good thinking | A real live American Formula 1 team!

Monday 23rd, February 2009

A real live American Formula 1 team!08:57:57 AM

Written By : Scott Good

Peter Windsor and Ken Anderson have announced that they will USF1 to launch US-based F1 team! start (immediately) a US-based Formula 1 team with the objective of racing beginning in 2010. This is really interesting news for those of us who love F1.

There haven't been many US Formula 1 teams. Dan Gurney did it, as did Roger Penske, but both those efforts (I believe) were US-owned, England-based. This one is going to be right here in the US. Is that a first? Might be.

Peter was on Dave Despain's Wind Tunnel talk show last night and had a lot to say about it but kept a few things under his hat in deference to tomorrow's announcement on Speed (February 24 at noon, EST).

They will be headquartered in Charlotte which makes more sense than you might think. While the World Championship used to be primarily Europe-centric, today races are pretty much everywhere...Austrailia, Malaysia, China, Bahrain, Spain, Monaco, Turkey, England, Germany, Hungary, Belgium, Italy, Singapore, Japan, Brazil and Abu Dhabi. Not being located in Europe is a lot less of a handicap than it used to be.

Being in Charlotte, thanks to NASCAR, USF1 will be literally in the heart of the US racing industry, with access to state of the art wind tunnels, composites fabrication, etc. Interestingly, Windsor said that the bulk of the technology in F1 for many years now has been American but that the teams did not say that very loudly.

I think this is terrific and wish them the best of luck. Until then, though, I'm still a Lewis Hamilton fan.

Comments :

1. Jason Hook02/23/2009 10:11:31 AM

I wonder whose engine technology they will use? I'd imagine that most engines currently use Japanese not American technology. I've not been following F1's reinvention lately so I'm not sure if the common engine rule will be in place for 2010.

If they go for an American driver who do you think they might choose from?

2. David Vasta02/23/2009 01:52:21 PM
Homepage: http://www.iSeriesAddict.com

Huge F1 Fan and the best part is they are right up the road from where I live. Oh the joy! I am so looking forward to this.

Question How is it you don't get the trolls I used to get when I posted F1 stuff. I would post anything on F1 or racing and get nasty emails that, "It's not Lotus so take it down!"

Good luck and hope the trolls don't show up.

3. Scott Good02/23/2009 02:52:40 PM
Homepage: http://www.scottgood.com

@Jason. Good question. Peter Windsor said the engine formula is fixed so that they have to use one of the existing motors. He pointed out that the US is the largest and most important auto market to all the manufacturers so there should be no lack of interest on their part.

If I had to bet...hm. Not Renault; they don't sell here. Ferrari is already supplying another team or two, so probably not them. I'm kind of hoping it's BMW but with Honda pulling out of F1 they might look at an engine program for USF1 as a way to profitably keep themselves in a bit of the F1 limelight. So...I don't know. We'll find out tomorrow.

@David...lol...I suspect I don't get the trolls because nobody reads this rag. It's certainly nothing I'm doing on purpose.

4. David Vasta02/23/2009 04:36:26 PM
Homepage: http://www.iSeriesAddict.com

Hey and I see you live n Charlotte too. We should meet up. If you need an extra hand when racing I would be happy to lend it. I am a nut for racing and would help out when I can. I help the guys down at IndocilArt.com with the helmet biz for free, so I would love to help out a Porsche person for free too.

Let me know. We could also meet up at Victory Lane for some karting. I need a few good people for the 24 Hour Race?

5. Scott Good02/23/2009 06:54:25 PM
Homepage: http://www.scottgood.com

That sounds great except I'm in Columbus, Ohio. My brother is in Charlotte, though. OH, I know...I listed this posting as Charlotte because USF1 is there...wondered about that when I posted it that way. Sorry for the confusion.

Those Indocil helmets look great. I haven't heard of them before. One of these days I'm getting mine painted and that looks like a great option.

6. Andrew Pollack02/24/2009 01:38:31 AM
Homepage: http://www.thenorth.com/apblog

This will change F1 racing forever. Just wait till those Europeans see what the Chevy Small Block V-8 can do!

BTW: Did anyone tell these guys yet that there are no cupholders in European racing cars?

7. Scott Good02/24/2009 10:20:03 AM
Homepage: http://www.scottgood.com

WHAT? No cupholders? This may be a problem...

8. David Vasta02/24/2009 09:39:50 PM
Homepage: http://www.iSeriesAddict.com

Scott, Yes please let me know if you are down this way. Would love to talk track and racing with you. Would be neat to talk Lotus and Cars and one be software and the other the gas types.

Looking forward to the USF1 team. It looks promising and I can't wait to see what powerplant they choose. I would guess they will get decent offers from MB and Ferrari for the North American Market.

