USF1 car undergoes crash test (Video)

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There’s been some speculation about how far along USF1 are with their F1 project. A new video released by the team today showing their car’s nose structure undergoing crash testing may help address those concerns.

The team revealed the crash test took place last week, but it’s likely most of the existing teams had crash-tested their designs late in 2009. Lotus had also done so.

With USF1 planning to test in Alabama before joining the other F1 teams at Spain in February, they must be expecting to get the first car finished fairly soon.

Read more: USF1 to test F1 car in America

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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46 comments on “USF1 car undergoes crash test (Video)”

  1. Prisoner Monkeys
    9th January 2010, 22:53

    The team revealed the crash test took place last week, but it’s likely most of the existing teams had crash-tested their designs late in 2009.

    That’s what Windsor’s comments about America staying open while Europe shuts down were all about. Because the USA only closes up for four days and Europe does it for eighteen, USF1 get a whole two weeks extra time, and so can run on a different schedule.

    1. Which is still complete rubbish anyway. I have no idea where his comment came from, but I, too remember my days at Williams, and the first fire up of a car happening on the 31st of December. You don’t do that with a factory closed for 2 weeks.

  2. I can see they are trying, but that still isn’t doing much to convince me it’s more than a bunch of amateurs with some excessively powerful desktop computers and an autoclave.

  3. What about the “All parts which could materially affect the outcome of the test must be fitted to the test structure…” rule of the frontal test!? No Pylons, no front wing middle section?

    1. Good point, but I presume they know what they’re doing…

      1. I’m not sure John.
        Everyone does the pretests with pylons and a front wing section (see Lotus for example), because these parts are very crucial for other rules like:

        “The resistance of the test structure must be such that during the impact :
        – the peak deceleration over the first 150mm of deformation does not exceed 10g ;
        – the peak deceleration over the first 60kJ energy absorption does not exceed 20g”

        Tests without those parts fittet doesn’t make sense…unless you plan to drive without front wing. ;-)
        It will be hard, but still there might be enough time to bring the car to grid in time.

  4. christopher (sennaboy3)
    10th January 2010, 1:35

    Really sheep, you think USF1 is a bunch of amateurs? “Ken Anderson has been a motorsports technology leader. His experiences include designing and constructing multiple Indy 500 and IndyCar Series-winning race cars, operating as technical director for the Ligier and Onyx Formula One teams, extracting max performance from NASCAR stock cars and creating the most advanced rolling-road wind tunnel in the world, the Windshear Wind Tunnel.” and “Windsor’s knowledge goes far deeper than journalism, as he has worked as the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship-winning team manager for Williams-Renault, the manager for Ferrari’s F1 chassis and suspension departments and as a consultant for both Nigel Mansell and Carlos Reutemann.”

    I’m really getting fed up with the USF1 isn’t going to make the grid talk…these guys are serious racers, granted, they aren’t going to win races in year 1, but can we please stop the American bashing before they even take the grid? oh, that’s right they won’t make it there anyway…bah bah

    1. I totaly agree. I’m not even American and I am getting sick of these people have cracks at the team when they don’t know the full story. Yes they might not win races, but they won’t be at the back all the time either.

      1. Er, they won’t win races. I will literally bet on this one. Brawn is not a qualified example of this happening and we all know why.

        Anyways, It’s all media speculation, which unfortunately is a part of our world. Because USF1 are the quiet team, they’re the most speculated upon.

        Regardless I don’t expect them to do badly per se but you’ve got to say it’s USF1 and Campos Meta that look like they might be the true back markers of the grid. That said, Virgins totaly CFD scheeme might back fire, Lotus has an enourmously big mouth on it which could easily come back to haunt them. All told i think the established team they’re going to be hunting will be Torro Rosso.

    2. You make it sound like they have a lot of experience of telling other people what to do, rather than doing it.

      I don’t want them to fail, but I think they will. I fear that F1 on a shoestring just isn’t going to work.

  5. Yeah, I’ve been wondering where this trend of bagging the USF1 team has come from. Seems unfounded to me. Peter Windsor seems very unpopular – why is that?

    At the risk of almost contradicting my words above, they don’t seem very happy with that test!

