I cant recall seeing this video on here, but i am sure some one will smugly point it out if it has I also hope this is ok with the fchat police (greyboxer) that i post this link up. Good thats all bases coverd, heres the video . I wish these guys all the best, they certainly look serious. [ame]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ntjh1Zq3ghw[/ame]
I wish good luck to Haas F1, of course, but what I have seen is the kind of things that worries me. A team that wants to start in F1 and immediatly invests in lavish facilities (it seems), when there is plenty of money to spend elsewhere in research, design, etc... before a car exists. USF1 did exactly the same thing! I hope Gene Haas got his sums right. He recently blamed Marussia and Caterham for their mistakes. I hope he will not imitate them. I remember Ken Tyrell saying once that the money should be spent on what goes on the track, and that everything else was secondary. He ran a team that gave 3 world titles to Jackie Stewart and was operating from 2 wodden barns in the countryside! Ken Tyrell used to transport the DFV engines to servicing at Cosworth at the back of the family station-wagon!
Hello, just guessing that its all about attracting Sponsership money. No one with big bucks is going to invest in a couple of barns anymore.
I really hope they can pull this off but the mountain they are attempting to climb is equivalent to Everest. It does feel different compared to USF1 and surely there is more money this time around.
By this point in time, US-F1 had built a carbon fibre toaster, right? Peter Windsor being astounded by that is a memory burn. BHW
Yeah, a guy that built his own business to 1 Billion Dollars in sales, is a sponsor of Ferrari F1, and has already run his own NASCAR team is probably a loser. Holy crap, the guy is a realistic high-goal-setting type, and is taking on the biggest challenge he can find. Isn't that what life is all about?
You are talking about a guy who's 'creative accounting' shall we say, makes Bernie look like a saint. Two years in prison to show for it. He's either going to go the way of so many others or he will take to the shady business of F1 like a duck to water.
He doesnt build his own nascar stuff f1 is a whole other kettle of fish . In a lighter note Peter on said his ytube channel that his f1 team also had carbon fiber coffee maker but the titanium cup for it where two small That's why he didn't make the grid
I did not know that. How long ago? My guess would be Bernie has 'smarter' accountants, rather than him being any kind of saint! Having said that, that background would indeed suggest he'll fit right on in to the piranha tank!.... *If*, and it's a big if of course, he's looking at Caterham, I do wonder if that's at Bernie's urging? "Hey Gene, this ain't buy it & race it, this is serious stuff, and you'd be way better off buying an existing infrastructure than going it alone..... Just my 100MM opinion of course." Cheers, Ian
Haas Automation owner gets 2 years in prison for tax fraud - VC-Star Haas did 16 months of a 24 month sentence for conspiring to commit tax evasion. In terms of Caterham, not only are you buying an existing team/facilities bigger than he intended, given his newly built facility in the U.S, but he also takes on company debt. He already has a place on the grid from Bernie, only wants a 'satellite' operation in europe not another full race factory and I'm pretty sure he doesn't want their debt either.
Thanks. Seems he was pissed about a patent infringement judgement ruling against him and figured he'd "stick it to the man!"...... Never a good idea! All very true. But I'm also sure he & Bernie can work something out on the entry. I also agree taking on a mountain of debt is never a good idea, but OTOH, neither is starting from scratch; If (and again, it's a big if) he can pick up their kit (trucks, containers, computers, pit equipment etc etc) for "pennies on the dollar" he may still be ahead of the game. But I'm just sitting here in the peanut gallery after all..... Cheers, Ian
It would be interesting to see if he could acquire Caterham with the plan to dismantle its assets. Its debts are around £15m. Is there that level of infrastructure in their factory that the Haas team could make use of or sell? Starting from a blank page is going to be VERY expensive and if he is as savvy as he wants people to believe, it wouldn't surprise me if he's at the very least thought about picking over the bones of Caterham to get a running start of sorts. From the outside looking in Caterham looks toxic, but maybe there is a silver lining to be found for someone with the means to look at their assets in greater detail?
I guess that's the multi-million question!.... I'm certainly no 'expert', but suspect "picking over the bones" would yield some good stuff; just the trucks, containers, pit equipment/computers, S/W licenses, CFD computers, simulator, autoclaves and networking equipment etc etc could be a great way to, as you say, "hit the ground running". [I guess he doesn't need their machine tools! ] Disband the factory, move the 'home base' equipment to NC (?) and set up a new satellite in the UK makes sense to me sitting in the gallery..... But I'm sure he has 'his people' investigating.... They'd be silly not to IMO. As for it being 'toxic', I believe that's a large reason the administrator is there - to remove that variable and get as much back for the creditors as possible, while protecting any buyers. Cheers, Ian
At Caterham he would at the very least be able to find adequately trained and experienced staff to work at any satellite factory. A more cut throat investor would probably just advise him to wait out the company folding completely and just take the staff after that if the company takeover doesn't make financial sense due to its debt. Interesting times and I do find myself hoping he makes it work and starts in 2016.
Haas Automation is a zero-to-hero story on par with Elon Musk's. I wish Haas all the luck in the world, though personally I'd rather see that energy directed at something more interesting than F1.
Don't see anything too "lavish" about this building. It's a tilt-wall warehouse with a fancy front. Probably cost less than $15M. Peanuts considering an F1 power unit is almost twice that. The cost of the contents of the building, however, is another story...
But some sponsors want to know exactly where their money is going. If I was a potential sponsor, I would be more interested in seeing a team of designers being recruited and some technical drawings than by a building.
Haas taps Borland for F1 team | News | Motorsport.com After seven seasons with Gene Haas, Matt Borland is transitioning to his new role with Haas F1 team. MIAMI – The motorsports balancing act is in full swing for Gene Haas. This weekend, Chase favorite Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 Budweiser team will battle for the Sprint Cup title. For Stewart-Haas Racing, it could mark their second championship since 2011. On the Formula One side, 2014 has been a crash course in open wheel since the introduction of Haas F1. But one of Haas’ first hires, Matt Borland, was recruited from right next door. Although Borland, 43, has straddled his duties between SHR and Haas F1, the engineer turned crew chief and now vice president of competition on the NASCAR side will take of the role as vice president of special projects for the F1 team at seasons end. “Formula One is certainly a lot more technical and I think Borland is looking for the challenge.” – Gene Haas “Formula One is certainly a lot more technical and I think Borland is looking for the challenge,” Haas told Motorsport.com. He’s been doing this a long time and even I have been doing NASCAR a long time and I look at Formula One, like next year we’ll have a whole year to see how these cars are built. I’ve already had a couple of opportunities to see how the cars are built and they’re just very fascinating. “It’s going to give us an opportunity to take some of our NASCAR crew people and say, ‘hey, here’s an opportunity to learn something new, can you apply that to Formula One and vice versa. The Formula One people from Ferrari are also interested in how we do things.”
You guys are rediculous. Haas' new place is plainer than a lot of the machine shops on my street. Funny to get criticism for a simple concrete slab structure. Wowza, guess no one has seen modern factories these days as everything they buy just shows up mailed to their door. This building is not anymore stylish than any other of the Haas factories.
Just curious what this structure should look like to pass your eyeball test? I don't see anything extravagant here. Just nice, adequate facilities. I'm pretty sure that a guy that built a billion dollar business and runs a successful Nascar team hasn't forgotten to set money aside for the cars, william.
