[Team] US F1

[p-matt]

I didn't even think Pavlovic had much sponsorship money. He was in the bargain basement that was F2 last year after all.

[Mekola]

TRV6 chairman Alejandro Urtubey, who backed the project of López in USF1, is terribly disgruntled for the situation. Last Sunday, the airing of a race of his touring car series showed the presenters and commentators aiming lots of critics against Felipe McGough (López's manager) for the fiasco.

[duke_toaster]

Originally Posted by p-matt

I didn't even think Pavlovic had much sponsorship money. He was in the bargain basement that was F2 last year after all.

He also didn't even finish in the top eight of it.

[jab]

Originally Posted by p-matt

This is interesting - Autosport have an article on Jose Maria Lopez's manager mouthing off about USF1, but the interesting point is that it suggests that Milos Pavlovic would have been his teammate: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81826

I was sure Pavlovic was involved with Stefan?!

It was indeed rumoured around the same time as the Valles rumours that Pavlovic was linked to the team

[GolddustMini]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81830


Anderson blames everyone but themselves

[strider]

Originally Posted by duke_toaster

He also didn't even finish in the top eight of it.

Formula 2 being what it is, that does not prove anything.

[JeremySmith]

Originally Posted by GolddustMini

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81830


Anderson blames everyone but themselves

Okay then, well thanks for trying and have another go in 2011 now quitien down get rid of that really stupid name USF1, and do it without all the we can "move mountains in America" and just stop bull****ting yourselves, because if it was that easy Ken then everyone would be starting a F1 team..

[rocketracer]

yeah, you get the feeling that all KA's planning of the organisation, and building of the car was based on a "best case" scenario, and probably wasnt very realistic... there was no contingency for how to deal with very probable obstacles. Very poor management, and that's you Ken.

part of any startup business is being creative and strategically planning your cashflow. If you havent dont that, or your strategy fails, then the axe must fall squarely on poor business management.

[Nicholosophy]

This has been an absolute shambles from the start and should never have been allowed to happen.

[Amar7605]

I thought I remember hearing during a Formula 1 broadcast a couple of years ago (and I am paraphrasing here) that to field an average IndyCar team (1 car) is around 3 to 5 million dollars. That includes the car, spare parts, pit crew, engineers, transportation, and fees.

One Formula 1 car is 14 million dollars.

[csirl]

I think that one of the reasons for the failure is that you had two Brits at the helm rather than some Americans. I suspect there may have been some culture clashes. Americans wouldnt react well to a superior attitude along the lines of "We're British, we know how to run an F1 team". This would rub American up the wrong way. Not good when you're trying to outsource a lot of your operations locally or are looking for favours to use wind tunnels etc.

If am American F1 team is to suceed, the lead partner will need to be an established US based operation. People like Andretti Green, Penske etc. Yes, they would need to bring in a lot of F1 expertise form outside, but the person at the top would be someone who is known and respected within the US.

[rustyfan]

Originally Posted by csirl

If am American F1 team is to suceed, the lead partner will need to be an established US based operation. People like Andretti Green, Penske etc. Yes, they would need to bring in a lot of F1 expertise form outside, but the person at the top would be someone who is known and respected within the US.

They should hire Tony Stewart to run it. He knows how to get things done.

And no, I'm not joking - there is no doubt in my mind that Tony Stewart could 1) bring in the right people and 2) attract the right amount of financing.

That said, Stewart is probably too busy running his sprint car teams, Eldora Speedway and, oh yes, his two-car NASCAR Sprint Cup team to be interested

[Mystery]

Originally Posted by rustyfan

They should hire Tony Stewart to run it. He knows how to get things done.

And no, I'm not joking - there is no doubt in my mind that Tony Stewart could 1) bring in the right people and 2) attract the right amount of financing.

Maybe when the US realises Dale Jr is all hype and no substance he can have a crack at running it

[DanShenise]

As an American who has worked for and with Englishmen since 1989, I call BS on this idea that cultural friction was the issue. There are either people who can get stuff done or people who can't. Yes I've seen American subs get bent out of shape for being asked to do their job properly, but generally its because they are lazy. Recently I've transitioned my career from residential work to expo and event work. Because of this I've started to see why so much of the fine engineering work has shifted overseas. The quality is better and the the same price. When I source complex mechanical components, I generally look to China, because an American supplier will want to redesign the piece because they know better (the Chinese don't ask questions, just do whatever is on the drawing), and have a delivery time much further out. While in China my boss (A Yorkshireman) designed a component on a scrap of paper at noon, and it was fabricated and on the job by 3pm. Its about the value of work, about half the subs I've worked with in the past 20 years got it, and half didn't. I'm sure the same is true in the UK (the Sean of the Dead, TV store scenes come to mind). The only thing I can attribute the failure of USF1 to is Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor. They failed to organized themselves properly, failed to delegate as necessary, failed to communicate as needed with the FIA and the public. Blame those two jackasses and not some cultural rift between English and US working standards.

