WhiteBlue wrote:I do not agree with your view there. Until Xmas USF1 seem to have made reasonable technical progress.
Well, I don't agree with that, no one sensible would around here and by no stretch can you call the evidence that we have seen as
reasonable technical progress. Before Christmas we were shown pictures of part of a black composite, probably mock-up, tub and after Christmas we were shown pictures of the same totally incomplete tub being manhandled by various people in various positions. No suspension, no rear crash structure, no rear body work, no wings, no engine fitting or even a mock-up engine. The fact that they didn't even secure an engine supply up-front, months in advance, certainly leads me to believe that this was a sham all along. Compared to what's required and what we saw of other teams then no one in their right mind could call that progress.
Then rumors of financial trouble fanned by Bernie Ecclestone kept being repeated. That is a sure fire way to ruin a business that may be under financed or in liquidity problems.
You can spin your wheels as much as you want on that one, but I'm afraid it is clear USF1, Peter and Ken were the prime architects of their own downfall. If they had produced a car, and had solid evidence that they were making progress as other teams minus Campos were doing, then none of the speculation and doubt would ever have happened. It's a stupid lame-assed excuse, inconsistent with the facts. Bernie Ecclestone never said anything about USF1 for over a year (yes, they've had that long), and only cast doubt over the past few months whe it became clear that progress was not forthcoming. God knows how the FIA selected this farse.
As previously said it would have been a question of spending the same kind of money he is looking at now to get the team functional.
As previously said umpteen times, you need the right people and a decent level of confidence that things will improve should you plough in more money. Chad Hurley wasn't confident that he had the right people or that things would improve, and so ploughing in more money was pointless. At least Campos have a chassis. There is no evidence that USF1 ever will.
If you want to do that you know that you are not getting it under 30 mil $. Hurley should decide what he wants. Spend 5 or 10 mil seed money or do a proper campaign.
No one with half a brain will plough in tens of millions and say "Get on with it", and you are certificable if you do that with Peter and especially Ken Anderson's track record. That's bone-headed. Chad put in close to $1 million with the promise of another million should reasonable progress be made, and presumably much more as the team progressed. The latter wasn't achieved so the former wasn't forthcoming. Clear?
I just wonder what the hell Peter and Ken were actually doing in the year or more before all of this came to light. There should have been milestones and incremental ramping of the funding at various intervals along the way.
