The Sad Demise of the American USF1 Formula 1 Team

Lemmy Gibson
June 25, 2010

 

Formula 1 has always seemed to have a hostile relationship with America. It is difficult to know why, but there certainly seems to be a curse associated with the relationship. The news in 2009 that an American Formula 1 team would be launched was met with much ado. Alas, the USF1 Team never even made to the track and has now been permanently banned from the sport. 

The team was the idea of Peter Windsor and Ken Anderson. Both had a long history in motorsports and Windsor in particular had been involved in the running of major teams like McLaren. The two promised a new way of running a team in a financially responsible manner. The promises were never kept. 

USF1 looked to be in trouble from the start. Part of it was pure bad luck and a certain lack of common sense. Launching a Formula 1 team in the middle of the Great Recession was not exactly a move that forecast success. The fact the team ran into funding problems almost immediately could only have been a surprise to Windsor and Anderson. They obviously thought they had backing when they really did not. 

Following the failure to make the grid, USF1 was a going concern in name only. Eventually, the World Motor Sport Council launched an investigation into what went wrong. It has just released its findings and they are not pleasant. The investigators determined Windsor and Anderson had badly underestimated the cost of launching and running a team, and thus had no realistic hope of every making the grid. Given this, the council fined the team 225,000 pounds and barred it from ever competing in the championship in the future. 

So, now what? Will we see another American Formula 1 team launched at some point? It seems very unlikely. The only hope would seem to be a groundswell of support arising from the new race to be held in Austin, Texas for the next 10 years. Based on past excursions into the United States by F1, I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one.

Lemmy Gibson writes and rants at PullingGsRacing.com where you can get the latest commentary on Formula One results. 

Source: Amazines.com

Rolex series hits the high banks of Daytona, Florida for the 100th Daytona prototype Race

Wikinews
July 1, 2010
 

In January 2003, the Grand American Rolex Sorts Car Series debuted the Daytona Prototype (DP) class, its new premier class at that year's Rolex 24 at Daytona. Seven years Later, the class reached a milestone. This weekend's Brumos Porche 250 at Daytona marked the 100th race in the DP era. 

The biggest story coming into the race was about the 01 Telmex Chip Ganassi BMW Riley. The team had technical violations that were discovered after the previous race at Mid-Ohio. The subsequent penalties (25 team, driver, and manufacturer's points and $15,000 fine) had cut Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas' lead in the standings from 32 to 7. 

The extra 75 pounds hurt the BMW powered cars in qualifying. The 01 Telmex Chip Ganassi BMW Riley only qualified 4th, But that didn't slow the team down. Pruett, driving the second and final stint, drove away from the Starworks Motorsports BMW of Ryan Dalziel and Mike Forest, moving the No. 01 drivers' points lead to 13 ahead of Dalziel. 

They lead the team standings by 25 ahead of the the Sun Trust Racing team of Ricky Taylor and Max Angelleli. 

Pruett and Rojas also had to overcome startling temperatures in the car that resembled a heat sink, to give Ganassi his second Daytona victory this season. He won NASCAR's Daytona 500 with Jamie McMurray in February. 

"Look at our suits, they are soaked head to toe," Pruett told reporters about the heat. "I think we probably sweat five, six, seven, eight pounds. It was incredible, the humidity and everything. 

"Maybe we should put a temperature gauge up on he dashboard." As for the extra weight, especially under braking: "I don't know how to describe it, try running a sprint with a backpack . . . slow down, it's not the same," Rojas said. 

The duo led 40 of 83 laps. 

The triumph also was the sixth in eight Grand-Am races for Pruett and Rojas this season. They were second in the Rolex 24 at Daytona and 13th at Lime Rock where they were wrecked on the first lap. 

Andy Lally drove the No. 66 TRG Porsche to the victory in GT, teaming with co-driver R.J. Valentine who was in the car for the first time in a year-and-a- half. It was Lally's third victory this season with three different sets of co-drivers

Pruett grabbed the lead in NASCAR Turn 3 on Lap 46, with just a little more than an hour remaining, and steadily built his lead to the victory clinching 24.3 seconds. The triumph was Pruett's 28th in 100 Grand-Am starts and the 29th for Ganassi.

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