Bob Barnard Track Engineering

I spent an entertaining evening yesterday with Dick Hahne, late of Daytona International Speedway and now with MUSCO Lighting. Phoenix International Raceway has been given a facelift with a revised configuration and new paving, and Dick was there to check out the lighting on the revised layout. Derek Muldowney and his team have done a great job of improving the track without losing its unique character. It will make for some interesting race lines when NASCAR comes later this month.

In other news Kevin Magnussen continues to impress by topping the time sheets on the first day of the FR3.5 test. Vergne is to get a run in FP1 for Toro Rosso for the remaining races so looks set to take a seat from one of the regulars next year. Robert Wickens is tipped for Virgin next year, but is looking for Canada's corporate world to get behind him.

VJ Mallya has finally owned up and confirmed he has sold part of Force India despite his vehement denials of recent rumors. The Indian Sahara Group, go figure, has bought 42.5% and now we have another team who wants to change its name to Sahara Force India. Watch this space for the rest of the sale.

Other than that it is pretty quiet with F1 stooging around Asia prior to the Korean race this weekend, and the MotoGP boys on their way to Phillip Island. 13 degrees and windy is the forecast so the riders will probably complain again. Let's see Casey wrap up the title at his home race.

I have said for a while that the Pit Pass site is Bernie's PR company, and now I am convinced of it. Following the rumors about Austin the piece today makes you want to throw up in your corn flakes.

http://www.pitpass.com/44849-Is-the-US-GP-on-track-to-transfer-promoter-rights

Now I agree the promoter does not need to be the track owner, I have been there myself with Eastern Creek. In fact the smart move is to have them separated so if one goes broke they both do not go down. So it seems Tavo is a genius, the world authority on F1, Bernie said so if you read the last line. Hellmund is "F1's Captain America and Full Throttle synonymous with the sport in Texas." Funny, but when it was announced he was doing a deal my motorsport friends in Texas had never heard of him.

But he has promoted NASCAR and football. Really? Eddie Gossage promotes NASCAR in Texas as far as know, and who promotes football? At NFL level the teams run their own show with the League, and Colleges do their own thing. So at what level were these promotions?

It gets worse, no one has put together State funding and obtained both F1 and MotoGP events. Well the Australian GP Office is State funded and has run both F1 and MotoGP for some years. So has Malaysia, Hockenheim, Suzuka, Silverstone, Barcelona, Jerez, Jarama, Magny Cour, Paul Ricard, Donnington in the famous 1993 F1 race, Spa, and I could probably go on. All you need is money.

Work is apparently about to resume on site, there was a hiatus while the books were sorted, but now they are all go again, with fill due to be trucked to the site. Hang on, haven't we just been moving lots and lots of dirt, and now you need more? Surely they mean road base? 

I'll let you draw your own conclusions from the article, but as I said, it will be interesting to eventually find out what is going on in Austin.

The big news of the day is that, not surprisingly, Jenson Button has re-signed with McLaren, and looks set to end his driving days there. As others have said, Jenson is driving better than ever and is assuming the role of team leader.

The other story getting a lot of air time is the victory of an English Pub Owner in the EU Court of Justice over her using a foreign channel subscription, Greek actually, to show football without paying Sky's exorbitant rate. The implications for Sky and F1 are not clear as this may only apply to pubs and clubs, but it has Bernie out and about again as you will read in the other Pit Pass story, "Has Bernie lost the plot?" When they run these stories I do have to question if they are Bernie's mouthpiece, or do they have a split personality?

Sorry to have gone missing for a couple of days, my back has been playing up so lying low. One of the things that has come up and not commented on by the general media is the goings on in Austin over the Promoter. Here is the original story from Friday:

http://motorsport.nextgen-auto.com/Report-hints-US-GP-project-to-lose-promoter-Hellmund,30873.html

Joew Saward has followed this up with his own view on what is going on:

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/

This is about the fourth article so scroll down. Mind you the other articles are interesting. The Argentina track by Populous looks like a big kart track. Stick to football stadiums. Anyway Joe suggests Tavo might be looking to make more money consulting to other would be F1 race promoters. That says a lot about how much (or little) there is to be made in promoting one himself. I guess one day we will find out what is going on in Austin.

Joes first article on the Hamilton/Massa incident is responding to a number of web sites commenting on how Massa was told over the radio to "destroy" Hamilton's race by holding him up. Nothing wrong with that, except you would think Smedley would be encouraging Massa to go faster to stay in front, not slow down and keep Hamilton behind. Shows a lack of confidence in his driver. What is really the story here is the hypocrisy of Massa to complain of Hamilton's driving after the race! Adding insult to injury. And I find it amazing that in race after race I hear drivers in following cars being chastised for hitting the one in front, and yet at Spa Hamilton is in the wrong when Kobayashi hits his rear wheel!

The 14th annual Petit le Mans has been run, and who knows if we will have a 15th. Sebring is announced as a round of the WEC, but not the Petit? Scott Atherton did his usual "everything is getting better" speech but did not address the ALMS cars not being able to run in a WEC event. Has that been sorted? If it had you would think he would have mentioned it. And now we are "grandfathering" museum pieces like the V12 Aston Martin! Must be embarrassing for Aston that their 2011 car does not run but a collectors car finishes third!

