USF1 Type 1 Rendered, more hype, no racing

[SUPER NUMBBER]

Well I'm not about to argue that. My point was that you can find a reason to knock on anything, if you're looking for a reason.

Sure, people will look at USF1 as another example of American open wheel failure, forgetting the fact that almost half the staff is from Europe, or that they surfaced at a time when the series was completely detached from North America, or that this wasn't a government backed venture (just saying, Lotus). Bottom line, this is an entirely private venture and it's fate lays at the feet of Windsor and Anderson. I'd like to see how an internationally proven, true American team handles F1, and while USF1 is far from perfect, I don't wanna see them fail, either.

 

[Rennsport]

USF1 has just asked the FIA if it could miss the first 4 races of the season due to "financial difficulties". I've lost faith in this team already.

 

[PeterJB]

They're like Super Aguri in reverse. JOINING after round 4!

 

[Ardius]

They're like Super Aguri in reverse. JOINING after round 4!

Starting without buying a customer chassis, not starting with all-nationals team...yup
They lack Sato, that was the key ingredient

 

[Hun200kmh]

fresh news ... I may be wrong, but I think Windsor is blaming it on Anderson.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81664

 

[SUPER NUMBBER]

I read the article...this was from an unnamed source inside USF1, not Windsor, putting the blame on Anderson. Basically he (the source) says that Windsor tried his best to get sponsors, but without a finished car it's impossible. So according to him, Hurley needs to get involved.

 

[Ardius]

Still no closer to finding out who is really at fault, but like I just said in the new teams thread, its clearly only a matter of days now before the final piece is taken out of USF1 and it collapses. I can't imagine the team is going to survive now without a merger with Campos.

 

[Jim Prower]

Well, we HAVE been successful (reasonably, anyway) in the past. Gurney-Weslake, anyone?

However, yes, this has been botched. I dunno why he didn't get some of the US's better race car builders aboard. Elan/Panoz, some of the old road-race boys like Shelby and Gurney (if he's still around,) but...well, they probably saw through as soon as it was announced they'd have a car.

Personally, I feel that if a team has a car that conforms to the rulebook, they should be given a chance to qualify and run it. Show 'n Go. That's the way they did it in the old days, isn't it?

 

[Hun200kmh]

Personally, I feel that if a team has a car that conforms to the rulebook, they should be given a chance to qualify and run it. Show 'n Go. That's the way they did it in the old days, isn't it?

That was before the Bernie era ...

 

[Ardius]

Well, we HAVE been successful (reasonably, anyway) in the past. Gurney-Weslake, anyone?

However, yes, this has been botched. I dunno why he didn't get some of the US's better race car builders aboard. Elan/Panoz, some of the old road-race boys like Shelby and Gurney (if he's still around,) but...well, they probably saw through as soon as it was announced they'd have a car.

Personally, I feel that if a team has a car that conforms to the rulebook, they should be given a chance to qualify and run it. Show 'n Go. That's the way they did it in the old days, isn't it?

Indeed, the US used to be very successful in most forms of motorsport. But in F1, its been a while now and there have been so many recent failures...Michael Andretti, Alex Zanardi, Scott Speed, Sebastien Bourdais...all good drivers in other series but couldn't cut it in F1 for whatever reason. This is what has built up the view that the US can't be successful in F1.
Personally I was hoping USF1 was finally going to break that stereotypical view...but instead its just fed it, or so it seems at the moment.

I somewhat agree they should have used the Campos plan of outsourcing the first car, but I don't think any American chassis builders have the experience that makes them better than creating USF1's own car.
They could have used Lola's car or formed a partnership with them I guess. I was surprised originally that they were planning to do it all in the US, seeing as the infastructure for F1 is based in England and Italy. But they mentioned having a unique plan for funding, etc, so I perhaps vainly hoped they had a way round that.

The reason we don't just have "cars that conform to the rules" is the safety aspect of cars that are extremely unreliable or far too slow. But anyway, there is nothing stopping from USF1 running a car...that isn't their problem

 

[Hun200kmh]

One sponsor less: http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/9485.html

And Lopez's manager admits he is talking to Campos.

 

[yeti]

Similar info from the beeb...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8536567.stm

C.

 

[Tired Tyres]

Looks like it might be all over.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81819

 

[Terronium-12]

Such a pity.

 

[yeti]

Such a pity.

... that the FIA failed to run a decent process to select new teams for the 2010 calendar...

At the moment it's looking like a 50% success ratio (Virgin/Lotus) with USF1 and Campos dropping out... (I'm not classifying Sauber/Merc etc as new teams here)

C.

