Bob Barnard Track Engineering

As expected there are lots of comments about the events at LVMS last weekend. As I am famous for saying, drivers are like attorneys, they all have an opinion. They range from "Indycar should not race on ovals" from Jimmie Johnson and Mark Webber, to Paul Tracy and Max Mosley who say "let's not over-react." Not two gentlemen with whom I usually agree. Indycar not racing on ovals? Where do they think this all came from? The series name says it all, and they have been racing ovals for over 100 years. Jimmie Johnson should look to NASCAR's short history and the deaths that have occurred.

I have been invited to participate in a panel discussion on radio "Voice of Russia," their world service out of Washington DC. It was to be today at 5 pm EDT, but Gaddafi takes precedence apparently, so it is now scheduled for the same time Friday. Should be interesting, but why does it take a fatality at a high profile race to raise this issue? As I have said before, the top end of racing gets safer cars and tracks, and the vast majority of racers are not being taken care of. In my role as an expert witness I see potential and actual fatalities weekly.

On better things Kevin Magnussen had a run in a GP2 car at Barcelona the last few days, along with GP2 returnees and young guns like Kevin and Alexander Rossi, both of whom acquitted themselves very well, worrying the top of the time sheet. Magnusssen has confirmed however that he is going to FR3.5 with Carlin next year.

The falling out in FOTA continues, and Ross Brawn announces he is concerned there are still loopholes in the exhaust diffuser rules, not that he is using them.

On two wheels, Colin Edwards has announced he is staying in MotoGP with BMW-Suter, one of the Claiming Rule Teams, CRT, i.e. grid make-up teams. Given BMW's poor showing in WSBK why would you think it would be any better in MotoGP?

I settled down yesterday afternoon for a motorsport marathon with Bathurst live for seven hours followed by the Japanese F1 GP. Bottle of red, some cheese and salami and hamburgers for dinner, does it get much better?

Well unfortunately it did not thanks to SPEED and Channel Seven in Australia. It was the worst, or close to, race coverage I have ever been subjected to. If you read yesterday's blog you know I love this race, so it has to be bad if I give up at lap 67 and watch a movie! My Aussie friends were posting on Facebook their annoyance at the number of ads Channel Seven were putting in, about every two to three laps it seemed. To add insult to injury SPEED felt it necessary to go and interview anyone they could find in pit lane even when the race was back on. What on earth were SPEED trying to do? I know you build a following for a sport based on the heroes, but you actually have to watch the sport! I know they pander to the lowest common denominator when it comes to an audience, but this was insulting. Are they trying to capture NASCAR fans?

Now an endurance race is hard to follow at the best of times as strategies unfold over the course of hours, so only seeing snippets made it impossible to follow, so I gave up.

So at 11 pm we turned to Fromsportcom.com to watch the Japanese GP. We actually do put SPEED's coverage on in case the computer stream locks up, but they were still at Bathurst, and stayed long after the GP started. I think it was about lap fifteen by they time they started the race, so if you looked on a web site you knew who won long before you saw it. And no sense of urgency even when they went to the GP, they did the grid walk and all the intro graphics as if there was all day to see this. 

Fromsport did not have the usual BBC feed for some reason so we watched German Sky, and lo and behold their commentators did not feel the need to talk non-stop. We had periods when we could just watch and listen to the cars, please note SPEED.

So to the race. Vettel has been to the Schumacher school of racing with the move he made on Button at the start, and of course got away with it. He says he did not see Button. Well the pit exit lane is not the normal line for taking turn one so I can only presume he expected someone to come up the inside and moved to block him. In that event do you not think he should be looking up the inside instead of driving Button onto the grass? Vettel joked afterwards that having two wheels on the grass did not stop him passing Alonso in Monza, very funny. He said he was looking for Hamilton who started third and behind Vettel. If that was the case why move over and give him the race line? Sorry cannot buy this.

Hamilton and Massa had their by now required coming together at the chicane. Lewis said he did not see him, and was actually taking the normal race line from 130R to the chicane, so he did not purposely move over on him, and presumably the Stewards saw it that way too. Hamilton had a bad race while his team mate drove his usual calm and controlled race and jumped Vettel at the second pit stop and hung on despite pressure from Alonso at the end, but ran out of fuel as he went over the finish line. So he was in fuel save mode for a while there which let Alonso close on him, and then threw in the fastest race lap at the end just to show he could.

