Docc.. C'mon dude.. view it from the perspective of an unhappy hands-on employee, watching one of his bosses tell huge stinking porkers to the press (We'll be there in Bahrain.), while the other boss and his son are basically poor incompetent leaders on a day-to-day basis.

Maybe there's what you could call fraudulent behavior going on... but IMO it's more the usual dreams and delusions fueled by lack of funding and incompetence. If they're doomed, I expect people will quietly pull the plug on their involvement and not make a huge fuss about it. Typical racing biz failure.

dunno why you're unable to see this... wouldn't be the first time it happened if it does..

Heh. I love it. Someone accuses the team of covering up mismanagement (is that really much of a revelation?) and half a page later, it's already evolved into a Ponzi scheme.

Yes indeed, but don't hold your breath! Here's why ...


But he's not quite a proper full-time employee it seems ...

Sounds like he might be only moonlighting at USF1.
And if I understand his tweets correctly he's off to Speed Week, so one probably shouldn't expect any up-to-date new video at this point.
And CompositeKen says Anderson is off to Daytona also.
I'd have expected them to be kinda busy instead of going to the party.

I just noticed this...

Corsa

The visit of Jose Maria Lopez USF1 headquarters in Charlotte lasted a few hours. However, the Cordovan could see closely the work being done in the Type 1, the car he will use to debut in F1 this season.

Since taking the opportunity to form part of the U.S. team, Lopez has always been aware of the work of the team on the car. In fact, on his cell phone has several photos that show the progress of the vehicle. This time he could in person gossiping about the progress of monoposto, which would be able to roll the 20th of this month.

This was the second visit to the factory made by Pechito in Charlotte since the first one in November. The difference is that he did this one as a member of USF1. He made another tour of the facility and had his first meeting with John Anderson, the team manager.

"I'm very happy with the way I was received. Since my visit last year to now there have been many changes and is working hard to get to the first time in Bahrain, " said the Cordovan, who plans to return to North Carolina on 15.

During the remainder of this week Lopez will continue his physical training plan in the High Performance Center in Austria, Erwin Gollner.



He's looking at "the car" (if we can call it like that now). The picture is an exclusive from Corsa in is from today.

Not sure that's what he was saying.. Anderson apparently went to the Rolex 24h of Daytona, hence the gentlemen racers comment.

This confirms my thoughts that the original picture of Lopez at the Factory was in fact old (they say November, while others were thinking he had not yet even been to see the team). Also this information was on the USF1 Twitter and Facebook last night or this morning, I forget which.

I think if CompositeKen was right (I still think he is a troll like so many you see in video game forums pulling the same tricks with upcoming games for example), Lopez would have surely leaked to the press that he made a mistake, and it would be a huge scandal at this point.

Another thing, is CK claims there is only one tub, and that tub is only for electrical work, but in the videos you clearly see other portions for more than one tub. We clearly see a gearbox, and the engine in the picture matches up to the current Cosworth photos. So I have to call troll at this point.

I have seen with my own eyes by watching the videos that there is probably more than one tub (the factory layout has room for four complete cars) so work can easily be going on in the other bays. What we have not seen yet are wishbones, wings, etc. But I am guess these are still in development, as the major teams are even running 09 spec wings, so no true worry yet for that.

We knew Anderson and PW were at Daytona, it was in the press, so no big deal there (for the 24 hours, not the 500 btw). PW according to the press was also recently back in the UK, seemingly matching the signing of Valles.

Time will tell, that is all I will agree with. They either make it, or it was a sham, or they just need more time.

Everything that has been going off on this forum this afternoon is getting linked to a lot of other forums now.

When I saw Bertrands reaction I thought the same. Either it is CompositeKen or this is a genuine spat between people that are working for USF1 (or outsourced to USF1).

I'm keeping an eye on the linked forum.

I must say I really hope CompositeKen is a total fraud because I wanted to see the battle of the newbies.

in terms of money the only hint we have is windsor saying last week that one of the sponsors had late payment. so everything else that is written could be true or false. but i guess we will find out soon.


edit: another response from the person that claims to work for usf1
http://www.motorsportforums.com/forums/sho...p;postcount=248

I'd be careful about that... The Cosworth and gearbox could well be a dummies (2006 engine, same as in November picture.. and odd non-current-F1-tech gearbox according to Scarbs)

Also, if they've got several tubs then why no dates for the crash tests? or the shakedown?

