Bob Barnard Track Engineering

A big weekend of racing. MotoGP turned on their usual good show, but Turn 1 at COTA? Tilke missed a great opportunity to make that a really good corner. Instead we have a crash site. But the commentators were at it again. "The most competitive field we have ever seen." Seriously? Where were you in the late 80's and early nineties when Gardner, Doohan, Magee, Rainey, Lawson, Mamola, Koscinski, Sarron, Schwantz and co. were around?

Indycar at Long Beach had its usual accidents at the usual locations. How anyone thinks this can be an F1 track is beyond me. If they left out some of the petunias around the base of the fountain we might have a track wide enough to race on. The Tudor Sports car race was a yawn. Time was when an LMP2 car could beat an LMP1 car around here, but now it cannot even beat a DP.

There is always the quote that "it's a long race" by drivers, even if it is the same length as all the rest, but Saturday evening we really did have a long race. 500 miles around Darlington took forever. I wondered why it started so early. It was all I could do to stay awake.

Which brings me to the point. I come from a European back ground with a spell in Oz, so I am used to watching a sport event without it being turned into a continuous commercial. Sky manages to show an entire F1 race without ads, so why can't Fox or NBC? I know Sky is subscription, but all the sport here in the US is basically on cable which I pay for anyway. NASCAR is by far the worst, a race being one long ad, even when the race is being shown with every opportunity taken to show a sponsor logo for Kentucky Fried, Sprint, Progressive Insurance etc. Then there are the "infomercials" during the sports car races, and Indycar has to go off and interview anyone they can find that they think is a star of anything. 

There has to be a template for showing sport in this country that includes three old farts in suits and ties blabbing on, and usually a female studio anchor and pit lane or side line reporter. With an average age of probably sixty the boys on NBC for F1 have about as much chance of bringing in a younger fan than I have of being knighted. Take a look at the Sky guys. They are at a race track and dressed like you would expect at a race. NASCAR and Indycar and even the NFL are all the same. Is this just me or is it that the TV guys know what the average American sports fan wants. A blonde bimbo with big tits.

Now that's off my chest, so to speak, let's look at F1 goings on. Domenicali has fallen on his sword, or was he pushed, and his obvious replacement is a car salesman. First guy I would have picked, not. Perhaps Montezemolo is actually the problem. Bernie's problems are about to get worse with the prosecution dismissing his blackmail defense. But the judge is going to give him days off it seems to run F1. Red Bull lost the appeal, as they should. Whining that they could not keep second place if they obeyed the rules is a strange defence. There are probably twenty other cars out there who feel they could win if allowed to cheat a bit. Or is that just me?

Watched the Australian V8Supercars from The Circuit of the Americas this weekend. With Texas paying for these events wouldn't you think they would want Texas somewhere in the track name? Texas International Raceway perhaps, as corny and over used as that is, but perhaps some 1/4 mile drag strip or oval already has that. Goodness knows what it cost to fly that circus to town, and I hope Texas thinks it got its monies worth. The size of the crowd was never going to pay for it. Cars no one knows driven by people they have not heard of is not a recipe for success, ask Indycar. If possible there were even less people at Indy for Pole and Bump Days than at COTA. Does no one watch what goes on elsewhere in the world? Why do you think V8Supercars do not go to Bahrain any more, and Bahrain has more money to waste than Texas. This incredible white elephant cannot survive.

Talking of white elephants and people paying for them, Bernie is so determined to have a race in New York, or at least New Jersey looking at New York, that he is willing to pay for it.

http://www.pitpass.com/49086-Ecclestone-ready-to-buy-New-Jersey-race-promoter-to-get-race-off-the-ground

As soon as I heard the news of Long Beach and Pook I could see this coming. Well at least the race will happen, as long as Bernie is on the outside. The German Authorities seem to have other plans, but his mates at CVC say they will stick with him, as long as he is outside. And why not, they are on a "nice little earner" as they say in the classics.

Can't keep Texas out of the news these days. The State should be pleased with the publicity, but I'm not sure this is the type they were looking for.

http://jalopnik.com/5970719/austins-circuit-of-the-americas-cancels-track-days-screws-over-racing-fans-everywhere?utm_campaign=socialflow_jalopnik_twitter&utm_source=jalopnik_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

So what gives? Is COTA going to follow India, Korea and Shanghai, and Turkey before it lost the F1 race, as F1 tracks that cannot afford to be kept open for other than the GP? The track says it is still staging major events, and is changing direction. Whatever that means. I cannot imagine that here in the US there are not enough people wanting to rent the track not to be worth taking their money. And it seems they have taken the money, cashed the check! This is becoming a pattern. First they fall out with Tavo over the F1 race, then Kevin Schwantz over the MotoGP, and now track renters.