Anyway Vettel score enough points running third to close out the Drivers Championship, and Red Bull must win the Team prize if they have not already, although I saw no announcement of this. I'm afraid Vettel is one of those drivers I respect but do not like. It is hard to fathom how he can drive away from some of the best drivers in the world at the start of a race, is the car that good? If so how come he ends up third? It seems from the radio transmissions that Vettel and Webber were told near the end not to take any risks. I presume that means Seb do not risk passing Alonso, and Mark do try and not pass Vettel.

An entertaining race if not dramatic. Ricciardo beat his team mate, so job done for him. His companions in FR3.5 finished off their season by Robert Wickens taking the Championship despite being taken out on the first lap as his rival Vergne also failed to finish. Alexander Rossi ended up third in the Championship, so another big step for him. Someone in the States needs to get behind Alexander and make sure he has the right rides to make it all the way to F1, then we might see some interest here. Magnussen the younger followed up yesterday's win with a close second in the final British F3 race.

I have commented over the last few months about the problems at Lotus Renault or whoever they are, and the stories continue about Lotus Cars and their funding needs. So we have an under funded team whose ownership is unclear being sponsored by a car maker owned by a Malaysian car company and spending money like there is no tomorrow.

So what do we hear now? The apparent owner of Lotus Renault, Genii Capital, is going to buy into Lotus Cars with possibly a majority position. Sort of reminds me of a snake swallowing its other end. I think they deserve each other.

This is part of a situation where teams will have to get approval for changing their name, which is a very big deal as the dole out of money from the Concorde Agreement is to the team that had the name when it raced. So if Team Lotus wants to become Caterham Tony risks losing the money he earned this year, which has been the stumbling block for resolving the Lotus name argument. Tony was willing to give it up if he was recompensed by Lotus Renault for that loss. HRT is in a similar position, but it is hard to see that they have much coming from the Agreement the way they have performed. So we have the prospect of three teams wanting a name change, and Bernie is really the one who has the say, and apparently he is eager to start the discussion. I bet he is, in this sort of deal there is only going to be one winner, Bernie.

Over in Suzuka we have Vettel on pole again by the slimmest of margins over Button who has been on it all weekend. Lewis had his last lap "destroyed" by Webber and Schumacher overtaking him at the chicane as he slowed to give himself some room to the car in front. So, did Red Bull give Mark the word to jump Lewis a la Ferrari? Mark was off the pace anyway, and I'm sure Michael would have taken the chance to screw Lewis with glee. He says Lewis put him onto the grass. Touche Michael, have you looked at any race film lately? I did not see it on the TV, and the Stewards have done nothing so far, so it cannot have been as bad as either Lewis or Michael are saying. So, we could be set for a great race tomorrow with Jenson and Lewis both looking very fast, and if someone can jump Seb at the start we could have fight for a change.

In Q3 we again saw four cars sit it out to save tires. This basically went on all weekend with the top cars sitting out the first 40 minutes of Friday morning. Pirelli and others are calling for a change to provide the paying customer something to watch. I think probably one more set of softs for Q3 would do it, and take them away afterwards.

In other series in action this weekend Kevin Magnussen has put himself on pole for both British F3 races and has won the first, so looks good for second place in the Championship. Where would he be if he did not have all those plug problems early in the season? Canadian Robert Wickens has won the first race of the FR3.5 finale weekend and extended his lead in that Championship, but only to nine points so it is all to play for Sunday.

Bathurst, the best tin-top race in the world, and yes I include Daytona. Never mind 500 miles turning left, how about 1000 km up and down a mountain? SPEED has it on this afternoon so check your local listings as they say. Rain shuffled the top-ten qualifying so the first few laps should be fraught with action.

And last but not least the Teams are to discuss the situation in Bahrain, which shows no signs of settling down. Bernie in his usual fine form said " I do not know if it is right or wrong, but we have it on the calendar for 2012."

It struck me after posting yesterday's blog that "Unlimited Racing Championship" is actually a very odd name for a spec racing series. By it's very nature it is "limited" to what they give you. So who are they trying to fool?

Casey Stoner wasn't limited by anything in Spain, winning the MotoGP race at Aragon from team mate Pedrosa with Lorenzo keeping his title hopes faintly alive in third. Dovizioso is doing his chances for next year no good at all, crashing again early in the race. Capirossi dislocated his shoulder in a crash, time to hang the helmet up? Rossi finished an unhappy 10th. This can't all be the bike, his team mate and a privateer beat him again. The Moto2 race was a five way battle with Marquez finally breaking away while points leader Bradl slipped to 8th. His once seemingly unassailable lead is now down to 6 points.

