Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Now before you all write and tell me that is old news, this is the next generation. Wayne's two sons, Luca and Remy. This was their first time at a track where their World Champion father won the first Australian MotoGP back in '89, and Luca won one race in the rain and finished second in four others. Nice going. Remy had a bit more torrid time of it but still managed two seconds, two thirds and a fifth. Great future for these two I think, but Dad needs to lift his game as a mechanic. Still, Wayne did beat them when they took time out to go kart racing. The boys loved the Island, who wouldn't, and cannot wait to go back.

Over in Italy at Monza, another great track, the cream rose to the top with Ricciardo leading Alexander Rossi home in the second race. I loved the teams explanation why there were "loose bolts," apparently not just one but all of them. The rule only says "tight," but not how tight. Classic motor racing, if you do not define it with a torque value how tight is tight? He did not win the argument though.

A lot is being made about News Corp not being allowed to buy F1 because it will have a conflict of interest, being a media company. How short the memories are. How did all this get started? When Bernie decided to make a bunch of money and sell it to the Kirsch Media Group out of Germany. That's right, the Kirsch MEDIA Group. So what has changed in the last twenty years? If it was good enough then why not for Rupert and Co? I'm sure Rupert can put in place enough cut-outs, like Bernie and the boys have now, to put a fire wall between the company owning F1 and Sky. And why are they only carrying on about Sky? What about Fox and Speed in the US, and all the other stations he owns. We pay for Speed via the cable here in the US, so define "free to air."

Casey won at Le Mans, no surprise there, but Rossi third? That was largely thanks to Simoncelli and Pedrosa coming together and Lorenzo having a bad day, but the Ducati seems to be coming good. The Simoncelli incident earned him a ride through penalty, which has sparked a lot of debate on-line as to who was at fault here. I have not seen anything but the stills, and it does look like Simo did not leave him much room, unlike what we saw at Turkey last week, and he is making a habit of this and making himself very unpopular with his fellow riders. The Tech3 boys did not manage to repeat their qualifying form, and Spies was down in sixth. Marquez finally learned how to keep a four stroke upright and won his first Moto2 race, so look out everyone else if he repeats his form from the 125's.

Rockenfeller won his first DTM race, and about time. It is hard to believe that with all else he has won he has had to wait this long for a good car. Let's hope Grand-Am can bring this series here in 2013. Talking of Grand-Am the race from Virginia started with an hour behind the pace car for rain. Someone finally beat Ganassi and Co, but given how easily Pruit caught the lead car on the last lap I wonder if that was not a set up to try and make the series more interesting. $25,000 reward was posted by Grand-Am for anyone beating Ganassi which received more press than anything else they have done.

Kevin Magnessun won the third F3 race of the weekend at Snetterton after finishing ninth in the second "reverse grid" race with fastest lap of the race.

Bernie made a surprise visit to the reopening of the Austrian track owned by Red Bull magnate, Mateschitz, and told him that even though "Didi" does not want an F1 race, he should have one. Didi probably knows what it will cost him.

He just loves to keep stirring doesn't he? In an interview with CNN, and why would he do this now, he said "We have gone too far with artificial elements. It's like, if I push footballers to wear tennis shoes in the rain. To have so many pitstops - listen, I want to see competition, I want to see cars on the track. I don't want to see competition in the pits," he explained. I like the "tennis shoes in the rain." I think he hit Bernie's sprinklers and Pirelli tires with one shot. So, is this all sabre rattling to get a better deal for the teams at the next Concorde Agreement, or are they for real? You can read the whole piece at:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/91349

In other news, Ferrari say Massa has their complete support, look out Felipe, that's usually the last sound someone hears, and the teams do not want to go testing again. Seems they cannot afford it. Not now they spent all that money on simulators. At Monza "Jules" Vergne is quickest in FR 3.5 practice with American Alexander Rossi not far behind. Aussie Daniel Ricciardo is much further back. It almost seems like FR 3.5 is just something to keep his hand in between F1 Friday sessions, and the up coming full ride.

At Le Mans the MotoGP boys are practicing for this weekends French GP, with Stoner breaking lap records and leading the way from Simoncelli. Let's see if he remembers the tires are cold at the start of the race? Nicky Hayden has the Ducati in fourth! Where did that come from? His mate Valentino is a second off in ninth, with Ben Spies even slower. Unless someone can step up Casey is going to run away with this one, but it is only Friday.

Seems the Indian GP is having a few problems with its neighbors. Not complaining about the noise, just everyday stuff about access to their temple, and threatening demonstrations over arguments with the government about compensation for land.

Someone else with problems is Sutil. You have to wonder what the conversation was to apparently smash a wine glass and stick it in someone's neck? Not a thing you do lightly, even after a few drinks. It is an odd situation with it having occurred in China. Who is bringing charges and where?

The News buyout of F1 saga rolls on with another group joining in that includes the Abu Dhabi investment arm, Mubadala, another Ferrari link. This can't all be smoke and mirrors.

So Turkey turned out to be a turkey for Michael. It brought him "no big joy." Must be a German expression. Still, Mercedes say he has their complete support. I think that is what Williams said about Sam Michael about a day before he quit. In the same web site Johnny Herbert is predicting Michael will retire again at the end of the season. So take your pick. It was very strange how he was right on the pace up to the Q3 session, and then lost it.

His old mate Rubens is saying the FIA decision to allow the DRS system at Monaco is wrong. The answer is simple Rubens, don't use it. The FIA is not saying you have to use it, only that you can, and as the driver you have the choice. Talk to your mates and just agree that you won't use it, and then see who does!