Last thing, I disagree with your assessment of Lopez's situation.. there's no way in hell he would nuke himself like you said he would... Why do that!?

Happy to stand corrected.


However, the video man is into NASCAR.

And it might be worth noting that Hurley's "its crunch time" tweet was on Jan 27th.

There are rumors of take-overs, which also tend to jive with what Composite Ken is saying...

http://murphythebear.com/blog/index.php/20...rohn-moving-on/

Maybe the thing could be salvaged if the clowns are shown the door, and missing the 3 first races is doable...

If you just paid $5 to $8 million and some of that was govt money, I think you would be pissed, and things would not be right. If your dreams of racing F1 were just dashed, would you stay silent? If CompositeKen can leak information, surely JML can!

As to the engine, it seems to match up to the pictures of the actual new units, wires seem to be in the right place, same bolt positions etc. (I did not compare this to the 2006 engine, but you know what they should be the same on the outside anyway) The gearbox appears to match the drawings from the Motorsport article.

Not USF1, though - their plan was launched well before the budget cap idea was floated by Mosley.

And £40mn is still an enormous sum of money for a new, independent start-up operation to find. Some contributors on F1 forums write as though it wre the cost of a bag of peanuts.

Virgin have managed it.

I disagree with everything you've just said... no point fighting over it. Let's just agree to disagree heh.

Again, the November mock-up engine matched the picture too.. Cosworth surely provided those to the new teams.

Worth posting that here

More popcorn, quick!

But what if it had remained Manor and Branson had stuck with the Brawn operation? I doubt they would have managed it then.

USF1 added the building of their 'house' on top of the challenge of building their first F1 car.

If you've read the latest edition of Motorsport, Virgin were already involved. From what I can gather, it was a major factor in them getting the gridslot.

However this needs to be discussed on the Virgin thread. But it was an example of how a brand new team can do it.

Wow...if I hadn't visited this thread just at the same time bertrand wrote his post, probably CompositeKen words wouldn't have been taken seriously... my contribution apparently seems to clarify the truth about USF1...but BTW destroys USF1 reputation

Murphy the Bear ??

Uh...have you read much of this blog in the past..?

Like this tid bit..

"Cons Part Deux

There’s another “big one” on the way. It seems an intermediary brought a Heinkel sponsorship to Ross Brawn worth €100 million over three years in the middle of this past season. In due course it was signed, the agreement becoming an item of value in Mercedes acquisition of Brawn F1. When the check didn’t arrive on time, Brawn suggested Daimler’s CEO call the boss at Heinkel. The response from the former bomber builder now into soaps and such? “Never heard of it, and it’s nothing we’d do anyway.” Whoops! Murphy thinks Daimler Benz been taking “due diligence” lessons from Porsche Motorsport. (Remember Solo Al?) Seems the con man took the signed agreement to a European financial institution of some kind, got a loan of €16 million, and disappeared."


Uh...Henkel..the German adhesive firm..not Heinkel...So "Brawn suggested Daimler’s CEO call the boss at Heinkel." You think the CEO at Daimler might know the difference..and Brawn and "the CEO at Damiler" might actually do some due dilligence before contracting ?

Read some of his enlightenment from the archives..

I'm not ruling out he's being fed some BS... or trying to make sense of different stuff and merge some rumors together.

Anyway, things are going to be clearer very soon.. Ecclestone seems to be keen on dotting the 'Is' and crossing the 'Ts' with USF1 and Campos, and pretty soon actual gear is gonna be needed to be shipped to Bahrain..

as for the story you chosed.. you're aware it's not entirely made up in the Bear's head, right?

http://www.autosport.com/search/index.php?...amp;x=0&y=0

Or see it from the perspective of a hater who desperately wants to see the team fail(we've seen plenty from the get-go) and creates an elaborate post on a very popular forum in order to spread doubt throughout the F1 scene for kicks.

