Bob Barnard Track Engineering

As foreshadowed yesterday the questions over the Bahrain GP increase. As Joe Saward points out, the opposition have worked out that if a GP can give world wide exposure to a country, then it can give world wide exposure to its problems. GP2 Asia is due there this weekend and the F1 test is on March 3rd, so I guess we will see what happens. The opposition are saying that now there have been deaths due to the heavy handed response by the Government the protests are not just going to go away.

Meanwhile, back with the "good ol' boys" of NASCAR it has been decided to reduce the cooling system efficiency to try and prevent the pairs of cars running together for extended periods and raising speeds to 206 mph. This has to be a first, especially since the field has already qualified. More changes are expected, including a smaller restrictor plate. The engine builders must be tearing their hair out trying to figure out how to set up for the 500 on Sunday. Could be worth watching.

The argument goes on about the date for the Phillip Island MotoGP after this year. DORNA and the riders are pushing for a return to March, and Ron Walker, who controls the GP Organization for both cars and bikes, does not want it to move. But if, as appears likely, Bernie pulls the plug on the F1 GP, then Ron could easily move the bike GP, or is he going to lose both?

Other than these snippets there is again very little to talk about. Barcelona F1 test starts Friday, more opportunities to be fooled by the teams about what they are actually doing.

On the home front most of our friends seem to have had the flu, including us. The Arizona project has taken a different direction and will take a year to get going, but I am hoping for some news on another project tomorrow.

Tires are in the news today with Pirelli saying their tire will mean two or three stops during a GP. Hardly green is it, and I am not convinced it is good for the show, we are back to sprint races. Some of the best races last year were when someone made their tires last much longer than the opposition thought. In fact you could argue Ferrari lost the Championship because they did not expect Vettel et al's tires to last. We know Button can extend the life, and didn't Webber win in Hungary by making the softs last and Vettel ran the whole race in Italy to finish fourth. Now we are back to "wait for the pit stop" to overtake.

Hankook have been announced as the official tire of DTM. It is not long ago that the idea of a South Korean tire manufacturer supplying race tires to the DTM would have been laughable, but not anymore. I am actually having Hankook fitted to my street car, before hearing of the DTM deal. The reports from other users are great and the price is certainly right. Falken have been running a car in GT2 in ALMS and are stepping up with Derek Walker taking over the team for 2011. They put in some good performances last year that tended to fade away as the race progressed, so it will be interesting to see what they learned and what Walker can do. All adds to the interest of the GT2 class.

Well we are nearly at the end of the winter wait, with the first F1 test due in 15 days. Not that the tests are always a good indication, but it will be great to have some action on track again. The Rolex is due to run the weekend before that, so we can get our sportscar fix starting in just over a week. The "Lotus" court action is due to start next Monday, but this is not the sort of action I think we wanted to see. Can't Bernie bang their heads together?

It seems the Tobacco Police in Canada are not happy with the new (old) Lotus Renault paint job. JPS fags are still sold in Canada, so any likeness to a cigarette packet is against the law. This is just the sort of nonsense I went through at Phillip Island twenty years ago. I doubt anyone else would have noticed if they had not raised it, and since when has a driver been used to promote smoking? What other color schemes are suggestive of cigarette packets? Are they to be banned too? This is just what the Victorian Government wanted, a "white out."  But I suppose there is a white fag packet somewhere in the world.

Bernie is doing his bit to alleviate the GFC and restore the property market in London by spending 101 million pounds for two houses, one for each of his daughters. What must it be like to have that sort of money? Not that I begrudge him one dollar, he grew up not far from me in London and earned every one. There are many great lessons from Bernie's life we could all learn. Like Bill Gates, it is not inventing the product, it is knowing its potential and how to exploit it that is the genius.

We heard a few days ago about the HPD LMP1 car, and the rejigged LMP2, but now David Brabham is saying he is looking for a ride as the Highcroft team of Duncan Dayton is not a certainty to compete in ALMS. So who is going to run an HPD LMP1?

Alonso and Massa made some comments about to many buttons on the steering wheel this year.Alonso said "we are losing focus on the driving," and Massa " we have so many things to do...but we still have to drive the car." Thankfully. I'm still confused about where and when the movable rear wing can be used by the driver. Anthony Davidson said at the Autosport Show "You are pretty much going to be able to use it wherever you want [in practice and qualifying] and it is going to gain you anything up to 15km/h on the straights - so there is going to be a huge discrepancy of speed." But as I have read the rules it will only function when the car following is one second behind, so is it only the car following? Not much point if both can do it. And is this only in the race and it can be used when you like for the rest of the weekend as Ant suggests? Then I saw a piece that said there will be a predetermined point at the end of the main straight where a signal from Race Control will allow it to be used, which lead to a comment that you do not want to be leading going into the last lap. The comment also said this would lead to some strange strategies. Now this is nothing new, there are several tracks where that is the case anyway, Monza and Phillip Island to name two, but can anyone provide a comment to explain how this is going to really work, preferably before the season starts?

Does anyone else think Mr. Lorenzo needs some better advice on his self promotion? It is one thing to try and be a bit zany for the fans, and quite another to look totally wacko. There is no question he can ride the bike, he should let that do the talking. Nothing like this happened in the old days, riders just did normal stuff like putting rental cars in swimming pools. Rossi in the meantime did not seem to be having too many problems with that shoulder at Wroom.

