USF1 -- F1's All-American Challenger

[joeyg02]

I wish USF1 would release when they are unveiling the car at Barber Motorsports Park in alabama, I live in georgia and I would love to go, but I can't find an exact date anywhere. It just says "Early February"

[aterren]

It just says "Early February"

Does it say what year?

[joeyg02]

yeah this year lol, and it's early february already so i wish they would release the exact date so i could start making the plans to go see it.

[Professor]

In the absence of fact, this is a pretty good guess.

"Summary: I would not be surprised if the team only tested once, and that test was at Barber on the last week in February."

http://www.usf1formula1.com/2010/01/usf ... lood1.html

[WhiteBlue]

My personal guess at this point is that they may even miss that test. Whatever plans they had have been hit by the financial desaster with a big sponsor. There was apparently no safety net in place in form of a money supply from their primary finance source to cover that glitch. A bit scary for a team which many of us would love to see make it to the grid and through the year.

[xpensive]

My personal guess at this point is that they may even miss that test. ...

But...that would mean you have actually been wrong on this topic, doesn't it WB?

[WhiteBlue]

My personal guess at this point is that they may even miss that test. ...

But...that would mean you have actually been wrong on this topic, doesn't it WB?

May be yes, may be no. I have mostly kept an open mind about USF1's future achievements. I don't know what you are referring to. So please give me a quote and I tell you if I have changed my mind.

My initial contra USF1 stance was based on the announcements of the unprecedented openness which they made in summer and which failed to materialise for some months. They have since delivered on that promise so I would give Ken Anderson a lot more credit than I did in late 2009. Peter Windsor still has to show that he got what it takes but at the moment I will give him the benefit of doubt. Same goes for Chad Hurley. With all his connections and business wisdom he just managed to get them off the sand bank of their first liquidity crisis instead of avoiding it in the first place.

[cooper-climax]

Regarding Hurley, this exchange on Twitter is the latest thing I can find him saying about USF1.

# @Chad_Hurley hi chad, when will we see the new usf1 car? any comments on that? 3:05 PM Jan 26th from Seesmic in reply to Chad_Hurley

# @sam_piroton Good question! It's crunch time for Ken and company. 3:23 AM Jan 27th from web in reply to sam_piroton

[xpensive]

Regarding Hurley, this is the latest thing I can find him saying about USF1

When asked when we can expect to see the car.

# @sam_piroton Good question! It's crunch time for Ken and company. 3:23 AM Jan 27th from web in reply to sam_piroton

I think Chris Hurley finally realized that he'd been taken for a ride, an xpensive one at that, and pulled the plug.

[bosanac1]

this comes from atlas forum a employee of usf1 but i think it deserves to be re-posted.

It got hot in the kitchen for a while because of my posts, but the situation is now so chaotic and the lying taking place borders on complete fraud.

The car is easily 2 months away from being complete--and thats if they had the money and manpower to complete it and they gave decision making to the appropriate people.
Ken couldn't make payroll at the end of January and finally paid everyone 1/2 of what they were owed this past Monday, the 2nd half is promised this Monday--I'm not holding my breath. About 2/3rds of staff are showing up semi-regularly…who can blame them..there is little to work on.

Everything is hand to mouth -- all of the suppliers are on COD terms if they will supply at all. We haven't seen a Cosworth because they still owe 2.5M euros for them. We have no materials to turn into parts--but assumes that we'd have drawings to produce parts from Anderson Jr….another complete incompetent that barely got his High School diploma!

The boys in the carbon shop don't have the drawings or the tooling they need to produce the tub, let alone the entire car. The tub alone is weeks away from being able to send for FIA testing. At least they don't have to worry about making the suspension pieces--they are all going to be crafted from steel! No wheels, tires or brakes are in the shop, the transmission hasn't been seen either.

Poor Pechito…he shows up yesterday and there is no tub for him to sit in or to get a seat fitting in. He's told--"thats what happens when the money comes in late"

Like it's his fault…Peter and Ken are perhaps the worst managers F1 has ever seen. Peter and Ken convince themselves that they are brilliant businessmen, when they don't understand the basics of an org chart, chain of command, delegation of responsibility..not a single person knows their role, responsibility or job function and if they are--they aren't allowed to do it. The basics of management require that in order to make people accountable, they must have the authority and the financial ability to make decisions in their area of responsibility---Ken will have none of that!.

Ken makes every decision himself despite being surrounded by real F1 engineering, production and marketing & communications experts that would do a much better job if left to do it. When challenged on any decision or direction, your job is usually threatened or he leaves for Starbucks to avoid the confrontation. We were all told the team had 3 years funding and Ken professed he wanted to be, "the dumbest guy in the room", nothing could be further from the truth…the whole adventure has been built on one lie after another and tightly controlled by Ken and his flavor-of-the-day believers.

When he can't make payroll…he goes to Daytona to try and drum up money from unsuspecting gentleman racers who think they are "investing" in something…the dream has turned into a con job.

We think Bernie is on to them and Hurley must be at this point too. Any reasonable person could see how mis-managed the whole operation is.

Its all so sad--the opportunity lost, the dream investor scammed….. dream to nightmare due to extreme mismanagement and the egos of K & P.

If the cancer were removed, real management and investment installed-we could make a go of it--but not until Spain……at the earliest.

I can't wait to see what kind witch hunt transpires from this post! Screw them--getting the truth out will hopefully create some transparency to their scheme.

Others at the shop are talking too http://www.motorsportforums.com/forums/ ... 28&page=12

[countersteer]

I'd take the re-post with a huge grain of salt. BTW, Xpensive... Do you realize that you've made 10% of the posts on this topic? Are you always so negative?

[roost89]

A little ps work to see the car in 1 piece



high res

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/2893/usf1.jpg

you can see the rear coil springs and no front wing actuators.

Is it normal to have such a high angle-of-attack on the front wing? It's almost vertical at the trailing edge.

[xpensive]

I'd take the re-post with a huge grain of salt. BTW, Xpensive... Do you realize that you've made 10% of the posts on this topic? Are you always so negative?

A measly 10%? It feels like a lot more from where I'm sitting...

Part of my daytime job is to deal with individuals with CV's like Ken Anderson's and inventons like Autogyro's,
why you grow a bit of healthy suspiciousness for most things in life, I'd prefer to call it being "realistic" though.

[Saribro]

I'd take the re-post with a huge grain of salt.

Even a whole bag of salt won't make this taste any better.

[Giblet]

While I haven't always liked what xpensive has said, in this thread, most if not all has been based on real info or lack of real info, with a more than healthy dose of skepticism.

I have been jumping in here every few pages to make sure that both sides are represented, giving them a bit of benefit of doubt, but being realistic as well.

We have passed the point of being late, and now it's starting to look worse and worse.

I had hoped this was not the case, but I am starting to have more than a little doubt, and like our balaclava munching pal, will be ready to waffle my flip flops while backing up (beep, beep, beep) in a moment.