It could be either one, but I'm very skeptical on the basis that the poster clearly desired to create a 'stir' with his post, ya know?

That's my take..
Soon we'll see..and all the rumors and opinions..pro and con..will be just a winter's entertainment..

I think you misunderstood that bit.. (or maybe I have!)

Are you talking about creating a stir on the internets or at the factory? ..methinks the latter, and rather he expects a 'witch-hunt' like the last time he went 'public'..

Yeah, or you actually found who the troll is!

j/k

Hey, there's elaborate and there's elaborate.

There was just a three minute window between Bertrand's post and his edit.
I saw the post, and dismissed it as one-eyed fanboi support.
I didn't even spot that it had been edited until I read of farruquito pointing it out.
I wondered if farruquito was part of an elaborate troll.
So I checked my own browser history, confirmed farruquito's version, and had a look at his previous posts before confirming my opinion.

Sure its the internet, and everyone could be anyone.
But that edit is what makes it for me.
And that would be a seriously subtle troll to leave the original post there for just 3 minutes.

this is amazing, well to me composite kens explanation is just to detailed, to be fake. But i quess we will know in little over one month. But if the story is true, i can understand his frustration and anger. Offcourse its important to be loyal, but if the employer are as incompetent and stupid like ken says, then who can blame him. Loyalty yes, but not at any price.
USF1 the biggest joke ever

Well, if no one else is going to, I'm going to say thanks.
Without your post, I'd not have noticed that Bertrand had edited his post, and I'd have ignored it.

I can't really believe I'm bothering to worry about this. Instinct says to me that CompositeKen is full of it, but:

On the positive side:
He doesn't say anything technical that I know to be incorrect. The tub photographed in Nov. with Nick Craw does appear to be a mock-up, the gearbox in the electrics video doesn't match the on in the Racecar engineering drawings.etc.
He uses American spellings consistently.
I've not heard anyone talking about steel wishbones before, but the Racecar engineering drawings do look that way.
He spends a lot of time ranting about the management culture. That's the sort of thing that only matter to you if you have to put up with it.
There's Bertrand's edited post.

On the other hand:
The local time on his profile is set to GMT.
He's looking forward to a witch hunt that will affect him.
He would be better served getting in touch with a decent journalist and really blowing the doors off.


You'll have to make up your own minds, but I'm not convinced..

IF what CompositeKen is saying is true, and if bertrand is not a fake poster, here are a few thoughts from me:

a) I would never hire CompositeKen in my institution. The absolute worst kind of employee that you can have. The fact that you still ARE on USF1's payroll, regardless of if ONE of your paychecks has gone a little awry. Being an insider in the team, irrespective of whether you think your employees are lying/fraudulent, you are a representative of the team, and as long as they are paying you, and allowing you to put food on your table, continue to allow you to have a roof over your family's head, and enables you to pay your bills, you have no right to be dishing out your employer's dirty laundry on a public forum. You are a disgrace, and if anything you say is true, I truly hope that your actual identity is revealed so that people can be wary of having you work for them.

As bertrand says, if you don't like what's happening around you, you should hang up the gloves, get off the payroll, and after that, you'd be free to say whatever you want about the team. At this point you are having your cake and eating it too, and that makes you no better than your employers (as you claim them to be). If this is your attitude towards your work, lord only knows how much dedication and sweat you put into the actual work you have to do for the team. If you hate it, why are you still there? If you don't hate it, and still believe it will work, why are you making things so difficult by posting it on forums? I'm sorry but everything you say puts you in a worse light than it does your employers. This is irrespective of whether you are trolling, or not. Both ways of looking at it, you're the one that ends up reflected poorly upon.