Trulli picked up that the tire situation is changing qualifying. This format was put in place to make sure the punters had cars on track to watch, but now it seems teams would rather sit in the garage and conserve tires.

Poor Max Mosley lost his case in the EU Court to have the nasty media tell people before they write bad things about them so they can obtain an injunction. He is looking very bitter and twisted these days. What's he going to look like when Rupert runs F1?

D'Ambrosio is supposedly in danger of losing his drive in the Virgin as his sponsors have not paid up. I wonder why? Could it be the lack of performance of the team and lack of exposure?

So Bernie says the return of the Austrian GP is possible, and Turkey is saying talks yesterday made it 50% more likely it will stay on the calendar. Not sure if that means the price only went up 50% of what Bernie was asking or not. So who is going to miss out? Getting awfully crowded.

It's a sad day when your team boss tells you that you should not be trying to overtake on the first lap and not race your team mate. That's what Martin Whitmarsh is telling Lewis Hamilton after Turkey. "We want Lewis to attack but sometimes it does not pay off," Whitmarsh said. "If you look at Lewis's race pace it was OK later in the race but the tyres are so delicate and if you scrap with others including your own team-mate you will damage your tyres. In a race that critical you can't do that." So what is he supposed to do, just run around waiting for others tires to go off, or go back to waiting till the pit stops as we had in the refuelling days? I did not see that Button's supposed tire conservation mode worked as he finished behind his team mate even though he made one stop less. F1 is about racing, and it's a sad day when that is no longer the case, unless you are Red Bull.

A lot is being made of the amount of "overtaking" now due to the tires and DRS, and KERS. Those of us who now think this has reached a ridiculous situation where it is not overtaking but "passing," and yes there is a difference, are being told to shut up and enjoy it. I for one subscribe to the Max Mosley school, and I can enjoy one overtaking manoeuvre a year if it is Hakkinen on Schumacher at Spa. We do not have to worry about team orders any more, overtaking your team mate is easy.

Not only are we to have a small turbo engine in 2013, we are now to have a spec chassis it seems with drag and downforce targets set. The option to go back to ground effects has been dropped by the teams as unworkable when trying to meet these targets, I presume meaning there would be less drag and more downforce than allowed. I know Ferrari say we should get away from too much reliance on aero, but spec racing?

Much continues to be made of Turn Eight in Turkey, and a great corner it is, but how much better if it were not to have the "four apexes?" They are pinch points that turn it into a one line race track, especially when the marbles build up. Yes it is quick and we do not see much overtaking on such quick corners, but if the track actually paralleled the race line there would be room for someone with some large attachments to try. On Sunday I think I saw one time where a driver started to put his nose under the car in front, and then had to back off. Think of the Spoon Curve at Suzuka, or the Parabolica at Monza.

The Judge in the Lotus case must be having a hard time coming up with a decision. It was originally late March and it is now suggested that it will be later this month.

In a similar fashion the Bahrain on again/off again decision is being allowed to fester. There is a good reason things have "settled down," and it is not because the problems have gone away. As we saw in Northern Ireland you can suppress opposition, but it does not go away, especially when it is the majority being suppressed.

I think I have read every possible argument why News Corp cannot buy F1, and what they are attempting to do by saying they want to. We have the FIA saying they have to agree, the EC won't allow it says Bernie and a bunch of scribes, and now even Max Mosley is against it. Well that seals it if Max won't allow it because Rupert had the guts to show Max's little hobby in his rag. I may be wrong, but when so many people are saying something cannot be done, then it seems likely it will. "Me thinks they protesteth too much." If Murdoch does not want to buy F1 he must be having a good laugh at all these people beating themselves into a lather.

To follow up my piece on why we do not see great races and series from around the world I have asked a series of friends questions on the reasons and costs. Chet Burks who's company produces many motorsport race coverages told me the obvious, that the audience is not big enough for the big channels. But here we are, Sunday afternoon prime time and we have two hours of World Superbike on. Now Gill Cambell from Laguna told me the other week she thought there were no more than 65,000 fans for MotoGP in the US, so one would suspect a similar number for Superbike. Don't tell me there are not more than that for races like the Spa 6 hour that ran yesterday. I would suspect that the F1 audience would crossover to endurance given the similar high tech of the cars. So how is Superbike on TV? Someone like Honda or Yamaha must be paying for it I suspect. Pity Peugeot do not sell cars here, and Audi do not seem too bothered it is not shown.

Just for fun I logged on to MotorsTV, an English channel which does show all those great series we do not see. It goes to most of Europe, and I know there all sorts of rights issues, but surely someone can do something similar here, or just buy the MotorsTV feed? But I am just a simple track builder, what would I know?

Good racing from Turkey. Lots of overtaking, not quite sure if that is what I want to see the way it is happening, but you have to be impressed by how clean the boys kept it. A few biffs and barges, but basically everyone making room. Lee Diffey carrying on about a record number of pit stops. Personally I do not tune in to watch pit stops, it is about racing not stopping and parking. Sorry to harp on it but if overtaking and pit stops are the measure of great racing watch an endurance race! Not sure how many passes there are a lap, and yes there are cars of different performance out there, but each pass has to be judged just right. Back to F1, it is good to see Ferrari and Mercedes so competitive, makes for more interesting races. Also interesting to see Bridgestone advertising during the race. They worked out you do not need to supply the tires to get coverage, especially when the tires of your competitor are wearing out so fast. Ambush marketing anybody?

Speaking of Superbike, good racing from Monza. As with Turkey you get good racing on fast tracks.