 

[Ardius]

The sad thing is its not entirely surprising and seems rather inevitable when I look back. I'd like to hear what Windsor's grand plan was though, now that its failed, it would be interesting to hear where it went wrong exactly. I remember him mentioning a year ago that they were going to operate completely differently from the other teams, I had assumed he had found some unique way to the fund the team by involving sponsors differently or something. I wonder now if he was really banking on the whole "US industry" aspect of it and its bitten back when its turned out the infastructure wasn't entirely there and they've had to outsource a lot of work to the UK.
Or equally, was it the fault of Anderson and his horrible management like the rumours say?

Either way, I owe my brother 10 quid,

... that the FIA failed to run a decent process to select new teams for the 2010 calendar...

At the moment it's looking like a 50% success ratio (Virgin/Lotus) with USF1 and Campos dropping out... (I'm not classifying Sauber/Merc etc as new teams here)

C.

How have you worked that one out? Campos are not out?

 

[yeti]

How have you worked that one out? Campos are not out?

The operative phrase is "At the moment it's looking like"...

I dearly hope Campos make it - but no car seen, started, driven etc less than 2 weeks before the first race doesn't bode well...

C.

 

[Ardius]

The operative phrase is "At the moment it's looking like"...

I dearly hope Campos make it - but no car seen, started, driven etc less than 2 weeks before the first race doesn't bode well...

C.

Campos/Hispania have started their Cosworth engines - Cosworth confirmed they have delivered them.
There is no doubt on the car - Dallara has been working on the design at least despite payment troubles.
Its just the construction side which is a worry for them, I would have thought though that Dallara have the facilities to build the chassis at least. So its just a question of wiring and joining it all together.

Colin Kolles has experience of running teams so although the team will be really last-minute stuff, I think they still have a good chance to make it. Their saving grace appears to have been the Dallara deal.

 

[yeti]

So they have the individual components - but not in 1 car? - then again - if they're launching on Thurs (possibly according to that autosport article) - then they must have built it?!

I get TopGear magazine - and they had an article about Lotus building their car - and that took 6 days I think...

If they launch on Thursday with an actual car - then I think you're right - if they don't then they're in trouble... - if they miss the first race - will they make it to any others? - Sponsors might bail on them etc...

We shall see - probably on Thursday.

I think you're right about the Dallara deal - an actual profitable company that make lots of other stuff for racing that (probably) aren't relying on this deal meaning they have the resources to actually work on it...

C.

 

[Ardius]

Its interesting to note that almost all the new teams except for USF1 outsourced their design side of the operation in some way or other:
Manor/Virgin - approached Nick Wirth and Wirth Research
Campos - deal with Dallara.
Litespeed/Lotus - brought Gascoyne on board, who in turn used his AeroLab connection to get their hands on a basic car design.
Stefan - Bought Toyota chassis design.

And previous new teams almost always used an existing chassis or hired a designer who had already got designs to use, even Williams started by running March chassis...Arrows outright stole the Shadow design!

I'm actually wondering now, how many teams have started with a designer who has no recent F1 experience and decided to build their car entirely in-house and without using an old chassis as a base? USF1 must be in a minority.

 

[Christian_C]

Wait, It might not be over just yet, although I think their hopes are pretty slim if I'm honest.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81820

 

[Ardius]

Anderson is very naive indeed. And the FIA very desperate if they let them, as its clear the credibility is not there.

Where's Windsor?

 

[Rennsport]

This whole organization has turned into a disaster. Frankly, I think the team should be renamed. At this point all it's doing is damaging the credibility of US motorsport.

 

[SUPER NUMBBER]

Stop hyperreacting....whoever wants to question the credibility of American motorsport because of this, I submit Pratt & Miller.

 

[Hun200kmh]

You don't need to submit anything, nobody in the entire world with more than 2 fully functional brain cells will think that the so-called "USF1" team of Anderson and Windsor represents US motorsports

 

[The Outlaw]

Stop hyperreacting....whoever wants to question the credibility of American motorsport because of this, I submit Pratt & Miller.

Pratt & Miller...are you serious? What's the most advanced race car they've built? A GT1 Corvette?

They have no open wheel experience to begin with, let alone any experience in the highest level of motorsports (F1).

 

[The Outlaw]

dp

 

[Terronium-12]

This whole organization has turned into a disaster. Frankly, I think the team should be renamed. At this point all it's doing is damaging the credibility of US motorsport.

I'm not going to touch this one with a 27-foot pole.

 

[SUPER NUMBBER]

Pratt & Miller...are you serious? What's the most advanced race car they've built? A GT1 Corvette?

They have no open wheel experience to begin with, let alone any experience in the highest level of motorsports (F1).

Not yet. But they're recognized as one of the most successful engineering houses in the world, based on their results in international competition, so they definitely have racing pedigree. And if they wanted to move to F1, well....no doubt they'd have more credentials than even some of the current entries. Consider that they've beaten Ferrari and Prodrive...enough said.

 

[Azure Flare]

I am starting to think that everybody at USF1 is just sitting around, not building a car or entering for that matter.