As for the payroll situation, it's not like you AREN'T being paid. Times are tough for everyone, which would include your employers. It is difficult to get funding to run an operation like this, and yes, although it might be a case of poor planning and management, it's not like you are NOT being compensated for the work you are putting in. From personal experience, I know that in order to succeed in something you truly believe in, you HAVE to make some sacrifices. You go into a project where you know the cards are stacked against you, there will be times where things get difficult and everyone has to take something on the chin. So half your pay got deferred by one week, it's not the end of the world. Running an F1 operation from "overseas" (so as to speak), is not easy, and it's very expensive, and there are commitments going in and out of the team. Everything is based on chain reaction, and only if it comes to a point where you aren't being paid and have actually been owed money for a long period of time, should you want to take matters into your own hands. Your attitude is truly appalling.

b) I honestly feel sorry for the people who work at USF1. There are people in the organization who truly want this to work, and are putting their blood and sweat into the operation. I want to give both Peter Windsor and Ken Anderson some benefit of the doubt, first of all because of the manner in which CompositeKen posts, I am sure he is making things look worse than they actually are. Not only that, but having a rogue employee (which is what I'd call him), would make the job of Mr. Windsor and Mr. Anderson a lot harder than it already is. This, in turn, jeopardizes the work, and livelihoods of the strong people, with integrity, within this team, who are keeping quiet and just getting down to work. As an outsider, it's so easy for us, as observers, to accuse an operation like this for being shady, and not having the belief that the operation can be successful, but stop and think about it from the perspective of the people who actually work at the team.

I am positive that none of us actually /want/ to see them fail (and yes, I am aware that I have personally said, in this very thread, that I want to see Peter Windsor fail, but that is because of my personal dislike for HIM, and I have nothing against any individual associated or working for the team), and want to see them on the grid.

--

I know I've been skeptical of USF1, myself, but it's only because of Peter Windsor's involvement in the whole thing. In the sense that I never felt that he was someone competent enough to manage an endeavour like this, regardless of his past experience, and contacts in F1, and irrespective of his journalistic "integrity". Unfortunately, though, if any of these "insider" posts are true, then I'd be right about him, but I sincerely hope that someone sensible is able to take the reins of the operation, and steer it towards success.

Bertrand, if you aren't a troll, and are an employee of USF1, I am sure I speak for a bunch of us reasonable folk on here, that we genuinely are pulling for you guys to make it, and if there is trouble in the operation at the moment, we really hope it is able to sort itself out . Keep doing what you are doing, and prove the detractors wrong!

FWIW, mine is too, and I'm in the US. As for him contacting a journalist - well, to me, CK's post seems to come much more from of a sense of frustration than either malice or revenge.

Isn't that just the default?
Don't you need to take the trouble to set it to your local time?
I wouldn't consider that serious evidence of anything.

I think he expects another witch-hunt for the posting within USF1. From the sounds of it, CK's initial posts caused some concern within USF1, and he was held to task (perhaps rightly) for them. Since then it seems things have gotten so bad that he thinks there's no point in NOT posting, as even if they come after him, what's the point? The team's done for anyway, so where's the harm?

It seems like he's pissed off enough to want to expose the mis-management he feels is there.

so because you get a paycheck every month you should just shut up, regardless the company you are working for is the biggest fraud in modern F1, a team that is deliberately lying to everyone including its fans bringing the sport into disrepute.
I say nice going Ken

The Big Guns, I respectfully disagree with you..

If that guy is legit then he is entitled to give an overview of what he thinks is the real deal with USF1.. it's not like he has uploaded some USF1 IP or something..

He's just calling on Windbag's endless lies and phoniness, plus actually hoping the management issues are given a second thought (he says the boss flees to avoid confrontation, WTF?)

Look at this again with a cold head, and his previous contributions... there's nothing particularly harmful in there.. just a status update of sorts, a real one.

How is he putting other people's paychecks in jeopardy? He doesn't sound like he's in a position to do that..

same here... well said.

Part of what you are being paid to do is to shut up.

What I'm saying is, if you wish to dish out the dirty laundry, first get off the payroll.

If every employee was like Ken, then today's capitalist society would become extremely dysfunctional, and no corporation would be where it is at right now.

The philosophy of business and trade practices should be discussed in another thread, but I feel that what Ken is doing is wrong (if he actually is an employee of USF1).

There are such things as contracts and non-disclosure agreements, and our friend Ken here is breaking rule number one. This makes him no better than the people he is accusing of being frauds.

edit in reply to slowinfastout:

Well, from my experience of working with startup organizations, our contracts were designed in such a way that employees would be prevented from disclosing the inner workings of the organizations. It's not about intellectual property, and trade secrets, rather, the auditing of how a company should be left to those who are responsible for it, and not by just any employee.

