lol that's rubbish... even if I do get the point.

Windsor certainly wasn't referring to the continent when he was talking about American drivers... even if that's the case it would have looked better had he signed that other 'American' Bruno Senna..

Wow, calm down dude, I wasn't putting those facts as to say López is the new JM Fangio, please... the results in the junior formulas ar very relative, as you say we have seen top GP2 drivers failing in F1, but that doesn't mean López will perform worse than Piquet or Grosjean. Let's wait and see what he can do with the USF1 car, everything else we can say is pure speculation. And with the mention I made to his tin-top experience, I don't mean he will be a faster F1 driver because he raced in TC2000, of course that will be ridiculous, but speed has never been his problem, there are other issues that complete the quality of a driver and his experience in Argentina has made him grow, as the experience on sport cars made Schumacher grow a lot in the early ninties (beyond any comparison between them). Which I can't stand are the comparisons to the ones like Mazzacane and even Yuji Ide, which are absolutely ridiculous.

PD: Matsuura was OK in Indy Car... and I think Gommendy took pole in his GP2 debut but he didn't last too long due to money issues. He was OK in Champ Car anyway, and has been pretty quick in SLF...

Did you actually read my post?

Is it rubbish that Argentine is in America? No.

Then I wrote that if people are trying to comment on USF1 not having a US driver (as I also know that's what Windsor said) then please say so (USF1 have abandoned their idea of signing a driver from the USA). It just seems so stupid to write that USF1 have deceived us by not signing an American driver, when the driver they actually are on the verge of signing is an American.

Where in my post did I say that an Argentinian (or other non-US american countries) was what Windsor had meant when he said they would sign a US driver?

So before you say something is rubbish, maybe you should read what the post says, or risk posting rubbish yourselves...

USF1 was supposedly going to be an all-american team... american as in 'american dream', what we call people from the US, etc.. not North-America or South America

That Windsor 'deceived' us is a strange term to use.. everyone knew he's an absolute tosser from the get-go..

Signing a driver from Argentina doesnt equal an American. American refers to someone from the USA, not from continental America.

Basically when Windsor says he's gonna have a fully terrestial team, you'd have to assume it's going to end up with at least one alien in there...

I have a good friend from Chile, he doesn't agree with your view on what constitutes an American (maybe that's why I'm commenting on this subject).

I also know that when many people say American they mean USA. But it would be just like saying someone from Congo isn't an African. There is a reason the USA actually is called the USA and not just America. America is the continent, USA is the country...

For some reason, that made me laugh

Actually when you see the motorsports they got going on at Mars you'll switch from F1 like a shot!

Hands up who else thinks Bernie will try and get a Mars Grand Prix going for 2012?

They would still get more of a crowd than the Turkey GP

Yes, I've heard their beloved Grand Moff Gûħ'ri is willing to pay Bernie a lot for that little added prestige in comparison to Jovians.

But. Let's have a quick lesson.
1. Languages have words.
2. Words have meanings.
3. A word may have multiple meanings.

Now, what does the word 'American' mean in English language (as a noun). [from Wiktionary]
1. A person born in, or a citizen or inhabitant of, the United States of America.
2. An inhabitant of the Americas. More often this is specified as either North American, Central American or South American.

It will hurt all you smartasses, but definition 1 is an actual meaning attached to this specific word.

Carry on.

The Monroe Doctrine comes to Formula One!

Why didn't they get some pay drivers and enter their own IRL team?


"Teams won't take chance on new marque in semi-spec formula"... not exactly record breaking news see Mygale and Dome F3 cars...

The "Falcon" does not appear to have any mirrors!


It reeks of "finished 3 hours before presentation" - like your typical formula student team

That's funny because the commentators - and by commentators, I mean Martin Brundle - often remark that mirrors are good for little more than decoration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-E7KSEZhp0

Day 7 is out.

^ It could only have been the Midweek Motorsport "nutters" that were capable of that.

Just what F1 needed, a paying driver. Lopez is the new Tuero, Karthekayan, Mazzacane, Yoong....

oh well.. thought they might try a bit higher, he's not just a pay driver though is he....

Not sure if this has been posted yet, apologies if it has.

http://www.autosport.com/directory/appointments.html

Employment opportunities with USF1 advertised on Autosport.

BOMB!!!

USF1 sign Enrique Scalabroni

Yesterday on nigth, in the popular radio motor show "Campeones" of Buenos Aires, the prestigious Argentine designer Enrique Scalabroni, ex Williams, Ferrari technician, and Asiatech F1 designer engineer, say "I sign with the USF1 team, to 'give a hand' in the design and build the racecar"
Scalabroni also say "I am very 'connected' with Pechito Lópes, sure both will make a great job in the USF1 team"..,

Would it be actually feasible to have no mirrors? When thinking of the positives, I'd think it would discourage all the blocking and weaving currently going on. Drivers' lines would be predictable, maybe it would help overtaking?

Argentina really wants Lopez to do well!!!


Seriously, this is a huge gain for USF1.

Hahahahahahahahha @ day 7. Kudos to the guy who made those.

Is the signing of Enrique confirmed?

Great addition! How can anyone forget those Arrows powered by Asiatech's V10 leading the Top Speed list race after race. That was a nasty engine.

Well where was he in 2009? Everyone foolishly passed up on him, or nobody called before USF1?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrique_Scalabroni

I don't mean to say the guy isn't good but even blindly assuming he is, why was he signed so damn late? The dallara in the other new team has been presented to the FIA for homologation already...

That's not neceesarily a good thing. Once the homologate, they are locked into the basic design. Of the six months they are only taking about 2/3 of the time allotted (assuming late July to late Jan window). It's my understanding that most teams don't homologate until around the first of the year. I don't see an advantage to getting it done this early.

