morning

I've always been fascinated by small teams, especially the ones making the step to F1 from minor championships.
Given that the move from F3 to F1 is exceptionally rare these days, I'm interested in knowing the latest news about this team.

If I understood correctly, John Booth of Manor Motorsport will be the owner and Wirth will be the director...

The website has just a welcome page, with a car in a great black livery....

what about the drivers? I've heard rumours about Caroll an Chilton??? paydrivers perhaps?

The likes of Christian Klien, Anthony Davidson and Adam Carroll are in contention for a race seat apparently.

Thread title might need changing in a few weeks time as well when the Virgin deal is finally announced and the team becomes 'Virgin F1.'

Don't you mean, The Virgin F1 thread?

chilton as in tom chilton ? really ? I don't see that happening at all..

I'm a bit doubtful as to whether the new teams will actually make it onto the grid. Nevertheless, they do have Nick Wirth. Which makes me wonder whether the car will potentially take any cues from the Acura LMP1 car, particularly the shape of the nose box.



No, Max Chilton who is currently racing in (British?) F3.

ah that makes sense, I dont think Tom is quite up to F1

Of course not. Particularly his hair wouldn't get along with F1 helmets.

I'd like to see Davidson back, although he'll be missed from BBC Radio 5 Live. He's doing a fantastic job there.

I'm sure he's looking for work, but I'm also 100% sure that nobody is prepared to give him more than a test driver position. Unfortunate for him, fortunate for 5Live listeners and for Prodrive.

Seriously, Max Chilton (or any of them for that matter...)? He has hardly set F3 alight has he?

They need to look at an experienced hand for one of the seats (maybe Davidson), and maybe Carroll or similar for the other seat

Be interesting to see what Nick Wirth comes up with. The Honda/Acura sportscar they designed was quite a mean looking machine, and fast

aargh

As long as they don't name it Virgin Manor.. which sounds more like some peverted fantasy of Richard Branson's.

Max would approve it.

Chilton won his 1st race at the weekend but I wouldn't say he is one of the top drivers. He always seems to be near the top but doesn't normally have that extra bit about him to turn decent finshes into race wins.

I really hope Adam Carroll gets a drive.

Manor Virgin sounds worse.

2 weeks ago the portuguese Autosport was reporting that Alvaro Parente is close to signing a deal with this team.

Hope Davidson stays where he is, best motorsports commentator since James Hunt

Playboy Mansion.

As most are aware that Manor Motorsports is originally from Sheffield.

They are named (this is a guess) after an area in Sheffield called The Manor or after Manor Castle which housed Mary Queen of Scots on and off for 14 years whilst under arrest by Elizabeth I. Very little remains of the castle but the Turret House is still in tact and her ghost is rumoured to still haunt Turret House.

History lesson over.

The Virgin Queens prisoner was housed at the Manor.


Shorten it and what do you get? Virgin Manor. Sounds a bit more gruesome now doesn't it.

paul di resta deserves an f1 drive. didn't he race for manor motorsport at some point?

Good call. He drove for them in F3 Euroseries in 2005.

[quote name='Mandzipop' date='Sep 16 2009, 21:08' post='3865274']
As most are aware that Manor Motorsports is originally from Sheffield.

They are named (this is a guess) after an area in Sheffield called The Manor or after Manor Castle which housed Mary Queen of Scots on and off for 14 years whilst under arrest by Elizabeth I. Very little remains of the castle but the Turret House is still in tact and her ghost is rumoured to still haunt Turret House.


or the ever so lovely Manor Top estate

You have to add Esteban Guerrieri to that list: Guerrieri, his manager and Booth will meet on saturday. It's the second meeting thay have. But the problem will be getting the money... It is known in Argentina that Booth have asked both Guerrieri and Carroll to have more activity in this last months of the year, so Guerrieri is trying to get Mansell's seat at the WSR. I don't know which are Carroll plans...

I did actually mention the Manor (as in the estate). And no I wont go anywhere near there unless I have to or have to pass through it.

If you mean the Manor Estate in Sheffield, very wise.

I do. I live in Sheffield but fortunately far enough away from the Manor.

Hey, we are almost neighbors, I was born in Rotherham.

On the driver front, i'm hoping Davidson and Carroll.

Would be good, or 'Little Ant' and Brendan Hartley

I live at the other end heading towards Derbyshire but used to work near Meadowhell which isn't too far from Rotherham.

