USF1 -- F1's All-American Challenger

[cooper-climax]

I have a feeling that report is just a re-hash of this piece in a local paper. The only original quotes I have see, have come from here or the original announcement.

http://blog.al.com/blogoftomorrow/2010/ ... n_tea.html

[jddh1]

USF1 Barber test closed to public

Barber Motorsports Park has confirmed USF1’s test session at the track will not be open to the public.

Meh, you can always jump the fence and sneak in. Come on now. Be inventive.

[christopher.mahlon]

Plus, the team seems to be pretty nimble in responding to people.

Check out their facebook page and ask them to petition Barber to open the test up. If you can get enough people to join in with you they just might do it. Seriously. Can't hurt.

[dumrick]

(...)Right, so the guy has been trying to build an F1 team since the 90s.

(...)

And so did Enrique. This shows that both are people with a great determination. Wish them luck.

Cool. While Rory Byrne is the designer of my favorite F1's (my profile photo doesn't lie!), Enrique has been responsible for my favorite sportscar of all time






and I'm a bit of a fanboy when it comes to the designers of my favorite cars. Just a note: isn't a bit too late to recruit an experienced F1 engineer?

While continuing to have F1 ambitions Scalabroni worked as a freelance designer in the junior formula and also in road car design, being involved in the De Tomaso Mangusta in 1999.

Just a correction on the article: it was the De Tomaso Bigua, later to become the Qvale Mangusta. I just can't stand for the history of reputable constructors to be twisted.

[xpensive]

I think Mr. Scalabroni would be a great asset for the team. It seems he has a lot of experience... even if USF1 is a PR disaster, maybe the engineering side is not so much. We will see in a couple of days.

Terrific indeed, no F1 xperience since 20 years, this way he won't be running the risk of embarassing his boss!

[pipex]

Correction, more like 10 years. He designed a car circa 2000 (2002, wikipedia) for Asiatech. There is at least a model of that car in the web . And he seems to be up to date in F1 cars. There is a TV program in youtube in which he discusses some characteristics of 2006-07 cars (in spanish). Yeah, he doesn't know a thing... maybe not 2009 car knowledge, but at least he knows some basics of F1 car design, at least more than a NASCAR engineer, i think

A picture: http://forix.autosport.com/8w/6thgear/asiatech2.jpg

[xpensive]

In all honesty pip, Scalabroni still has easily more F1 xperience than the rest of the USF1 management combined.

[pipex]

Yup xp, but i'm not too sure that they will hire him, after all there are only rumours, and as dumrick said it's too late... i was reading a page that said that Scalabroni is the king of failed F1 projects hahaha as always, money talks

[xpensive]

This might be the problem with USF1 pip. Someone said that it is really Ken Anderson's creation, not Windsor's, when the former has perhaps misjudged the challenges of engineering and building a modern F1 car?

[Giblet]

Cool. While Rory Byrne is the designer of my favorite F1's (my profile photo doesn't lie!), Enrique has been responsible for my favorite sportscar of all time

I concur. Although the IMSA group C cars were really just thinly veiled F1 cars, I love that Poo-go.

That was Totd's baby as well right? Isn't that where the Todt/Byrne dynamic took shape at first?

[dumrick]

Although the IMSA group C cars were really just thinly veiled F1 cars, I love that Poo-go.

Although they were just thinly veiled F1 cars, one of the most advanced of them, my beloved 905, still won - twice - Le Mans, and with an F1 engine (no surprise it was such a disappointment in F1, endurance and sprint racing are 2 very different instruments to play).

That was Totd's baby as well right? Isn't that where the Todt/Byrne dynamic took shape at first?

That was the last project Todt was involved in Peugeot Sport, sure was his baby.

Rory Byrne, at the time of the 905 project was involved in an abortive Reynard F1 project and returned to Benetton (see, it's not only Enrique Scalabroni, the man behind the Peugeot 905, that has been associated with failed F1 projects - even if he has been in more, could be a case of worse luck and the lack of Byrne's genious).
That was probably when Todt noticed firstly noticed Ross Brawn, since he conceived the Jaguar XJR-14 that defeated the Peugeot 905 in the 1991 World Sportscar Championship.

[xpensive]

I think you are browsing what I now perceive to be the problem with USF1, the lack of an xperienced chief designer.
Even if today's F1 cars are a huge team effort, you still need someone in charge to lead the way, you know the saying;
"A camel is a horse designed by a team".

With all due respect, USF1 don't have that, last time Ken Anderson was involved with F1 was in 89-90 and then only as a suspension- and race-engineer. He has long xperience from IRL, but it's difficult to say xactly in what capacity, when his website-CV has already been proven to be fabricated in many regards.

[pipex]

xp, when we see the car (or if we don't see it at all) we will confirm or not your theory
Ken Anderson has remained silent all this time, strange or not?

[xpensive]

I found this piece, regarding Ken Anderson's 2003 Falcon IRL car, which never even turned a lap, sounds familiar?

In just six months, Falcon Cars has gone from startup to having a complete IRL chassis. The Concord, NC-based company is one of three manufacturers for the new generation of chassis. Falcon Cars unveiled the Falcon Indy 01-A last November, and has been testing the chassis since then.

“We’ve progressed from the stages of design, aerodynamics, tooling and fabrication, to manufacturing – all in just six months. It’s pretty remarkable,” said technical director Ken Anderson.

The Falcon chassis is the first car completely designed and manufactured in the United States under IRL 2003 technical specifications.

[christopher.mahlon]

I found this piece, regarding Ken Anderson's 2003 Falcon IRL car, which never even turned a lap, sounds familiar?

In just six months, Falcon Cars has gone from startup to having a complete IRL chassis. The Concord, NC-based company is one of three manufacturers for the new generation of chassis. Falcon Cars unveiled the Falcon Indy 01-A last November, and has been testing the chassis since then.

“We’ve progressed from the stages of design, aerodynamics, tooling and fabrication, to manufacturing – all in just six months. It’s pretty remarkable,” said technical director Ken Anderson.

The Falcon chassis is the first car completely designed and manufactured in the United States under IRL 2003 technical specifications.

There's a LOT more to that story than any of us know. American Open Wheel fans have asked a lot of questions about that car, because all of the people behind were very reputable people in the American racing community; so it isn't like you can just blame Anderson for that one. That car came out around the same time as the current Dallara chassis and the old Panoz one, and if you can ever run down photos of the car, it is easily the best looking of the three.