?

What has taken so long to start this? The most crucial element of any track is the surface, if it does not hold up then you have no race, ask the guys in Dallas, Montreal, Cleveland, or Spa back in 80's. Not sure why it will take six days, I have taken three on most tracks I've done, and I would have thought these guys would have arranged every ton of mix they can lay their hands on. Not that three days is going to make any difference now.

Sad to hear of the passing of Peter Warr, the Team Manager and Principal for the real Team Lotus. Responsible for guiding the team during those glory days. Let's hope the new Team Lotus, if that is what it is finally called, can match them.

Kimi has come out strongly condemning Renault for using his name in connection with a the second seat, he says he was never interested. So why did his management contact Renault? Playing games with rally teams. His name is linked to a move to Ford or the new Mini for next season. Let's hope whatever he drives he can keep on the road. So, who is driving for Renault? The silly season is back, although there are not many seats really free. It seems there will be one at Force India, but whether it is Sutil or Liuzzi we still do not know. HRT are playing games with who is driving in Japan this weekend, let alone next year. Must be great for the driver's mental preparation.

To mention mental preparation, the tension and concentration in Race Control during a race weekend is a high as the drivers. Having worked in a few, including F1, Le Mans, and MotoGP, I enjoyed the piece on how it works in today's ESPNF1 web page, check it out.

Thanks to those of you that are excited about reading my book, should I write it, which seems pretty inevitable but is a daunting task. Writing this blog every day is sometimes taxing, but at least with the book I do not have to worry about content. My main problem is what to leave out so I do not get sued!

I have commented often on the ongoing hydraulic problems that beset the new teams, and their seeming inability to get on top of it. Well Tony Fernandes has found the answer, buy the gearbox and hydraulics from Red Bull to go with the new Renault engine. Job done. As I have said recently Tony is a man who is committed to doing F1 right, despite his comments on blue flags, and with this combination, a stable team, and more announcements coming, it seems he will not have to worry about the flags for long. Now, if we could just get the name sorted.

So, 7-Eleven have pulled the plug on Tony Kanaan's car in the Andretti-Green stable. They have been with Tony and Andretti a long time. Is it the lack of results? They are staying with Danica who has no better results, but I guess she has other attributes. Who knows, other than their marketing chief, maybe it was just time for a change or the economy still is a problem. Tony is now looking for sponsors or another drive, either way not easy I would suspect.

On the home front, I have thought for a long time about writing my experiences, particularly the Adelaide F1 and Phillip Island sagas, but there is so much more with Sinatra at Sanctuary Cove, Daytona, Road Atlanta and other projects. I have been encouraged, mainly by my lovely wife Xan, to write a book, and have started a couple of times, only to become annoyed at the outcomes all over again, so I stop. I now find the time is likely to be available and I think I have the right attitude to do it. I've solicited advice from friends and acquaintances in the business, and the response so far is encouraging. I will keep you posted.

Potentially three good meetings this week for Sol Real, one this afternoon before our usual presentation, which looks like being accompanied by the usual thunderstorms. Amazing how that happens on Tuesdays.

Not much else going on, Japanese F1 GP and Malaysian MotoGp both on this weekend. Lorenzo can wrap up the motorcycle title by finishing tenth or better, which barring Rossi punting him off should be doable. Apparently the Yamaha management has taken a very dim view of last weekends events, enough so that Valentino is now likely to make Malaysia his last race, spit the dummy and go and get his shoulder fixed.

The F1 race is extremely unlikely to decide anything, other than maybe eliminate  one of the "gang of five." One thing is for sure though, being Suzuka it will be a good race.

It seems the two newest team owners in F1 know more than the powers that be that have been running the thing. Tony Fernandes has come out and said we should get rid of blue flags because it is slowing his cars down, and Sir Richard agrees with him. I think there a lot of things slowing their cars down, that is why they are seeing the blue flag. It cannot be the engine though as Williams is using the Cosworth to great effect. Cannot be the drivers, Glock, Trulli and Kovalainen are no slouches. Cannot be the tires, they are all the same, so it has to be the car. Fix the car, don't try and fix the sport. If there were no blue flags then presumably his drivers would be looking in the mirrors even more than they do now as they would have no other warning.

It seems everyone except Lorenzo enjoyed seeing the fight with Rossi, and more than a few took exception to Lorenzo's comments after. Personally I interpreted them as not bemoaning the forcefulness of Rossi, just that it should not be what a team mate does when the other rider is trying to win a Championship, which is not unreasonable. Bit like Vettel on Webber at Turkey. Once Lorenzo seals the Championship then it will be something to watch.

Alonso says he is ready for some pain in the four remaining races. Not quite sure what he was referring to other than perhaps a lot of extremely long hours and hard work for the team. Let's hope he does not expect physical pain. Looking forward to Suzuka, should be a cracking race, and the tension gets ramped up every race.

Also on next weekend, not that we get to see it here in the US, is the best touring car race in the world, Bathurst. If you have the chance be sure to watch. David Brabham is a glutton for punishment and after a ten hour race at Road Atlanta is heading to Bathurst for another one on an equally challenging track and, if possible, even more competitive cars!

It comes as no surprise that Sergio Perez will line-up alongside Kamui Kobayashi at Sauber next year in a new deal involving Mexican communications giant Telmex. Let's hope he gets a better chance to show his talent than most of the recent new boys, but Peter Sauber has demonstrated that in the past and has brought in some very good drivers, so good luck Sergio. Hopefully the Telmex sponsorship will move Sauber up the grid, it has not hurt Chip Ganassi in the Grand Am.