In my view, Schmidt really has NO credibility when it comes to his views on Williams and USF1 anymore.

and if that happens, so what?...
and that goes for the other teams as well.. If they failed due to lack of funding its not their fault really.. finding sponsors in these tough times is not that simple.

What, because you find his fairly innocuous comments a threat? Grow a thicker skin.

Well, it was a tough time to find sponsors when they announced the creation of the team as well - and that was before any effort on Mosley's part to implement a draconian budget cap, so Windsor clearly felt that he (and his associates) could still drum up sufficient monies to fund the team to the tune of well over £40mn if necessary.

When was the last real new privateer effort along the lines of USF1 (i.e. no manufacturer relationship, and not building on an existing junior formula team)? The '97 Lola effort? You can hardly argue that the economic conditions in 2008-09 are more ripe for privateer success than those that pertained in 1997. I do hope that Windsor did not blithely think that sticking "US" in the team's name would somehow bring sponsors flocking.



Of the new teams, only the Litespeed/Lotus effort strikes me as being truly prepared to run an F1 team at this point in time. I suspect the others are waiting either for some long-anticipated major investment to kick in (as in the Manor/Virgin case) or else actively trying to offload the entry to someone else (as Campos is rumoured to have been doing). USF1, for all the razzmatazz, IMO looks like a complete anachronism run by daydreamers. That Speed TV clip only cements that view in my mind.



I think it is shameful that the FIA awarded entries to this lot (Litespeed excepted) above and beyond serious racing companies such as Lola and Prodrive, both of whom already had 2010 prototypes at an advanced stage of development at the time the final entries were announced.

Like all teams, we currently have our heads down and we’re getting on with it. We’re not spending every working minute telling the world exactly what we’re doing

We had decided that if we were going to be based in Charlotte, in the heart of Nascar country, then obviously we would have to play to the fans, as Nascar does. We would make our factory “fan friendly,” with easy access to the public, and, with a television production facility in the factory, we would enable Formula One fans to follow the progress of the car from conception to completion.

"There has been a lot of rubbish said about the new teams recently, but nothing we have seen has given us any cause to have any doubts. We're very pleased to be involved with teams that have a very good chance of causing a surprise or two over the course of next year."

I think it is shameful that the FIA awarded entries to this lot (Litespeed excepted) above and beyond serious racing companies such as Lola and Prodrive, both of whom already had 2010 prototypes at an advanced stage of development at the time the final entries were announced.

let me sum up your post.. You are pissed off because Prodrive and Lola, both British teams, are not in but USF1 is . Prodrive and Lola failed when they were audited by Deloitt, their business proposal was not as strong..

Worth-noting is the case of Epsilon Euskadi vs Campos.
Both Spanish teams, Campos had nothing but Dallara, EE had everything 'in-the-house'.
And Campos had the place on the grid granted.

i don't have those details I am sorry so I cannot agree with you blindingly.

let me sum up your post.. You are pissed off because Prodrive and Lola, both British teams, are not in but USF1 is . Prodrive and Lola failed when they were audited by Deloitt, their business proposal was not as strong..

Let's be quite clear that I don't give two hoots about the nationality of teams, so I'd advise you not to waste your time trying to flog that horse.

We know nothing about how the FIA selected the teams, nor what Deloitte's findings were, nor how much weight the FIA gave those findings in selecting the teams. So you cannot know anything about the credibility of the business proposals of any of them.

I have always strongly suspected that a significant part of their being chosen (other than signing with Cosworth) was that they were viewed as less likely to gravitate toward FOTA than Lola and Prodrive (both of whom employ significant numbers of people with recent F1 experience) were. "Cleanskins" to use the parlance of our time.

I would like to have them on the grid next year. I´m curious about there effort.

But if I got a choice between them and Toyota, I would keep the latter.

Worth-noting is the case of Epsilon Euskadi vs Campos.
Both Spanish teams, Campos had nothing but Dallara, EE had everything 'in-the-house'.
And Campos had the place on the grid granted.

Go and take a look at how their results have been shaping up: Campos has fielded as successful GP2 team in the past; his was one of the four that a GP2 driver had te best chance of success with (the others being ART Grand Prix, iSport and Racing Engineering). Epsilon Euskadi, on the other hand, have had some success a few years ago when whty ran Robert Kubica in the WSR, but they've been in freefall ever since. Their Le Mans car might have looked ood, but it was horrendously slow; the Honda in last year's race. They didn't return for 2009. Euskadi's problem is that they can't sit still long enough to see one project through; if it goes pear-shaped, they abandon it.

I assume that Peter Windsor can make anything sounds reasonable and great, despite any facts he know of.


The USF1 factory looked like oil-less in the video interview with Speedtv and the 5 ax milling machine was milling something gigantic aluminum parts with many many bolts and so on, It looked like a part of a ship engine. ( ! )

The first Cad screen showed the real time simulation of airflow on the old Apple Mackintosh 24 inch screen and I donno why USF1 opt for purchasing a second hand computer screen for a visual presentation.