    1. Yeah, I’ve been wondering where this trend of bagging the USF1 team has come from. Seems unfounded to me. Peter Windsor seems very unpopular – why is that?

      I’ve been wondering that too. His race reports for F1 Racing had a particular style and he holds strong opinions which puts some people off. So I think there’s an element of people wanting him to fail.

      For what it’s worth I want to see them get on the grid and do well and give the America’s small but passionate F1 following the team it deserves.

      1. Here in Australia for the local broadcas (One HD) he would always produce a very good pre race report and I enjoyed listening to what he had to say.

      2. Could be an underlying anti-American resentment of Bush era politics.

        Or this notion that all Americans are NASCAR loving fans (HA!) and how dare they dilute the F1 brand with a bunch of obnoxious tobacco chewing rednecks. The other teams are not receiving the same criticism because they are Europeans and are therefore more acceptable for the establishment.

  6. I have said it since day one people who open their mouths up about stuff are always just the haters. They just need to find something bad to say about something and someone. Its sad bc they make all these points about how they are not doing this or that without looking and saying facts that are so off its not even funny. They were comparing different stuff to the other teams yet the funny thing is they were comp. wrong about it. They dont seem to look into anything befor they say it. Everyone talks about americans not knowing anything about F1 is crazy. Alot of the parts and a ton of the tech. comes from american companiens. The wind tunnel that alot of the F1 teams use is about 20 mins from USF1 also but they dont have what they need to test the car….yea sure. what do you guys think they will all say when they do make it to the grid after saying for a year they wont. whats the next thing they will bash? that we finished last a few times? we already know that. i cant stand people lol

  7. just had to add one more thing. People were also saying how the shop didnt look like a F1 shop. Well thats bs whats it matter if you have all the little pretty stuff on the walls? thats not what builds a car its the people working there and the tools not how pretty it looks. Also the building they are in is an old nascar shop to one of the best and biggest teams the shop is huge its a really nice place. Another thing is this is a new team never raced a thing befor the other new teams coming in have been racing and have shops already. Thats why they may have shops that look a little better they are not started up from nothing. USF1 is. Its not about the look its about the car guys and girls

    1. Dude i think you need to chill out. Many just make comments about USF1 with a little humor, don’t go all crazy and patriotic on us.
      Even if we believe that USF1 is gonna be on the grid we still like making a few jokes about the toasters just for the fun of it since it’s a current joke. It’s just funny. So relax.

      1. I have not seen too many comments that are humorous. Mostly know-it-all comments from people that seem irritated.

    2. People were also saying how the shop didnt look like a F1 shop.

      None of the comments here say that.

      1. Ha! Well said Keith. Congrats on your retirement from the 9 to 5 world, btw. I never though I’d say it but the site is 100% better, can’t wait until you have some real news to report.

  8. its a breath of fresh air when F1 teams show the public what happens behind the scenes.

  9. I agree its time to cut them some slack.

    Only thing is if they come up with a half decent car, will they have the drivers to make the most of it? That Lopez guy seems to be a cash driven choice and I dont see a top name joining him! Any thoughts?

  10. What the video doesn’t tell you is that both the nose and side impact panel tests both failed their dummy tests.

    The reason the parts aren’t fitted to a test structure or tub is…it hasn’t been completed yet.

    Sorry, but someone please explain how are they going to test at Barber in 4 weeks when they haven’t passed any of the required tests?

    Maybe Ken has more up his sleeve than his highly embellished resume.

    Don’t believe that? Look up the Indy winner records and see if you can find him mentioned anywhere as Chief Engineer for a one, let alone 5 wins. Nigel Bennet and alan jenkins are listed in everything I can find

    http://www.teamdan.com/people/j.html

    Anybody ever wonder how he could design shocks for Penske Shock and WilliamsF1 team and be Chief Engineer for Mears at the same time?

    Better yet, find somewhere where he’s named as the Chief Designer of the ’97 G-Force–you can find many names associated with it….but not his.