It seems a day for comings and goings or coming back. Eric Boullier tells how he "shook off the ghost of Briatore," but wants Grosjean back in F1. Then you should have hired him I would have thought? Mr. Chung wants back in at KAVO and is going to sue, and Pat Symonds wants back in and is looking for a job. Massa is hoping the Pirelli's will save his seat at Ferrari, while Alonso announced he has a new press secretary, Roberta Vallorosi, who has worked for Rossi apparently.

Talking of comings and goings, the Professional Circuit Forum that was to be held in LA this April will now be staged in November on the east coast and will include a trade expo. The organizers are making the change to have one Forum a year and here in the US at a location to be determined, but south rather than north at that time of year.

It is interesting that Audi have gone from an open cockpit car to a closed for this year's Le Mans contender the R18, and Aston Martin has gone from a closed cockpit to an open. Can they both be right? Audi have preferred the open cockpit since they built the R8 due to the easier driver changes and less problems with visibility. They had power to burn presumably to overcome the extra drag. Now they say the restrictions on the engine mean they have to minimise drag, hence the closed cockpit. Allan McNish at the Autosport Show said that the petrol cars will be very competitive this year due to Article 19, and that the Aston was already very fast last year. So does Aston now have power to burn over the diesels and can therefore go to the open cockpit? I recall when Tony Dowe was running the Panoz he cut the roof off as the open cars at that time had some rule breaks which if I recall correctly allowed larger rear tires and a bigger fuel tank. Who makes this up? Although it did not have the elegance of the Coupe, it won races.  All part of the "knowing the rules and exploiting them" game that is motor sport.

Every journalist on earth must be at the Autosport Show or Wroom with Ferrari and Ducati. Not sure how much Ferrari and Co. spend on this bash but it is worth every penny in the PR onslaught they achieve at a time when there is not much else happening. Some one must have been in Venezuela to cover Maldanado in the Williams with Hugo Chavez and the deal with PDVSA. As I think Joe Saward commented, there ways of being a "pay for ride" driver without actually paying for it yourself, which is what most of these deals are. So Williams protesting that this is not a pay for play deal sounds a little far fetched. I don't really care if PDVSA give Sir Frank the money he needs to be competitive again  as long as Maldanado does not turn out to be another Eliseo Salazar.

I love Luca di Montezemolo, he says such great quotes. "maybe when others have won 10% of what Ferrari has won, then they can also have their say." He does not think Red Bull know how to behave as Champions, and is also using their overspending to point out the silliness of the RRA. And I love the comment on Brawn winning due to "technical drug taking." F1 on steroids. They presumably grew bigger diffusers.

On the home front I completed the text for my book, so now to find a publisher, edit and select the photos. I need a shot of me on the winners rostrum at Phillip Island in '89 if anyone knows a photographer who was there. I have a concept plan for the Circuit Grand Bayou and waiting on feedback from the client, who at first sight liked it a lot. Busy on a business plan for another project, so watch this space. Don't forget the Circuit Forum in LA in April, the program is just about done and will be out probably next week.

Here in the US Monday Night Football was a huge success and has since been followed by Sunday and Thursday night games. Someone worked out that people are at home in prime time, and there is not much else to watch in "prime time." Now Luca di Montezemolo is at it again stirring things up, don't you just love him, by suggesting that 2 pm starts should be moved to 5 pm as "most people are on the beach." In a European summer that would work, and if not there are always lights. Not sure what that does for the Asian races though. Luca probably does not realize that people like myself record the races anyway so we can watch them when it suits us and we can skip through the ads.

Talking of moving times of races, I commented a couple of months ago that the Phillip Island MotoGP was always intended to be run in March/April, it was only the fight over tobacco that moved the race location and date. But of course now the F1 GP has moved from Adelaide to Melbourne, and November to April, so the GP Board, who promotes both races, have a problem. It seems Dorna, after twenty years, have decided the MotoGP needs to be in that time slot, and have threatened that the FIM will not license the track if it is not moved. Don't really see what the date has to do with a track license. I have heard of licensing a track for different levels of competition, never for different times of the year?  As I said before, move the F1 race to November and run it with the Melbourne Cup, what a week for partying!

I don't know if any of you have thought through the ramifications of the arrest of Gribkowsky, the banker who managed the sale of the shares to CVC, but if it is true he took a bribe then the person who paid it would also be in trouble presumably, and perhaps the whole deal could be in jeopardy? The bank that sold the shares is State owned and has lost a bundle in the last few years, so I am sure the State would like to get some of that back.  I am no lawyer, but this could get really messy, or just maybe it will get the sport out of the hands of people who care nothing for the sport and only its earning potential.

Senor Carabante of HRT has been ordered to pay an ex-partner an amount of 47 m Euros, that's a lot of dollars! With HRT already strapped for cash it will be interesting to see what this does. Still, they have money in from Tata for Karthikeyan's ride and another seat to sell, and there is always a new investor coming with these guys.

Practice for this year's Rolex started today with the two Ganassi cars at the top of the time sheet, no surprise there. Watch for the Aten entered Ferrari 430 run by my buddy Tony Dowe. This is the first outing for this car, but Tony has a good driver line up and is no slouch in long distance racing.