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Quote from Lateralus :snip

Yeh I just meant it doesn't get the attention that Nascar and IRL get. In europe we have good coverage of lower level single seater racing and they are more established as feeder series for F1. I agree with you that they should look for some new American talent, perhaps putting a young American driver with Sato would be a good idea. (I just think it's insane that Sato doesn't have a race seat)
Quote from ATC Quicksilver :Yeh I just meant it doesn't get the attention that Nascar and IRL get.

Yeah, it's sad really.

The most often-quoted reason is because America had a lot of grassroots motorsport pop in the middle part of the 20th century, and so people here didn't have to look overseas for it. I don't buy that, honestly. There are so many people here of so many different backgrounds that there's plenty of room for all different sorts, including F1. Grand Prix racing was huge here in the 1960s and '70s, despite the rise of NASCAR and the popularity of the Indy 500, drag racing, dirt track racing, etc.

Of course the reason lately is because F1 coverage is only available on a single cable channel which is 80% NASCAR. A lot of people in this country don't even know what F1 is. An American F1 team with a moderately successful American driver (top-10 qualifying, maybe a few podiums) would do a huge amount to change that though.

Quote from ATC Quicksilver :I agree with you that they should look for some new American talent, perhaps putting a young American driver with Sato would be a good idea. (I just think it's insane that Sato doesn't have a race seat)

Yup, I think he'd be a great choice. He did a hell of a job driving a dog of a car in '06 and '07, outdriving the talented Davidson (who'd be another good choice, incidentally). He has lots of experience and would be a good pairing for a newbie American driver. I don't understand why people slag him off so much.
I think open wheel racing was even pretty popular in the 90's even though NASCAR was catching up. What killed its popularity in the US was the CART/IRL split. Now that there is only one series again hopefully it can recover. And like you said, having no coverage doesn't help either. I mean I'm a racing fan and I don't even know when the IRL races are, the only one I watch on purpose is the 500, other than that if I happen to catch one on TV I'll watch it. Same thing with F1, it would have a much larger following if a major network rebroadcast F1 races every Sunday at a specific time. I think FOX picks up what, 3 or 4 races a year?
Problem with the US right now is all the fans ( bandwagon ones ) are all focusing on nascar. In order to switch these huge groups of fans to F1 will be hard. The potential of taking all the nascar sponsors to F1 would be ridiculous... there would be dozens of teams trying to qualify and wouldnt make it becuase of the huge grid of teams thats already on there. Ferrari wouldnt even be a top contender anymore... it would be more like kimi raikkonen driving for M&M's and lewis hamilton driving for cheerios or some crazy company.... it kind of sucks that f1 & the USA lost a lot of potential together... it will take years for F1 to be great in the US.
ithink USF1 car will be with hiden guns and twice as big as the other cars.(no offence)
but seriously i think it will be hard for them to mach the european drivers,but no one can realy tell whats gonna happen....
Quote from corporatesteve : The potential of taking all the nascar sponsors to F1 would be ridiculous... there would be dozens of teams trying to qualify and wouldnt make it becuase of the huge grid of teams thats already on there. Ferrari wouldnt even be a top contender anymore...

Nothing in this statement makes any sense at all.
I thought the same thing. Who are the American sponsors going to sponsor other than the two American cars? Unless he's saying all the Nascar teams are going to switch over to F1 instead.

Doubt it.
Nah he's in Nascar now.
Quote from UncleBenny :I thought the same thing. Who are the American sponsors going to sponsor other than the two American cars? Unless he's saying all the Nascar teams are going to switch over to F1 instead.

Doubt it.

What Im trying to say is we missed out on huge potential... If nascar wasnt around all those huge companies would most likely be involved in F1. In result, there would be dozens of teams and money generated.
If Nascar wasn't so big aka American open wheel racing would not have been torn apart then those companies would be in CART. Or in some totally other sport. F1 would be still very European based.
In an ideal world Nascar would be less popular than Arca, the single seaters would be even more popular than Arca, and F1 cars would still be sponsored by tobacco companies and terrorists.
Quote from corporatesteve :What Im trying to say is we missed out on huge potential... If nascar wasnt around all those huge companies would most likely be involved in F1. In result, there would be dozens of teams and money generated.

Your lack of knowledge of how F1 works is abundantly clear. The number of teams in F1 has absolutely nothing to do with the number of sponsors interested in in the sport; that number is regulated by the FIA and is currently at 12. Whether there is one sponsor in F1 or one thousand, it's 12.
Quote from Lateralus :Your lack of knowledge of how F1 works is abundantly clear. The number of teams in F1 has absolutely nothing to do with the number of sponsors interested in in the sport; that number is regulated by the FIA and is currently at 12. Whether there is one sponsor in F1 or one thousand, it's 12.

Your lack of knowledge in business is abundantly clear. The numbers of teams in any racing sport has a lot to do with the number of sponsors. Each sponsor wants as much advertising as they can. Look at Nascar, all the big sponsors all have their own team which enables them to have their own specific fans for their company and the coverage they get on their teams logo ( thats why nascar and its outside sources brings in more gross profits than F1 does annually ). If there was a huge influx of f1 interests the FIA would easily change that rule to a higher number becuase of special interests. The only reason F1 is at 12 is becuase they cant find enough sponsors. If you want to act like a faggot to everyone on this board than go right ahead.
No, the reason for there being the maximum of 12 teams is that the newer track facilities can't accommodate any more.
Quote from corporatesteve :If you want to act like a faggot to everyone on this board than go right ahead.

Three posts and you've already confirmed yourself to be a complete numpty. Way to go.

