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..... that dude looks familiar???
USF1, the prospective American Formula One team targeting a 2010 debut, prefers setting up a brand new entrant than rescuing the embattled Honda outfit.
That is the admission of Ken Anderson, one of the principal USF1 figures working on establishing a Charlotte, North Carolina, base with a secondary European season headquarters in northern Spain.
It has been suggested, however, that with Honda on the market for a token fee and with state-of-the-art facilities at Brackley, USF1 might be wiser to step up as the outfit's saviour.
But Anderson told the Swiss publication Motorsport Aktuell that there is more to the Honda situation than that.
"In the same way you could go and buy GM, because those shares are cheap," he said, referring to the embattled American carmaker that is said to be facing bankruptcy.
Doesn't Mercedes own one of the big US carmakers? Couldn't they badge the Merc. engine appropriately?
Edit: It's Daimler/Chrysler
The project aiming to bring an American team into Formula One will be presented on Tuesday when Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor officially reveal their plans to place USF1 on the grid starting with the 2010 season.
The announced venture to start from scratch and build up an outfit showcasing American technology and know-how has gathered much attention over the past few weeks. On the forthcoming team's website, the people behind the endeavour have underlined that fact, as well as the public support they have received since their plans were revealed.
"Ken Anderson, Peter Windsor and all at USF1 would like to thank everyone for the amazing response we have received since news first broke about our project on February 4, 2009," a brief message reads.
The cost-cutting measures introduced by the current teams and the FIA also serve the purpose of attracting new outfits to Formula One, in hopes of bringing the field up from the current nine teams to its maximum limit of 12.
The lower-cost environment served to bring about the USF1 project, but future team bosses Windsor and Anderson also have a theme to their programme.
"Proving that American technology, American drivers and the American competitive spirit can compete and win on the F1 global stage has been our mission for several years now," the team's website statement continues.
"And, judging by the overwhelming response we have received from F1 fans both in the US and worldwide, from within the F1 industry and from the US hi-tech industry, we think that many of you agree with us," USF1 management wrote.
New US team backed by F1 chiefshttp://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73411
By Jonathan Noble Tuesday, February 24th 2009, 18:26 GMT
The men behind plans for a United States Formula One team insist their effort is totally serious, and say it already has the endorsement of Bernie Ecclestone and FIA president Max Mosley.
Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor officially launched their USF1 outfit in a press conference live on SpeedTV on Tuesday, and say their plans to be up and running by 2010 are far more than a dream.
Windsor, who will be USF1's sporting director, said that his team planned to break the mould for how outfits approached grand prix racing.
"If you look at the way it has gone in the recent past, it has been find an incredibly rich trillionaire and have him dominate the team - and you are lucky enough to get a job when you've put the team together," said Windsor.
"Or you are lucky enough to be invited by a large car company to set up an F1 team for them. Ken and I are lucky enough to have been around long enough not to want to do either of those things - and we always wanted to do our own team our way.
"It sounds very arrogant perhaps, but we have some history and we have some things that we want to bring into the sport that we think we can do well."
Windsor revealed that the pair had already secured a small equity partner to help funding, as they seek sponsorship backing for the outfit.
"The key...was not selling anything more than a very small stake in the team, so we set some unbelievably steep hills to climb, in the recession," he said. "We wanted to sell off a small part of the team and, as we sit here now, we have done that.
"We are two guys who can say we want to do an F1 team because we have the capital to do it, and to some extent the recession has helped us a little bit. For those out there who say where is the money? Where is the huge facility? Where is the money pouring out of the sky? Well, that isn't going to happen with USF1. We have always had a very different approach, and that approach will become visible as time goes on and this year unfolds."
Windsor added that both Formula One Management and the FIA had been informed of USF1's plans.
"I first told Bernie Ecclestone about this in Brazil 2006, and he was his usual specific self. He just said, 'great get it done'. So I said okay lets go and do it.
"He has kept in touch ever since and has always been supportive. Anything that we need he has tried to help us with. A good example is the DVD of the lovely edit he did of the 2008 Formula One season, which we have been using as part of our presentation to investors here in the United States.
"It's not for commercial use, but that is a typical example of the sort of help he has been giving us, and that is quite a big thing from FOM.
"The FIA equally have known about this in detail now for about five to six months, and instantly grasped the programme and instantly accepted the way we wanted to do it as, dare I say it, the poster child for how a Formula One team should be going into the next generation."
Anderson said he believed that the decision to base the team in Charlotte would not be a hindrance against F1 rivals' traditional home in Europe.
"Most of the technology from F1 comes from the US to begin with, and on the logistics side, next year less than half the races take place on the (European) continent so there is less reason for being there," he said. "The cost of doing business in the US is significantly cheaper than Europe and there are a lot of good people here."
They're going to have a special on SPEED at 12:00 eastern to announce the team...
I cannot find anything on SPEED about this special?
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