Windsor"s office had a pile of unmounted bookshelf.

I can imagine that Video image do not lie.

Er...

The president of the FIA Senate has revealed that USF1, the new American Formula One team for 2010, has lodged its €309,000 entry fee to contest next year's world championship.

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news...112113845.shtml


Guess they'll make it....

That's great news...
Now they only need more $30M to hire the crew and pay all logistic expenses for year one, plus engines, plus material for the chassis, tires, etc.

You should start doing consultancy work for the new F1 teams

Now they only need more $30M to hire the crew and pay all logistic expenses for year one, plus engines, plus material for the chassis, tires, etc.

As part of the new entry program FOM will give all the new teams US$10 million in cash subsidies plus pay the team's cost of transport for two cars and 10,000 kilos of cargo to every race.

Thanks to Adam Cooper on twitter - very funny.

Follow USF1 on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJTynvakZok - day 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwcZR86pK3Y - day 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMh3qu5GtZA - day 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB6eJluXEbs - day 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANQc1WwlOws - day 5

Thanks to Adam Cooper on twitter - very funny.

Follow USF1 on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJTynvakZok - day 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwcZR86pK3Y - day 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMh3qu5GtZA - day 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB6eJluXEbs - day 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANQc1WwlOws - day 5

On the road again: We visited with US F1 owner and designer Ken Anderson last week at the team’s shops in Huntersville, N.C., where Anderson was in the middle of preparations for the US F1 debut at the Formula One season opener next March in Bahrain. The following are some excerpts from a brief, informal conversation with a very relaxed Anderson. A full profile on Anderson will appear this week at RacinToday.

RacinToday: How concerned are you about passing the FIA’s mandated crash tests?

Anderson: “It’s actually quite easy to pass if you design the parts right. Whatever piece it is, if it weighs ten pounds it will easily pass. But if it weighs nine pounds, eight pounds… . Toyota had 800 people and they had entire departments trying to save an ounce here and an ounce there.

“If you try to save 10 ounces so you can put more tungsten in the bottom of the car, that’s a good thing. We’re not going to lose the world championship next year because our crash structures are four ounces more than Ferrari’s. It doesn’t behoove us to go to the last gram.

“We’re not going to spend six months crashing 50 noses.”

RacinToday: Nick Wirth was very successful designing the Acura ARX-02a using nothing but CFD. But he had two seasons with other Acura prototypes in the American Le Mans Series as a starting point. What results do you anticipate using CFD without having done a car previously?

Anderson: “We have some really good guys with current F1 knowledge. One of the guys we have (Steve Brown) was the head of R&D at Brawn and he got to touch every part of the car. It’s not like we’ve been doing this in a vacuum. The other thing is, the specification of the Formula One cars the boundaries of where it can and can’t be is far tighter than it used to be. It all comes from the Senna crash and the safety zones. That really dictates the shape of the car. You’ve got to be fairly creative like Adrian Newey was last year with Red Bull car to come up with a shape that’s much different.”

RacinToday: Given the fact he had a small team and no manufacturer backing, what Ross Brawn and his team have done this season in winning the F1 driving and constructor championships must give you some encouragement.

Anderson: “I was working with Ross at Williams in the early 1980’s. That’s when I first met (current partner) Peter Windsor. I was working for Penske (Racing Shocks) on shock stuff and I would go over to the wind tunnel every winter. I met this wind tunnel machinist, mechanic all-around good guy named Ross Brawn. We both come from a very similar hands-on approach.”

RacinToday: What are your thoughts about building an F1 car in America for the first time since Dan Gurney built his Eagles in the 1960’s?

Anderson: “I grew up in the Sixties. When you look at the 1960’s and 1970’s, it was a very interesting time. We went to the moon. The cars went from skinny tires to rear engines, turbos, fat tires, wings, you know. It was fantastic.

“A.J. Foyt, Dan Gurney, Roger Penske, Frank Williams. All these guys came from that era, Max (Mosley) and Bernie (Ecclestone), they’re interesting guys. I feel very priviledged to have worked with those guys. I’m very proud to be part of Formula 1. I’m certainly not the only guy to do it to have worked on both sides of the pond enough to understand what it takes and go for it. There’s way smarter guys out there than me.”

Any news on likely drivers ?

dank found something interesting on Jonathan Summerton's twitter

F1 here we come

are they even allowed to do that?

The first Cad screen showed the real time simulation of airflow on the old Apple Mackintosh 24 inch screen and I donno why USF1 opt for purchasing a second hand computer screen for a visual presentation...

The USF1 factory looked like oil-less in the video interview with Speedtv and the 5 ax milling machine was milling something gigantic aluminum parts with many many bolts and so on, It looked like a part of a ship engine. ( ! )