In Motegi Dario Franchiti continued his bad run with a uncharacteristic move that resulted in a blocked track, damage to his car and a penalty. Team mate Dixon won the race from Will Power who takes over the lead in the Championship, but it is still anybody's title between Power and Franchiti.

At Laguna non-points scoring cars won the race and the GT Class. Last year's Aston driven by Fernandes returned to the ALMS as this year's car is worse than a dog, and won from Chris Dyson and Guy Smith after their sister car obeyed team orders and sat in the pits long enough for the Dyson car to pass them at the death. Just why the team sent Steven Kane out to chase down everyone in that last hour I don't know, it was pretty obvious to me that he should have just driven around at a pace not to trouble the number one car. That would have been a lot less obvious and insulting to the crowd, what there was of it. The hybrid Porsche 911 carried on from where it left off last time we saw it and put in a stellar performance. Should be fun to watch at the Petit. Now I am not a great fan of KERS, but the engineering in this car shows how it should be done. Risi had a "dry run" for a repeat performance of running out of fuel on the last lap as they did last year at the Petit, throwing away a race win for eligible cars to the Porsche of the Flying Lizards. As usual the GTs put on the best show.

I have no idea what happened with Grand Am at Mid Ohio as no one seems bothered to report on it, and I did not watch it.

Sunday's FR3.5 race was another thriller with American Alexander Rossi beating home Daniel Ricciardo with Vergne third. Canadian Championship leader and team mate of Vergne, Robert Wickens, had a bad day and the title now goes down to the last race with Wickens just two points clear of Vergne. As part of the show Grosjean and Prosts Senior and Junior drove F1 cars at this previous F1 circuit. A prelude to France having a GP back?

As predicted by Murphy The Bear ALMS CEO Scott Atherton announced at Laguna yesterday a new series to support the ALMS, and it needs a lot of support. Not sure who is supporting who here as it is a remake of Can-Am with spec racers. If it is half as good as the original it will blow the current ALMS away. Car "owners" will get two 30 minute races at each ALMS event, for only $485,000 a season. No mention of how many cars will be available, but more important will be the number of gentlemen racers with $485,000 to spend a year.

Not that I think this is a bad idea, could be a good way of reviving sports car racing, if it gets any TV coverage, which even ALMS doesn't. But spec racing is not what Can-Am was about, no-rules was the original idea with innovation being the key to its success. Personally a GT series is where I would go, but I'm sure there are plenty who would disagree.

In Spain the lights and A/C were back on and so was Stoner who ran away with pole, despite laying the main bike down. He then went out on the spare and went quicker! Pedrosa is second with Spies recovering from whatever ailed him or his machine yesterday to complete the front row. Lorenzo is next but not confident for the race, while Rossi is playing with his aluminium frame which necessitates different engine bolt up points, so he has exceeded his six engines despite having two unused of the original. Not doing him any good though. Nicky Hayden and rookie privateer Karel Abraham qualifying ahead of him on their Ducatis.

The Dyson team have taken the two top spots for the Laguna ALMS race later today, with the works Aston Martin and the Muscle Milk sister car on the next row, but not by much. A whole four LMP1 cars, this should be exciting, roll on Petit. BMW are on pole in the GT class, but as usual the gap from second to ninth is less than a second, so this is where the fun will be.

In Paul Ricard the FR3.5 continues to put on a show with Vergne winning the first race and Wickens third, so Vergne is still in with a shot at the Championship. Further back Ricciardo and Rossi, Alexander that is, had a good fight with Ricciardo ending up in front but being penalised post race for putting four wheels over the track edge. He must have been watching the Monza race last week, but of course he was there!

On the cover of Autosport a few weeks ago there was a piece about Kimi coming back to F1. I looked to see if it was the April 1st issue just late, but no. Now Joe Saward reports Kimi as having been to see Williams, as has Sutil. Now I would love to see Kimi back in an F1 car, and Williams will have a Renault engine next year and a new design team, but somehow can't see he wants to put up with the BS and the travel again. He declined to fly to the Australian WRC Round, so how is he going to put up with the F1 schedule? Peugeot in the odd WEC race seems much more likely, but I have been wrong before.