QUOTE (Captain Tightpants @ Dec 27 2009, 02:17)
The problem is that people are expecting ten times as much from USF1 are they are from the other three combined just to satisfy their demands that USF1 show something of themselves. People have been riding and badgering them right from the moment they were announced as a new team; I expect that the talk of them being some elaborate stunt started about half an hour after they were accepted to the grid.
No they haven't. People have been sceptical about the ability of a few entrepreneurs to set up from scratch and rely on outsourcing everything from suppliers that have never had any real involvement with single-seater racing outside of the US. It's a model that has never worked for any team in the past. Teams such as Fondmetal, EuroBrun and Scuderia Italia used to do things like this. The other new teams are largely built upon an existing infrastructure, even if for lower formulae in the case of Manor.
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The reasoning behind these targeted attacks seems to stem from a blend of anti-American sentiment to a dislike of Peter Windsor. Take MegaManson's comments about how the website looks amateur-ish and the way he holds it up as proof that USF1 will not make the grid, simply because it doesn't have all the artistry and Flash applets that the likes of Virgin does. Never mind the fact that it has more actual content. In fact, I'd be more worried about the team if they launched the website and it had all the bells and whistles and was hailed as a modern work of art. USF1 clearly have more important things on their mind, like building their actual cars and team. If they dedicated enough time to deflect and diffuse all of the criticism and negativity that has stuck to them like tar since day one, they wouldn't have enough time to do anything else. People make stupid statements like "it's all a publicity stunt", ignoring the fact that publicity stunts are designed to promote things and in its current form, USF1 doesn't actually pomote anything.
I'm getting tired of the lazy assertion that those sceptical of USF1's pedigree are "anti-American". Where is the anti-Americanism in the MegaManson comment you refer to? I can't find any at all. I think this idea that anti-Americanism mobilises sceptics is a disgraceful and slanderous effort to slur what are perfectly reasonable doubts about this team.
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In fact, I wholly expect people to get on the internet after Abu Dhabi 2010 and continue these stupid and frankly undeserved attacks on the team, claiming that everything was done by actors, that they somehow inserted images of the cars into the telecast to cover up the fact that they weren't there, the way they interfered with the timing to make it appear that the cars were on the track, and how Peter Windsor paid off Martin Brundle to mention USF1 on occasion.
Hysterical (in the true psychoanalytical definition of the term, rather than "ho ho, that's funny").
I would suggest you engage with the likes of MegaManson instead of simply resorting to the predictable response of "oh, why aren't you saying the same about Virgin/Lotus/Campos?" People
have been saying these things about every single one of the new teams since the summer. I for one thought it was laughable that Campos, Manor and USF1 won franchises at the expense of proven motorsport operators such as Lola and Prodrive. Some of these new teams have since demonstrated capacity, sponsorship, drivers et al. Campos haven't done that and there are lots of people doubting their ability to make it to Bahrain. But Campos never promised anything particularly flash, and I tend to think that their low-key approach has been the sensible one, keeping well out of the way whilst they try to put a package together that can at least get them through the first few races. They may not even achieve that.
Likewise, I have major doubts that Sauber will appear at Bahrain, given that Petronas has gone with Mercedes. But, again, the teamseems to be getting on with quietly working away at putting itself together to at least try for 2010.
Peter Windsor's approach, on the other hand, appears to have been one of flooding particular chosen media outlets (notably Speed) with all kinds of silly promises about his team at a very early stage. OK, it worked insofar as his team won an entry for 2010 simply through being the highest-profile aspirant at that point, but what else is there of substance here? All I see is a cynical use of "US" as part of a foolish belief that the term "US" will attract major American corporates into the sport to back his effort. Unfortunately for Windsor, marketing professionals are rather more canny than that these days. His whole commercial approach (to my mind - bear in mind that I work in marketing, though) is about 20 years out of date. Take the Steve Matchett tour of the "facility," for example. It was largely panned on forums such as this - and marketeers pay serious attention to those sorts of perceptions these days.
), especially the all important "motorsport reputation". 
until then let them run their team their way.
. According to Varsha's statement they're all working 80+hr/wk to get this up and running. No one ever said this was going to be the biggest team. And they did say they were going to run very lean compared to other teams.
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