Homologate what? The only thing that requires homologation is the engine.

WTF?! I dont know what to think considering he has failed misserabily to carry on an F1 project (Ikuzawa, Asiatech, BCN). But as long as he is not heading the team, he has always been a very imaginative and prestigious engineer.

Hey mate, I can't keep on answering to all the ridiculous posts like this. And Tuero wasn't bad at all. Mazzacane was 2 1/2 seconds slower than Alesi in qualy at Prost (though much closer in race lap times and has a similar pace to Gené at Minardi) and Yoong was 3 secs off the pace of his teammates in qualy and race. Karthikeyan was a decent driver. You can't put those drivers in the same bag, it has not logic whatsoever. López is clearly a faster driver than Tuero was and is, so if Tuero was absolutely decent in F1 there's no reason to think that López will be a moving chicane, unless the US car is pure shit.

Not that easy.
If a designed part is approved in a crash test, it gets an homologation.
If this part passes on scrutiny, it's homologated.
This kind of things, I suppose.

And we don't know exactly the FIA's procedures to allow a car to race.

Edit:

But for the time being, without a representative team mate, we wouldn't be able to know if the USF1's car'd be sh!t or López'd be sh!t.

Well yeah, that was my first thought as well... but it's the terminology that is being used in the press: Campos car homologated by the FIA

I think it means the crash tests have been passed successfully (they're saying it's the cockpit), and some other compliance with the rules (safety stuff I assume, and not what should have been done when the trick diffusers last year, etc..)

In a way it's a bit silly, because the bits they are talking about are pretty much straight from the FIA, the teams just have to have building capabilities and put it together.. it's just an opportunity for some publicity when you get to that stage as a new team, I guess..



The point was that it's a bit late for USF1 to hire designers IMO, especially the types of which that makes a big difference and are there to give inputs from the start..

It shouldn't be too difficult for an entity like Dallara at this stage of the game... look around page 60+ of the tech regs...

It (the cockpit in this case) has to match some templates and go through the tests... doesn't hurt to do that at the earliest time possible though, in the case of the new teams it's interesting how early (or how late) they do it.

http://www.fia.com/en-GB/sport/regulations...ampionship.aspx

That's fine then, but it doesnt mean anything is locked down, which a previous poster stated. They can change anything they want subject to passing a new crash test if required.

The question is: is there any reason besides sponsorship money to have López or any of the drivers mentioned above in the Pinnacle of Motor Racing?

The answer is precisely why they can be put in the same bag. If this was based on merit, Pechito would not be even mentioned.

Maybe, but surely Windsor would love to be the first to be able to talk like this, woudn't he?



Interesting that bit about Dallara making a compromise 'in the task of fulfilling the original schedule'... that could mean a few things, not sure what though..

He's not a complete no-hoper like those guys. He has at least won at the GP2 level, if not regularly.

My worry is more that after a couple of years in Touring Cars he's going to be very rusty, and as a certain Mr. Badoer has recently demonstrated, that ain't a good thing in the current generation of F1 cars

The same can be said about most of the young drivers who will get into F1 next year, and it has always been like that in the mdern era except for some exceptions. Anyway he hasnt still got the 8 million dollar budget he needs, which is not THAT much either (it's not as if he's going to finance the whole team...). Would Petrov or Maldonado have a chance if they didnt have so much money? No. The weird thing about López is that he is not pareticuallarly rich and USF1 hasn't asked him a ridiculous amount of money. Remember this: there are things that can open more doors thatn money in F1 (have you read about Reutemann talking to Bernie and Windsor?) And, in the end, López was no less than Kovalainen as a Renault test driver, and if Heikki made it...

The homologation is used as a baseline of the car design. Once you pass those tests you are committed to your baseline car. A few posts ago you weren't familiar with even the use of the term and now you are pretending you know what the procedure is? If you don't pass you keep coming back until you do. Once you pass, that locks in your baseline.



http://www.racintoday.com/archives/12144

Ahh... a debate on semantics.. who would've thought..

Campos dude: "The fact of having our cockpit completely homologised puts us in a privileged position and allows us to keep on developing the car."


USF1 dude: “Anybody’s that’s telling you that they passed the crash test in October stopped development in August,” said Anderson. “I would say it’s pretty normal for a team to be crash testing a month before the first race. That’s because you want to be in the wind tunnel to see if the development and the shape is working. Once you sign off on the crash test, that’s it. You’re locked in.”

..they aren't even speaking about the same thing.

This is why whenever B-spec cars have been introduced they have had to undergo the same crash tests.

I understand the term, but the previous poster suggetsed this locked the car down in the same manner as the engine, this is not the case. Even after the test has been passed they can still make changes and not all changes require a retest.

Are you suggesting I'm the one who suggested that? If so, I suggest you read again what I was actually suggesting... lol

thats a lot of vacancies

Yes, because it's a new team. Campos, Manor and Lotus have all advertised similar positions.

No wasn't suggesting it was you. It was someone else furthur back now and can't be bothered to look for it now.

One thing that springs to mind though is that it was only a few weeks ago when Ross Brawn said that the teams should be in the process of crash testing by now, so if USF1 are, then they are working to a good schedule.

That may have been your interpretation but not at all what I was saying. The tub, or as you chaps call it the monocoque is locked down. There is still plenty on which to work that doesn't involve the tub.

It is not locked down by the rules though. There is nothing (other than time and money) to stop them from throwing it away and starting from scratch.

Nothing but reality. If a brand new team, who has stated they need to keep this cost effective as possible, has crash tested their first monocoque then it most likely isn't going to be significantly redesigned before Bahrain.