Bob Barnard Track Engineering

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.

Now I know you were expecting a blog about the economy run that was the Malaysian F1 GP. Well, I think there is enough being said about all that, and I agree. But as Mark Webber said, if it were not for the fact that they have to drive to conserve tires, or in Mercedes case, fuel, then the situation with Vettel would not have arisen. 

As with last weekend, after being up half the night to watch the F1 race, and the aftermath, which was a lot more entertaining, and as it was raining and cold, no soccer thanks to the International break, I was forced to watch the Indycar race. Now I watch it for professional reasons, but it struck me sitting there, why does anyone else watch it? This is a serious question. It goes to the heart of the recent blogs on the death of spectator racing. I also watched the NASCAR race from Fontana which seemed to belie this as there were more spectators there than I have ever seen for a race at that track, notwithstanding that they had some seats covered up. Like most NASCAR races though you only needed to watch the finish.

Seriously though. We have a spec race series, with awful looking cars. We saw stupid driving, including an incident that this car design was supposed to stop, i.e. a car riding over the back of another. The drivers are either never-will-be's, or never were's, mostly from overseas, on a bad race track where overtaking is just about impossible, just ask Castroneves. We have interminable yellow flags, and the road sweepers must have done half the race distance. And they do not even have a female pit reporter! What are they thinking, at least some eye candy for the guys. And then there is Leigh Diffey, enough said.

If anyone can tell me why they watch, please comment.

Indycar returned to Belle Isle last weekend, and it turned out not so "belle."  As these photos show the "repairs" to the track did not last the race and caused a two hour delay that meant the TV went away and cars were damaged. Not the show piece Roger Penske or Detroit was hoping for. I do not know what they used but I suspect a rubberized asphalt. It clearly had no bond to the concrete, and why wouldn't they have just cut out the crack properly and use a non-shrink grout? One of the lessons from Adelaide was if you are going to stage a race to show off your sport or your city then you need to be TOTALLY sure it is going work, both structurally and operationally. Not what I expected of an event staged by "The Captain." The track remained as bad as it was in 2008 when they stopped. Why would you not revamp the whole thing, including a complete repave if you intend to run this for several years? I'm sorry to say the US builds tracks down to a price and not up to a standard.

While all this fun was going on we had the Le Mans Test day, and Toyota it seems is going to give Audi a run for their money, if they can be reliable. Peugeot and Audi have always said that their deisels were not winning because of an unfair advantage, it was just that they were out and out factory cars, and no one had competed on that level with a petrol car. Well now Toyota has, and we can see by the times they can compete. Should be great. The GTE Pro is going to put on a show as always, with all the cars seperated by just 2 seconds! Roll on the 16th.

The Canadian F1 race is next weekend, and they are already responding to threats of disruption by cancelling the Thursday pit walk. This could get nastier than Bahrain.

We saw a good MotoGP race in Barcelona, which managed to stay dry much to the annoyance of the Rossi fans. Lorenzo continues to show us that he and the Yamaha are the real deal this year, despite his team mate being nowhere in sight. Where to next year Ben Spies? Back to WSBK? Nice job Cal Crutchlow, but sorry to hear about the crash today in testing. I bet Herve is not pleased.

Now I know Nico is not Finish like his Father, but he does know how to finish a race off. There have been the doubters, but he has not been one of them, he just needed the right equipment, set up, and strategy. Congratulations Nico, great drive, but it did bring home the importance in today's era of deteriorating tires that being at the front is a huge advantage. We saw that last year with Vettel, although it was masked by a great car, but we also saw it with Button in Australia. Fighting through traffic after pit stops is quickly taking the edge off the tires, so qualifying at the front and getting there early is key.

Was anyone else surprised my the amount of "marbles" at this race, and so early on? Not something we saw at the end of last year, or at the first two races this year. Not great to see as it limits the overtaking options, although we did see a lot of that despite them.

What an excellent race though, and we are sure to see more of them. Mercedes have cured their tire problem it seems, in these temperatures anyway, but there is Lotus, Sauber, and yes Williams all showing signs they can compete. Now McLaren and Red Bull are going to be at the sharp end week after week, but surely Kimi is going to get in the mix soon, and Perez has also shown he can mix it. Who knows what Ferrari are going to do with that dog of a car. Sad to see Michael's race end that way, and I know I do not like him, but there you are. That's racing, ask Lewis after Malaysia and Jenson yesterday. Pit stops do have the ability to produce some different results. 

I loved our SPEED commentators carrying on about amazing it was that Mercedes won after 57 years! Well they did not race for 55 of them so what's the big deal? I suppose when Lotus win we will have the same carry on? Yes I had to suffer through a recorded SPEED coverage as when it was on I was on a plane coming home from a "Racing Goes Safer" conference in Long Beach where I continued my call for better track safety here in the US. If you have not gone on line and watched the Sky coverage and heard Alguersuari's comments then you are missing a lot, and David Hobbs misses most. Love David, but Jaime has current knowledge and what he can tell about what the driver and car is doing is amazing. An eye for detail I have always admired and wondered at in real racers.

I did watch part of the ALMS race live at Long Beach but cannot admit to being very excited by it. The GT's put on the usual show, but we miss the RISI Ferrari and the other overseas cars. Dyson has decided not to go to Le Mans due to the cost and not being able to raise more sponsorship or drivers who can pay. Sad for Rob and Chris, but an expensive experience if you are not competitive.

Watched part of the Indycar race, and let me say they do not look any better in the flesh. Ask Marco Andretti how well the new design of the cars works to prevent flying after riding over the rear wheels of another car. Waste of time and money come to mind? 

Finally Bahrain. Enough is being written about the situation without me adding my two bob's worth. Bernie and Jean Todt are getting rattled by the press pressure as they should. At least one team member had the courage to say they would not go for moral reasons, and got fired for their efforts which I think is outrageous. As I said, I for one will vote with my TV remote and will not be watching.

So we are still going to Bahrain despite a demonstrator being shot last weekend! Bernie and the boys have a big PR campaign going to convince us all is well though, and Bahrain is apparently the best value for sponsors above the European races. This is measured by the viewing audience, so more people watch Bahrain than Spa! Maybe when it was the first race of the year, certainly no one watches it because the track is so great. More PR BS? There are stories of teams having alternative flights from China in case Bahrain is cancelled, so we will see.

Over to Indycar. Some of you will recall that at the time of Dan Wheldon's death I questioned the construction of the safety fence, SMI tracks being different to anyone else. Yesterday I received my March 15 Autosport and was reading the story about the drivers not being happy at going to Texas. The test was cancelled there you recall, apparently to save the teams from switching to an oval set up and then back for St Pete. More to do with the drivers I think. They are not convinced that the 2012 car will prevent pack racing, but they are also unhappy about the fence, which is the same as Vegas. The last paragraph of the piece is interesting as I have not read this anywhere else. "An investigation into Dan Wheldon's accident revealed that pack racing and the Vegas fencing contributed. ... with the supporting poles on the inside (track side) of the mesh." That's what I have said all along. This is not the FIA style of fence. Don't hold your breath for SMI to change it though.