Who still believes in USF1

I didn't see this, so I guess I haven't become tainted. I think they make it onto the grid as USF1. The good news is we will get a final answer when the track goes green next year.

MB

 

CAN YOU HEAR THE WORDS COMING OUT OF MY MOUTH?





We shall see about USF1...

 

Wanna bet?

A six pack of your choice they won't be there.

 

I don't think you have lost a six pack yet..IIRC..

 

You owe it to yourself to be informed. It is only about 3 minutes--and they have trouble filling up that amount of time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbrHk0EmQP0

 

the give away of it being staged is that Windsor is wearing a lapel mic and had equipment on his belt....now if it wasn't staged why in the world would he be sitting at a desk (supposedly working) acting soooo surprised when Matchett walked in and wearing a mic???? doesn't take a rocket scientist to clue in on that one...and it's quite easy to insert other sources of video into your video (as in a company promo video of their equipment).....sorry but I'm not a guppy.

 

I actually never saw that piece until now. Anyone who watches that and still believes Windsor is building a Formula 1 car needs help. Seriously. What we saw:

--Peter Windsor sitting in an empty small office with a desktop computer.
--Room with 3 other people sitting at computers--rendition of a racer taped to the cinderblock wall.
--File footage of racing parts being machined, probably sourced from HAAS. Just to dispel any confusion, that footage was spliced in. It wasn't filmed live in the USF1 "shop".

That intro was definitely porn-quality.

 

FWIW,

122 days until the next race!

 

I like the part where Windsor says he's surprised to see Matchett, and Matchett says "I brought along a SPEED camera..." Which, of course, had been in Windsor's office in front of his nose doing the filming all along! I told my wife at the time, "This bit has to have some kind of an 'April Fools' type of punchline." Especially after the Hobbs reaction cut. But no, sadly. It does indeed give us something to chat about, though.

 

it's on tv?

not to be insulting, but duh! of course it and all the RPM segments are staged. and almost all tv interviews of any kind.

the only difference here is an especially poor acting job.

 

yes, but he's going to lose a blu-ray to me when Massa whips FA!!!

 

Hell Dave thats what I call a bet..

Personally I'd rather bet on a 3 legged wooden horse winning a Grand national...

Seriously I really hope Massa gives him a hard time, and I'm not Massa's biggest fan but the results will be all the better for it.

 

If (and its a big if) Ferrari has a capable car both Alonso and Massa should rack up wins. The question may be who has more.

 

The funniest part is Varsha saying that this will remove all doubt.

Oh it has. I have no more doubts whatsoever that this is a charade.

 

The only reason I don't share your certitude is the number of "unbelievable" things that happen every year in F1

 

Funny!

I just watched the segment on YouTube for the second time. When I first saw it "on the air", I missed the fact that Matchett and Windsor are nowhere in the machine shop shot. It's extraneous footage with their voice over.

This makes Speed TV an accomplice to the charade, flim-flam, fraud, or whatever you want to call it.

And it's so obvious!

"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time."

- A. Lincoln (attributed)

 

F1 or FIA "miracles" do happen. That's true. But they happen to the in crowd. Windsor is about as far removed from that as it is possible while still walking in the paddock.

Point in case is the lack of representation of the USF1 team at the FIA meetings.

 

No need to convince me of the logic behind your thinking. Its just that I've given up relying on rationality when predicting events in F1.
Granted part of my thinking is the hope and belief that no one can be as dumb as the USF1 guys seem to be.

 

Does Dom Perignon come in six packs?

 

You're right, he hasn't. But he'll lose a case if Kimi goes to McLaren...

 

Was that one with you?

I'm loosing track. In a galaxy far away and long time ago I also made a long term bet over Hambone becoming a multiple WDC. Chances are I might win that one next year. But I forgot with whom I made it...

 

Phew!

 

Andreas hit the nail on the head in a previous post where he highlighted how it likely went down - Mosley looking for anyone with a pulse to give a 2010 entry to, and Windsor thinking he could have his own F1 team (obviously a dream of his) and possibly get very wealthy in the process.

The whole deal with the new teams was predicated on the budget cap. It painted a financial picture where, with minimal investment, a team could be profitable based on restricted rules and a capped budget, along with the guaranteed payouts from Bernie. With his desire to have a team and desire for $$$, this was of course very interesting to PW.

It would be crazy to think that the elimination of the budget cap wouldn't have a seriously huge impact on these new teams. The cap was the whole reason, and the only reason, they came to the table in the first place.

The nebulous "reduce costs to early 2000's levels" (or whatever it was) ended up being the compromise that halfwit Mosley came up with, since he had already promised a cap to the new teams but faced losing all the other teams if he stuck to it. He wrote a check his ass couldn't cash, in other words. I bet there were frantic calls back to the new entrants trying to get them to stick with the program, probably largely predicated on the increase in monies FOM paid out, as well as assurances that the budget cap would happen in effect, just over a longer period.

That sort of puts the teams in a tight spot... just like finding your dream house and the seller suddenly tells you the price is double what you had agreed to pay. Then the seller comes back and offers you a weird financing method and tries to get you to stick with it.

The other teams have had much more ability to stick with it than USF1 has. From what they have achieved thus far, I can't imagine them having burned through more than a few million dollars, if that, certainly less than the initial investment Chad Hurley made (who probably got a big stake in exchange for $5mm or something).

The goal, post cap elimination, would have been to hype up the US aspect and try to get sponsorship in the USA to make it a reality. That hasn't happened... so they are still going through the motions and keeping up the charade. They have to, because if they don't, they will never get any sponsors.

There is nothing in it for PW to pull out of the '10 season early... he may be in breach of the contract, and it would preempt them from getting a part of any potentially juicy deals (like the one I bet they felt was in front of their faces when Sauber needed a grid spot). So they will keep up the charade to the end... only when the rest of the world knows for sure that they won't be there, will PW come clean and announce they are doing a "strategic realignment" which will either involve another series, or partnering with someone else (or a merger), or just disbanding the team under the premise of "waiting until a more favorable economic climate emerges" or something.

Mark my words!

 

+1

In other words: We'll have that doorknob back on the grid doing his fluffball "interviews" where he pats every driver on the back wishing them all the best for the race.

Uh, I just threw up a little in my mouth.

 

And IMO that's the worst part.

It has always been a HUGE conflict of interest to have PW doing the grid walk and also being a team principal. Once he announced he was involved with a team, SpeedTV should have gotten someone else. Didn't Bernie even get someone else to do the post-race interviews because of this same reason?

But I am absolutely sure that PW will be back on the grid in March, with a SpeedTV shirt and camera.

This whole thing was a net win/win for him. He has a lot to potentially gain, and really nothing to lose except reputation... but when it's someone ELSE's money on the line, I'm sure it makes his risk/reward consideration a cinch.