Will USF1 be ready in time?

The new team entering Formula 1, USF1, has finally inspected the interior of its facilities, based in Charlotte, USA, and has settled in. This is an important step to dispel any remaining doubts about the team’s legitimacy. Bernie Ecclestone stated on Tuesday to the BBC: “I believe one or two teams will not be ready. There is potentially a doubt about USF1.”

In terms of financing, Anderson and Windsor, the founders of the team, received support in August from YouTube co-founder and CEO, Chad Hurley. He thus became the third partner and shareholder of the team. However, Peter Windsor admits to still being in search of sponsors. Very recently, Cosworth, which was supposed to power the team’s car, canceled a meeting, consequently complicating USF1’s schedule, and no driver has been announced yet. The FIA therefore wishes to once again check the progress and health of the team in the next three weeks, although they had done so recently.

Installed in the former factory of the Joe Gibbs Racing team competing in NASCAR, USF1 has set up a design office, as well as a machining workshop, carbon fiber curing autoclaves, multi-axis machining machines, and a rapid prototyping machine. Led by engineer Ken Anderson, along with long-time F1 journalist and television personality Peter Windsor, USF1 assures that it will be on the grid for the opening race of the 2010 season in Bahrain on March 14. The design of the single-seater, which is being worked on by 20 engineers, is on schedule and will be powered, barring any last-minute changes, by the independent engine manufacturer Cosworth.

Although the team doesn’t expect to test a single-seater on the track before next year, Ken Anderson says a real version will come out in November, and that the team has been focusing on the car for a year now, through computer-assisted design.

Ken [Anderson], rumors suggest that there’s a lot of activity these days in Charlotte. What’s happening with USF1?

« It has been quite a journey since we launched the team last year, and it has become more intense since we signed the Concorde Agreements. Our headquarters is now complete and fully operational, and the 2010 single-seater is under construction. »

So, is the car finally built? Isn’t it a bit late to achieve something satisfactory with such a start?

«It’s funny that you ask me this question, we get asked that a lot! Thanks to our designers and our engineering team, as well as all the help from our technical partners over the last 10 or 12 months. The car has gone through hundreds of iterations in a virtual environment. With computer design, we can test and be sure of the structural design, the design, and important engineering points. So we don’t have to manufacture the components, test them, break them, and start again. Instead, we have done a tremendous amount of work by computer, and we can be close to directly taking components ready for the race out of the machines, which we are going to do now. Our timing is on schedule, with a run test in early November, and a finalized single-seater in time for January 2010 testing.»

Who builds the car? Americans? Europeans? And do you build it in Charlotte?

I will first answer the last part of the question. Yes, we are building the single-seater in our factory in Charlotte. America is known for being a melting pot, and our team is a reflection of that fact. Americans, Europeans, New Zealanders, Welsh, and others are responsible for the race car, including several individuals with a high level of experience in Formula 1. Many of them joined the team at the end of July. We are grateful to the current F1 teams for releasing several of our new team members early enough. This has been a great help in continuing to prepare for the 2010 season.

Tell us a little about your facilities….?

In a few words, we are “fully equipped”. Our machining workshop includes CNC manufacturing machines with three and five axes; we have a composites store with autoclaves and a 24-foot CNC cutting table [editor’s note: approximately 7.3 meters]; an assembly and sub-assembly manufacturing workshop, electronics, research and development, design and engineering, CFD [editor’s note: computational fluid dynamics] and aerodynamics; marketing and communication; and an in-house ‘full HD’ production facility, to name just a few departments. Building our team and a world-class factory is still a work in progress, but we are ahead of our forecasts and excited to race next year.

Can you tell us a bit about the cost efficiency of manufacturing a Formula 1 car in the United States? How can it be cheaper than elsewhere?

The most significant savings come from the fact that we concentrate car engineering and manufacturing in the United States. Our technical partners are all located within a 50-kilometer radius around our factory since we do not have certain departments within it, such as the wind tunnel, suspension test benches [editor’s note: measuring the effects of a vertical load and tire load], a K&C machine [editor’s note: applies vertical, longitudinal, and lateral forces to simulate the car’s cornering behavior], and additional CFD assistance. What most people see, the trucks, motorhomes, and the F1 lifestyle, is a smaller part of the budget and will be based in Europe. We will talk to you about it soon.