The reason I say that he is jeopardizing the livelihoods of his coworkers, is because when you make serious allegations such as he has, and bring them to a public forum (and by this I don't just mean an internet forum, if you know what I mean), you are making the job of the people running the show even more difficult, as potential investors will be less likely to show the money. If there is no money, there is no work. If there is no work, there are no jobs. It's all a trickle down effect.

Now I am saying what I am saying, because, the bottom line is, regardless of what I may think of Windsor's competence, it's not like he's a crook, and is just pocketing the money that people are investing int he team. I do think that he genuinely is trying to get a pair of cars on the F1 grid, and not just an extravagant scheme to make off with other people's millions. If, however, you don't give him that little amount of credibility, then that is a different matter altogether.

I can't believe I'm actually defending Peter Windsor here

None of what I posted could really be considered evidence, I'm just trying too do a little analysis to put my thoughts in order. I am intrigued by the spelling though.

As far as steel wishbones go, it's not at all unbelievable. I'm sure that they're referring to carbon wrapped steel, which Minardi used all they way up to the end of 2005. It's a cheaper solution in that you use less carbon and can replace them less often.

agreed





Yes but like Slowinfastout, mentions, he didnt bring any illegal IP. Hes just an frustrated employee. But if what he says is true, then i say because then atleast one is telling the truth, and that is what makes him different from his employer.

Well said, Big Guns. There's a big difference between whistle blowing and what CompositeKen is doing.

I've posted an edit in response to slowinfastout's reply, in my previous post! Check it out

I m sorry, that's not "the car" ... that 's not even "a tub" that can be used in "a car". That's a scale mockup used to build and test fit all the car's systems (electical, pneumatic, suspension, fuel etc etc)

Regular F1 tubs are one piece,no removable topside. They have access holes, alright, but they are not 2 pieces that slot together.

Well, if it's a bunch of lies.. the serious potential investors will easily reassured by being shown the truth.

If it's the truth, the potential investors need to know for them not to be screwed themselves!

At this point just before the season, who would blindly wire money to this F1 team's account anyway? Whatever CompositeKen's said on some internet board is totally irrelevant. Serious people would want to know what really goes on anyway.. (which suddenly makes me wonder about the credibility of the Argentinian govt, lol!)

That's another point I forgot to mention on my big reactionary post!

I actually really do feel sorry for Pechito Lopez if he really is stuck between a rock and a hard place (i.e. a maligned USF1 team and the Argentinian Government)

I really hope it works out.

and i understand and also agree to some extent, but when its all build on lies, thats when i mean the loyalty stops

EDIT

"capitalist society would become extremely dysfunctional"
how would you characterize the american society

There really is only 1 solution to all this HORRIBLE press and lack of confidence the F1 community is having with USF1.

SHOW US.. what you have ...

Why not put out a proper press release with pictures and video of a walk through the facility and show design elements proving they are up to 2010 season challenge?

Why not set a date for their launch and achieve it?

Why not set a date for their 1st shake down and achieve?

The simple fact is, own up to where you are and offer the project plan for the next 2 months.

If they don't on Monday.. then they are definitely hiding and it may be worth taking CompositeKen's comments as fact.. until proven otherwise by a media shy company which has a media expert on board!

I for one.. hope USF1 isn't a sham... it could be the final nail in the coffen for growing Formula 1 in the US..

Hmm no popcorn emoticon.

I wonder how the friends at SPEED would spin it if the whole thing falls flat on it's face..

The upper management (Anderson and Windsor) has always seemed suspect to a good portion of the fans and interested people in general.. and it's increasingly looking like it was the main problem all along.

To be fair though, I suspect Bernie clipped their wings quite early on, starting even before the sh*t hit the fan between FIA and FOTA last spring, remember the name thing..
Looking to enter F1 despite Bernie is pretty foolish.. and people interested in USF1 would have at least try to see what really was Bernie's problem before getting involved with USF1.