As regards to the name I have been informed that there is a garage on the Manor Estate (I will use the term estate for none Sheffield folks) which has a big placard saying Manor Motorsports. So it looks like it was named after the area, which is also named after the castle. So my original name of Virgin Queen holds Mary Queen of Scots prisoner in the Manor shortened to Vigin Manor is still applicable.

Fortunately for Mary Queen of Scots the Manor estate did not exist then otherwise life might have been a bit more difficult.

Carroll deserves a drive.

[quote name='Mandzipop' date='Sep 17 2009, 22:53' post='3867592']
I live at the other end heading towards Derbyshire but used to work near Meadowhell which isn't too far from Rotherham.


A small world my dad lives in Chesterfield as did myself for a small time

News:

Guerrieri set to Manor drive

Argentinian Esteban Guerrieri and his manager Julio Gutiérrez met John Booth on saturday and the Manor boss told them that Guerrieri has the preference of the team to race in F1 next year. The main difficult is that he will need 6.5 million euros before December 5 to secure the seat, but Booth told them he will travel to Argentina to help them get the money if necessary, like Giancarlo Minardi did with Tuero in 1998. The other chance will be gettin 1.5 million euros to get the test driver role. In any case, Booth has showed his serious intentions to have Guerriei racing back for them, now in F1.

"It takes 6.5 million euros for Esteban occupy a seat in the next season. It`s closed a verbal agreement which will have a written submission. Such documentation shall be sent to me in 15 days and obviously he has the endorsement of Booth himself. He assured us that Esteban is the priority, " Gutiérrez said to CORSA Online.

I suspect they are playing this game with Guerrieri, Parente, Carroll, and possibly more drivers, and will then give the seat to the highest bidder.

Not sure if they want to go with 2 rookies... usually that's not a very good idea.

I'm just wondering... why doesn't Mosley go the whole hog and give himself a drive? I'm sure he could arrange to win every race, even if he does stall at the start and then slide off when he approaches the first corner.

Article from t'Yorkshire Post on Manor: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/Exclu...anor.5679179.jp

Can anyone living near the Dinnington area actually confirm whether or not building works are genuinely underway?

It still seems strange that as of today the only job which appears to have been advertised was PA to the boss (assume John Booth who will remain in Dinnington so will need an F1-PA). Aren't they leaving it awfully late to get a workforce together, or is it just nonsense and the operation really will move south? Or Imperial reads the job adverts in the wrong newspaper?

This is just a rumour, but apparently Esteban Guerrieri would have 50 % of the budget secured to race for Manor next year. The money would come from some bank or banks...

EDIT: A British bank, whose contact was given by John Booth himself, and the other is a bank from Argentina, but whose capital and headquarters are in the USA.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/79317
A F1 car without using a wind tunnel?

Lol. I cannot wait to see these new teams next year, with a few noob drivers in the mix for good measure.

F1 has never replaced the Grouillards of the grid.

Could be possible they only use CFD, but without a wind tunnel? Damn. The last car which was made without a wind tunnel wasn't exactly a success...

I believe the point of computational flow dynamics is that you can build a car without the need for wind tunnels. Much, much cheaper.

Well it hasn't been done before, I don't think Lola used it in 1996/1997 winter. Probably cheaper but for me it's more a sign of weakness because if CFD really is that good other teams have it anyway.

I believe CFD has only recently been perfected. Vehicular aerodynamics is a very intricate, intimate branch of physics. If CFD were available before now, teams would have pickd up on it - probably in conjunction with a wind tunnel the way I believe USF1 are planning - but the Manor car wil be the first to be designed entirely by CFD. I find that pretty significant, since the other teams haven't touched it yet: it's clearly only just become viable.

Really!?
I think the experienced teams will tell you that although CFD has made large strides (mostly due to more powerful computers becoming available), the wind tunnel is still needed to complement some of the shortcomings CFD still has.

Manor simply cannot afford a wind tunnel. They're obviously cash strapped.

just like BMW F1 with their famous Albert II

Yeah

But I still believe you need a windtunnel to confirm CFD.

no testing and no wind tunnel...

i'd hate to see it when the car takes off Mercedes LeMans style

There's a good interview on Radio le mans with Wirth. He talks a little about using only cfd. Worth checking out/