ESPN3 coverage was very good except the ads were getting very old by the end of ten hours. A very eventful race. Not sure how they could edit that down to two hours, allowing for ads. I tuned in with 15 minutes to go and the race had ended, so the "highlights" were probably an hour at best. The major talking point was the Dumas crash, and I would like to know if he actually hit the front of the Porsche. Shades of Le Mans for me, stuck his nose in too far when the hole was closing. Now I am no fan of Montagny and the tactics of Peugeot, but Audi should know by now that they need to take no chances when passing them. Not sure why they had to start 53 cars? Do they need the entry fees that bad? Track density by FIA rule is 43, so 20% less and would have made life easier for the real competitors rather than those making up the numbers.

Over in Japan Honda managed to win its home MotoGP for a change in a crash fest. Stoner did well not to crash and recover to third behind Pedrosa and Lorenzo, so Casey still has a handy lead in the Championship. Rossi fell off at the second corner and took a few with him. Bit of a nightmare season for him and Ducati. Marquez failed to win the Moto2 class but still takes over the lead in the Championship from Bradl by one point.

Elsewhere lots of Championships were decided. Checa went out in style to clinch the WSBK, Tomszyk won the DTM title for Audi, Ceccon won the AutoGP title if anyone noticed or cared, Mehri won the Euro F3 title, Botolotti clinched the F2 title, and Peugeot took the inaugural, (and only?), ILMC Manufacturers Trophy. Dario Franchiti retook the lead in the Indycar championship with one race remaining.

In other news Tilke is the latest person to be trotted out to reassure us India will be "finished" on time. It is normal that the work is finished at the last minute he said, well most of it will be apparently. That may be true of a street course, but there is no excuse for a permanent facility. Bernie is due in court in Germany in November to testify in the Gribkowsky case, so perhaps we will learn what really went on.

A not so little field is contesting the Petit Le Mans this year, with 58 cars on track. As Tom Kristensen said, "It's like being under a yellow except you can overtake!" The Peugeots lead the practice by around a second from the Audis, with the Dyson car leading the gasoline brigade over some fancied European teams, so well done, but I suspect it is the knowledge of the track that is responsible. The GT's are typically going to be the show with the Risi Ferrari leading the pack, but with a whole bunch of Porsches, BMWs and Corvettes hot on their heals. The Jaguars continue to embarrass the marque and the team.

Stories continue to circulate if this is going to be a round of the WEC next year, but I guess only the ACO knows that. If so Road Atlanta is going to need an FIA level 2 license and will be subject to a limit on track density, so this could be the year to watch. Qualifying on ESPN3 tomorrow at 2.35pm EDT, and the race is live streamed starting at 11.15 EDT Saturday, with a "highlight show" on ABC Sunday. Good luck condensing ten hours of what should be non stop action.

The MotoGP teams are taking no chances. They have reportedly taken their own food and water to Motegi. A bit extreme and expensive. Aoyama said he thought he was in with a chance of winning his home GP when the stars said they would not be going. A 29 year old Australian, Damian Cudlin, has got the chance to shine by taking over the Ducati of injured Loris Capirossi. Damian is a somewhat unlikely choice, having been an endurance rider for most of his career, but good luck to him, although he will have his work cut out on the Duke. Perhaps he can still beat Rossi though?

Magnussen Jnr is testing for British F3 where he spent this season while dad is peddling a Corvette at the Petit. Kevin is leading the way amongst a group of returning drivers including this year's Champion, Nasr. Over in Jerez the would-be GP2 drivers are showing their paces with GP2 fixture Fabio Leimer topping the times. Alexander Rossi did not disgrace himself with 18th in the morning and 8th in the slower afternoon session, amongst some illustrious company. Missing is Robert Wickens who you would have thought would have earned a test. Maybe he does not have the sponsorship?

Kubica is making excellent progress and his doctor has no hesitation to say he will be able to return to F1. Whether he will have a seat is the next question. Apparently Lotus Renault, or whatever they are or will be, need an answer in the next two weeks. The team continue to be plagued by speculation about their financial stability and who will eventually own it, if anyone can work out who owns it now.

The Rescource Restriction Agreement,RRA, is the subject of rumblings again, with Red Bull once more accused of exceeding this "gentlemen's agreement," which as heard on a movie lately, assumes there are gentlemen involved. Mercedes is not happy, having downsized themselves, but probably out of necessity after the Honda pull out rather than the adherence to some vague constraint. Ross Brawn is calling for more tighter controls and independent audits, much as how the cars are scrutinised. When you have a system that is designed to reward the successful it is inevitable that if they have the money the top teams will find something to spend it on. Very few answer to shareholders, so it is not as if they have to give it to anyone but the owners, and Sir Frank for one would probably have a winning car than be rich.

It seems that despite being dropped from next year's calendar Turkey is still keen to have a GP and are ready to be the stand in if Bahrain cannot sort out its problems, which from current reports is not likely whatever Bernie says.

Very little going on worth writing about at the moment. Tost of Toro Rosso is echoing my thoughts on the Stewards at the last race and calling for professionals. In one of the most professional of sports it remains an oddity that the final arbiters of events are unpaid amateurs, and are different at each race. 

Over in the NASCAR world the "Chase" is on. When are they going to drop this stupid idea? Anyway Tony Stewart has won the first two races, so there is some justice in my opinion, but you can feel free to differ.

Petit le Mans testing was on at Road Atlanta on Sunday and the Peugeots are quick, and the gasoline cars nowhere. Qualifying is streamed live on ESPN3 on Friday, with the race on Saturday.

MotoGP from Motegi this weekend and all the riders are there despite the threat not to go because of radiation fears. Capirossi is not there due to his collar bone.

Finally the Indian Tax issue is not resolved. The customs duty may be, but the 70% tax on the team and drivers income from this race is not. Whitmarsh is not happy but it does appear the teams will go anyway.