I still wonder how Honda is not apart of this plan?

9. Scott Good02/25/2009 09:16:00 AM
Homepage: http://www.scottgood.com

Good question. I watched a replay of yesterday's press conference and it was pretty underwhelming. No drivers announced, no engines, no sponsors...no nuthin. Bummer.

Disclaimer & Copyright

Monthly Archive

January 2010
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
May 2009
Full Archive

Contact me...

or IM: JSG1901

SMRT Racing Team

Thank you sponsors!

Infinite Fiberworks Co.

If you are looking for fiberglass for Porsches, IFC is the place to go. I have used parts from most of the major suppliers and IFC's are easily the highest quality and the most reasonably-priced. Contact Mike at Infinite Fiberworks for more information.

Located in Racine, OH (so far Southeast they're almost in West Virginia), IFC's goal is to be The Best. Give 'em a try.

Wheel Medic & The Round House

Whether you need to repair, repaint, refinish or just replace your wheels, the guys at Wheel Medic/Round House can get you back on the road in no time!

Wheel Medic, Inc is a family-owned company which specializes in the repair and restoration of aluminum wheels.

The Round House was founded to service Wheel Medic's clients looking for more than just repair work...from custom wheel colors to high-end wheel applications and body kits, the Round House is there to serve the discriminating automotive enthusiast.

A Part Above

Looking for used parts for 944s, 924s, 968s or other late-model water-cooled Porsches? Contact John at A Part Above.

Located in Strongsville, OH (20 miles south of Cleveland) their goal is to provide top quality parts and services. I can tell you, John is great to work with and the prices? Very hard to beat.

SMRT Motorsports wants you!

SMRT (that's short for Skid Mark Racing Team), a very-

loosely organized band of fun-loving friends who enjoy auto racing (heck, cars in general), and the occasional adult beverage, wants you to be a part of our team.

Go here to find cool T-shirts, sweatshirts, caps and mugs with the SMRT team logo.

The BlogRoll

Andrew Pollack
Charles Robinson
Ed Brill
gapingvoid
Gary Devendorf
Henry Newberry
John Landry
MyRacer.com
Ned Batchelder
Rands in Repose
Richard Schwartz
Rob Novak
Rocky Oliver
Volker Weber

Calendar

March 2010
Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31

By Category

: BigBill's Big 7

: Driving

: Home renovation

: IMHO

: Intelligent Design

: Life

: Show 'n Tell Thursday

: Software

: Speaking, writing

What I do for a living

I am the President of Teamwork Solutions a long-time Lotus, now IBM, Premier Partner.

With offices in Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio, we specialize in custom application development for IBM Lotus Notes, Domino, and related technologies. Our software product, ProcessIt! (see below), is quite possibly the world's best, most powerful and easiest-to-use workflow tool for Notes and the web.

Our clients are some of the world's largest corporations along with others that aren't so big.

We do excellent work, quickly, and often on a fixed-fee basis. We'd love to talk to you about your next project.

I am a Contributing Author to Lotus Advisor Magazine, with more than 40 articles under my belt.

I've written how-to series (serieses?) on LotusScript, JavaScript, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and now, AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML), as well as a bit on miscellaneous web development topics.

I also write for The View as of the July/August issue where I showed how to take an ugly Notes applications and make it beautiful with just a few minutes' (careful) work.

I am the chief architect and one of two primary developers for what many consider the best all-around workflow tool for Notes/Domino, anywhere, regardless of price.

It's called ProcessIt!, and you can read all about it at www.notesworkflow.com but the bottom line is this: ProcessIt! is fast and easy to learn, extremely powerful, and can be used by mortals. Even--dare I say it?--common users.

You can spend a lot more on a workflow tool but you won't be able to do a lot more for all the extra money.

Don't believe me? Download and try it for free for 60 days.

I race a Porsche 944 S2 in National Auto Sport Assocation events and am the 2008 National Champion in NASA's GTS2 class.

Blame this event, a few years ago, for starting that particular money drain all over again.

In support of my habit, I am the NASA Great Lakes Region's GTS (German Touring Series) Director.

I'm also a Nationally-Certified Instructor for the Porsche Club of America and am in charge of classroom sessions for the Mid-Ohio region when we are doing high performance driving events.

In a prior racing life, I was the Midwestern Regional Formula Atlantic Champion and, in 1991, the Ohio Vally Region of SCCA's Regional Driver of the Year (but that, alas, went away when my credit cards let go of the rope!).

I'm writing a book...or at least trying to.

It's murder mystery in which, not too surprisingly, the main character runs a small software company and races cars for fun. Oh yeah, and lives near where I do.

Just where do they come up with these crazy ideas?

Facebook

Follow this blog