Perhaps the noise complaints have forced this, but they did not put up much of a fight if that is so, and most of this type of use is road cars anyway.

Perhaps they are going to manage the track days etc themselves, but if so why not say so. This is creating bad feeling with the grass roots, and doubts about the viability of the track. And I can't imagine the politicians who are forking out millions to back this are going to be too happy if their constituents can't use it. Watch this space I guess. As readers know I have never understood the economics of this track.

Over to soccer, and after my blog the other day about the use of arms these days, there on Sky Sports is a discussion on "grappling." Glad I am not the only one who thinks this is a problem.

It seems that the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones, and his coach, knew nothing about Jerry Brown, the intoxicated center who killed his friend, being on the sideline at the recent game until they saw him there. Lucky he was not suited up and playing I guess? Is their security so lax that this can happen, and are they saying they would not have let it happen if they knew? He has their full support after all.

Meanwhile, over at COTA the first complaints about traffic and noise are being heard. Welcome to the world of owning a race track. Reminds me of Phillip Island. "Can't we just have the Grand Prix?"

I have decided that to keep my readers entertained I will digress to sports other than motor racing. I have played a fair few in my time and seen even more. I grew up in England so I am an avid soccer fan, supporting Tottenham heaven help me. Since when did soccer become an arm wrestling contest? Whether it is going up to head a ball with elbows flying, holding on to shirts and arm, wrestling each other at a corner or free kick, or just generally fending players off, I have never seen so much arm being used. And if they are both doing it that's OK it seems, and if you do not try hard enough then it is equally OK to be pushed over according to most commentators. Why not give all of those with their hands on someone a yellow card at the first corner or free kick, that should stop it for the rest of the game. It was nice to see Fellaini of Everton receiving a three match ban for that cynical head butt, after looking around to make sure the Ref was not looking. The camera was though, and full marks for the other player for not retaliating.

On the subject of bans, an NFL player was recently given a four game ban for PED's. Performance enhancing drugs. Compare that to the persecution Lance Armstrong is receiving. I for one am still waiting to hear what this "most comprehensive doping system" consisted of, what drugs were involved, and how did they evade the constant and irregular testing? Once I have some evidence, not just charges, then I will decide for myself. And in the end if he only beat other athletes doing the same thing, then were his results not still worthy? I have never smoked, let alone taken a drug, so I in no way condone this, but neither do I accept all that I hear on face value. There is much more to this we do not know.

The Statesman, the Austin daily paper, revealed Thursday that the COTA has applied for more assistance from the Texas slush fund for events. The State paid out $29.3 m for the F1 race it is disclosed, and now they are asking for another $5 m to cover costs associated with the MotoGP, V8Supercars, ALMS and WEC races scheduled for 2013. I always wondered how these events were going to help COTA pay for building the facility as it costs money to bring them, just like F1, but on a lesser scale. And the audience is even less certain, not many Mexicans racing in these classes, and not many Americans either. There are two other MotoGP races in the US next year, so apart from novelty value why would you go to COTA. The MotoGP group inspected the track a week or so ago and expressed their doubts about it for motorcycles. If you look at most MotoGP tracks these days they feature long sweeping corners, not the stop-start type currently fashionable in F1. I can see that Texas will end up footing the bill for this facility in much the same fashion as Nurburgring is being bailed out.

While still in Texas and talking of sport, let me digress and express my disgust at seeing the Dallas Cowboys Center, Josh Brent, on the field with the team during yesterday's match after killing his buddy and fellow Cowboy Jerry Brown while driving drunk at 2:30 am the day before a game! Number one why is he bailed? Would most of us get this treatment. Then why is the team "supporting" him? Being out drunk at 2:30am the day before a game should be enough for the coach to bench him, let alone killing someone, and that someone being another player! What does he have to do to not get their support? The New Orleans Saints management were not allowed in the stadium until the NFL gave them special permission after their part in paying their thugs to injure other players in the course of a game. Why would other players even want to play with those guys again? But here we have someone who has killed another player wandering around on the sideline! Is this behaviour so endemic that it is acceptable? We have a litany of on and off field "incidents" like the unfortunate one at the Kansa City Chiefs, and I could go on. It is now reported that the Players Federation provides a service for drunk players to be given a ride home for $85 a time! Is the stress of earning all that money too much for them?