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by DanShenise

As an American who has worked for and with Englishmen since 1989, I call BS on this idea that cultural friction was the issue. There are either people who can get stuff done or people who can't. Yes I've seen American subs get bent out of shape for being asked to do their job properly, but generally its because they are lazy. Recently I've transitioned my career from residential work to expo and event work. Because of this I've started to see why so much of the fine engineering work has shifted overseas. The quality is better and the the same price. When I source complex mechanical components, I generally look to China, because an American supplier will want to redesign the piece because they know better (the Chinese don't ask questions, just do whatever is on the drawing), and have a delivery time much further out. While in China my boss (A Yorkshireman) designed a component on a scrap of paper at noon, and it was fabricated and on the job by 3pm. Its about the value of work, about half the subs I've worked with in the past 20 years got it, and half didn't. I'm sure the same is true in the UK (the Sean of the Dead, TV store scenes come to mind). The only thing I can attribute the failure of USF1 to is Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor. They failed to organized themselves properly, failed to delegate as necessary, failed to communicate as needed with the FIA and the public. Blame those two jackasses and not some cultural rift between English and US working standards.

Nice post. I agree wholeheartedly.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by csirl

I think that one of the reasons for the failure is that you had two Brits at the helm rather than some Americans. I suspect there may have been some culture clashes. Americans wouldnt react well to a superior attitude along the lines of "We're British, we know how to run an F1 team". This would rub American up the wrong way. Not good when you're trying to outsource a lot of your operations locally or are looking for favours to use wind tunnels etc.

I don't think that would be an issue overall as there are plenty of Limeys in US motorsport. Often they can be whiny and particular about nonessential details, but I don't believe that was a factor here.

IMHO was more the problem was that Windsor and Anderson were absent minded, absent altogether at times and failed to put into place a structure for getting work done and having that work funded. And there may be more to it than that. As I said before hopefully a full accounting of where the money went to should be done. If Mr. Hurley already put in $20 million and all that was produced was an uncrashworthy F1 monocoque than I say BS. You can go to Dallara or Lola and have them make a modern F1 monocoque for a tiny faction of that money.

[Born Racer]

Not many people know the full story. I suppose details as to why they failed so badly will come out over time. Losing a sponsor in January doesn't seem a good reason for the operation's failure as they should have had a car by that time.

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by DanShenise

As an American who has worked for and with Englishmen since 1989, I call BS on this idea that cultural friction was the issue. There are either people who can get stuff done or people who can't. Yes I've seen American subs get bent out of shape for being asked to do their job properly, but generally its because they are lazy. Recently I've transitioned my career from residential work to expo and event work. Because of this I've started to see why so much of the fine engineering work has shifted overseas. The quality is better and the the same price. When I source complex mechanical components, I generally look to China, because an American supplier will want to redesign the piece because they know better (the Chinese don't ask questions, just do whatever is on the drawing), and have a delivery time much further out. While in China my boss (A Yorkshireman) designed a component on a scrap of paper at noon, and it was fabricated and on the job by 3pm. Its about the value of work, about half the subs I've worked with in the past 20 years got it, and half didn't. I'm sure the same is true in the UK (the Sean of the Dead, TV store scenes come to mind). The only thing I can attribute the failure of USF1 to is Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor. They failed to organized themselves properly, failed to delegate as necessary, failed to communicate as needed with the FIA and the public. Blame those two jackasses and not some cultural rift between English and US working standards.

Good call - think that you have it spot on there.

I find it hard to believe that Anderson is silly enough to think that anyone is going to believe that it was on track in mid January. Based on what they've shown, it was already way off track by then (maybe that was part of the reason for the sponsor not going ahead?).

For him to think that he can just BS his way out of looking silly is going to lose him any respect that he might have amongst people who work in racing & amongst knowledgeable fans too. Maybe he really is just a dreamer after all?

Be far better if the both of them just came out and said "we f****d up".

[DanShenise]

What KA is trying to sell is the greatest "the dog ate my homework" story of all times.

A few years back I came up with the idea that some people are so stupid/lazy/obsessive that they ask front to back or back to front questions. Basically they are so dumb & lazy, they need to be told which way to wipe their own butts or they are so obsessive they want to instruct others in the practice. From what I've seen KA was too busy micromanaging the way his employees wipe their own asses, to actually get on with running a multi-million dollar business operation. If you want to be involved in every aspect of something, may I suggest model airplane building, any business that involves anything other than say fine art painting will require some delegation.

[jab]

Originally Posted by DanShenise

What KA is trying to sell is the greatest "the dog ate my homework" story of all times.

I can see the headlines already

Anderson: Dog ate car

"He said it was a bit rough"

[deletraz]

Originally Posted by csirl

I think that one of the reasons for the failure is that you had two Brits at the helm rather than some Americans. I suspect there may have been some culture clashes. Americans wouldnt react well to a superior attitude along the lines of "We're British, we know how to run an F1 team". This would rub American up the wrong way. Not good when you're trying to outsource a lot of your operations locally or are looking for favours to use wind tunnels etc.

If am American F1 team is to suceed, the lead partner will need to be an established US based operation. People like Andretti Green, Penske etc. Yes, they would need to bring in a lot of F1 expertise form outside, but the person at the top would be someone who is known and respected within the US.

Ken Anderson is American.

[bjohnsonsmith]

I just wonder weather the man is a con artist?

[JeremySmith]

Not at all just a dreamer..

[bjohnsonsmith]

He must have recurring dreams.

[deletraz]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

He must have recurring dreams.

I have recurring dreams that I'm back in college and have to take a final but I forgot to go to any of the classes.

He has recurring dreams that the season is about to start but he forgot to build a car.