Quote from corporatesteve :Look at Nascar, all the big sponsors all have their own team

Again, no. You're completely wrong. All the big teams have their own sponsors. Sponsors don't create teams. What the hell do you think, that Cheerios also makes piston rings and driveshafts on the same assembly line on which they make cereal boxes?

Quote from corporatesteve : The only reason F1 is at 12 is becuase they cant find enough sponsors.

As has already been pointed out, wrong again. You really don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about.

A simple piece of advice: if you aren't knowledgeable on a particular subject, keep your fool mouth shut.
Quote from hyntty :No, the reason for there being the maximum of 12 teams is that the newer track facilities can't accommodate any more.

Not really... the pit boxes can be rearranged to accommodate more teams, if it really was needed. Already some teams have bigger garages than some. Isn't it determined by championship points? Hence last year McLaren started bitching (after Stepneygate) when they were supposed to get the last place on the pits.
Quote from Lateralus :Three posts and you've already confirmed yourself to be a complete numpty. Way to go.

you made one post and you already turned yourslef into an idiot.


Again, no. You're completely wrong. All the big teams have their own sponsors. Sponsors don't create teams. What the hell do you think, that Cheerios also makes piston rings and driveshafts on the same assembly line on which they make cereal boxes?



As has already been pointed out, wrong again. You really don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about.

A simple piece of advice: if you aren't knowledgeable on a particular subject, keep your fool mouth shut.

you made one post and you already turned yourslef into an idiot. Those teams your talking about would not be in existence without those top sponsors and that sponsor selectively hired a manager to pick out the racing teams members ( minus special teams that have been started from scratch). So in this case the sponsor is the racing team and they overall decide what is good for the racing team/company. I dont think you have any general idea about what goes on in racing or business just in general. You make false claims based on " oh hey the rule is 12 so it must be 12 only becuase they said so and there would be no other reason why "... your dumbass has no idea wtf hes talking about
So often, my countrymen are an embarassment. This is yet another example.

Moving on, evidently AJ Allmendinger was rumored for a test with USF1. I hadn't heard his name mentioned before, but with all the rumors flying about I guess he's as likely a candidate as any. NASCAR is such a huge jump from F1 though.

Anyone else think they might be announcing their testing shortlist at the official launch on the 24th? They might even do something really crazy and put in a bid to buy a couple old F1 chassis just to test drivers with (e.g. 2008 Hondas). They could probably be rigged with a very rough approximation of 2009 downforce levels by bolting on new front and rear wings and taking off all the chimneys and winglets and such. Slap a set of slicks on and they'd be set. Of course the cars would be far from legal, but it would give several drivers a chance to see what an F1 car feels like to drive.

At any rate, I hope USF1 doesn't get too ambitious too early. They'd be wise to pick up an experienced foreign test driver to lead development, instead of rushing to put two fresh-faced American drivers immediately into race seats.
Quote from corporatesteve :You make false claims based on " oh hey the rule is 12 so it must be 12 only becuase they said so and there would be no other reason why "... your dumbass has no idea wtf hes talking about

He's right, there's a maximum of 12 team entries in F1.

The reason F1 has problems finding sponsorship is because it's so expensive. The top teams have been spending upwards of $250M a season. What's the budget required to run a competitive car in NASCAR?
Quote from thisnameistaken :What's the budget required to run a competitive car in NASCAR?

Well when you consider they are all Stock..... Nowhere near the same amounts of money.
Lateralus, Honda may still be bought out. However, who owns the old Super Aguri cars and the IP rights to them? I think Honda does, and they might be willing to sell that of separately to the Honda F1 outfit. If they design the thing from a clean sheet of paper, it's going to be the Andrea Moda for the 21st Century.
Its just a shame you have no idea what your talking about. Appeal to ignorance at its best.
Quote from corporatesteve :Its just a shame you have no idea what your talking about. Appeal to ignorance at its best.

Are you able to make a post without saying how stupid someone else is?
Quote from hyntty :No, the reason for there being the maximum of 12 teams is that the newer track facilities can't accommodate any more.

Not just that, the rule appears to be a legacy of the old Concorde Agreements and the measures done to prevent teams like Andrea Moda turning up useless cars and two drivers whose grandmas would be faster showing up for two or three races and then going bust. Didn't prevent MasterCard Lola going around Melbourne slower than me running with my shoe laces tied together, did it?

(Is this the first time I've mentioned Andrea Moda twice in one thread?)
Quote from duke_toaster :Lateralus, Honda may still be bought out. However, who owns the old Super Aguri cars and the IP rights to them?

Oops, I typo'd earlier; I meant to say the 2007 Hondas. I'm pretty sure Honda owns the IP to both the RA07 and the SA07 cars, which were nearly identical. In fact pretty much any car built in 2006, 2007 or 2008 would be workable into a test chassis with which to try out new drivers.

Quote from duke_toaster :If they design the thing from a clean sheet of paper, it's going to be the Andrea Moda for the 21st Century.

I'm not sure I agree. The only way USF1 could avoid designing and building a car from scratch would be to buy a 2009-spec car, which I seriously doubt would ever happen. They will be starting from scratch, and I admit there is a strong possibility that they will qualify dead last in Melbourne 2010. But I also think the team will have the potential to take huge steps forward from there, which Andrea Moda (and many other teams) did not. Ken Anderson has a lot of technical expertise and experience, and together with Peter Windsor will have rather a lot of clout with which to coax engineering talent from other teams and other forms of motorsport.

Of course, this is all speculative. I'm looking forward to the official launch in a few days, when we should have much more hard information.

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