    He was involved..but he wasn’t Chief or lead designer on any component save a shock or bit of suspension. Ask Penske or Arie. Aries was Tim Wardrop

    http://www.nofenders.net/2007/10/doctor-doctor.html

    http://insideracingtechnology.com/indyganasi.htm

    http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/the-forgotten-chassis/

    The Falcon…ask people involved what the problem was a Falcon…Anderson’s disappearing act

    Search Ken Anderson and G Force…hmmm. the only thing you come up with is his self-proclaimed genius—does anyone remember that car…most people would run from a car so horribly turned out. I guess some writer should do some due dilience and ask Chip Ganassi who owned G Force in ’97 before he sold it to Panoz in 1998

    How did he go from shock/designer engineer a year ago to Cheif Engineer? Any one notice how Ken’s resume grew from this original story to today’s website…we’ve all read about people’s resumes being embellished once they get away with it once…http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=7080.msg49722

    Doesn’t anyone do their homework anymore?

  11. Anyone for some nose shards? Well, there you have it. The USF1 Team has crash tested. I am not familiar with the FIA crash testing regulations. Did this test meet the prescribed standards? If not, what’s next?

    1. seemed to have some of the unit whole (the base of the unit) so that is a pass as far as I understand.
      If all of the nose fully let go then that would be a fail.

      1. There are a lot more values that are monitored during a crash test…you can’t tell if a crashtest was successful or not just by watching a video.
        Chapter 16 of the F1 regulations tells all the details.
        In this case I would say it was probably a fail, because there were no pylons and no front wing section mounted…unless (as mentioned above) they want to race without a front wing or they have a stunning new technique to fix it to the car without the need to homologate it.
        To build a car which looks like a F1 car is one thing…to get it homologated in time is the other…

  12. here come all of the anonymous internet experts, with their imaginary degrees in business and engineering, fabricating reasons to bash americans. good for you!

  13. Mouse_Nightshirt
    10th January 2010, 12:40

    I think our stateside cousins need to calm down a bit and stop being so defensive. USF1 are not the first team to get a considerable amount of flak, but I don’t ever recall such harsh defensiveness on any other topic.

    1. “USF1 are not the first team to get a considerable amount of flak”

      Prove it.

      I read no bashing of Campos or Lotus to the degree the Americans are getting. Sorry brother, we’re not going to just stand there and take it.

  14. One thing that surprises me is that this team is having one real asset – its wind tunnel, a good one, state-of-art, they where so proud at the start. And this is exactly what they are not going to use to build their car. Windsor says only CFD, like Wirth’s Virgin. Also they promised a ‘roller’ long ago, like October or November. Has anyone actually saw it? There is work going on there, no doubt, but it doesn’t seem to be going according to the initial plan. Same about drivers choice, experienced drivers are out of their list. I personally don’t find anything exciting about this team anymore.

  15. Their front wing end plates look quite interesting by the way:

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

    A lot of the snobbish attitude is because (to me anyway) US sport *in general* is based on image, massive point scores and a certain feeling of tackiness that I cannot explain. Yes I am a bit of a European snob, I won’t deny it, but that’s just how I see US sport – I’m sure others see it differently.

    Also, the US is renowned for designing and manufacturing cars that cannot go around corners. Seen as F1 has more corners than ever thanks to Tilke, perhaps that is one reason why they aren’t being taken that seriously.

    I’m sure they’ll be racing though no question.

    1. Mouse_Nightshirt
      10th January 2010, 17:49

      I think John has hit it on the head.

      The impression I get about USF1 is that it’s purely image based. They are overly “upfront” about what they’re doing and it’s a completely alien concept to me; F1 teams are historically very secretive.

      Campos Meta and Lotus are quietly working away yet the news is they are much further along the line. Maybe USF1 just need to seal their lips and get on with it, as with all rumours, there is usually no smoke without fire.

    2. To be brutally honest, till the epitome of the European car, the Ferrari, started using science and maths, the handling of their cars was frankly frightening.

    3. John H, do you really think that an F1 car being designed in the US has anything at all to do with American road cars (many of which handle very well)?? They are not using some 1987 Buick for their suspension/handling designs.

      Also, the only snobbish attitudes seem to be coming from the people that are bashing USF1. Constructive criticism is one thing, but blatant bashing (i.e. calling the USA tacky, or implying that the US is incapable of creating an F1 car) is incredibly childish and snobbish. Please go through the comments and tell me where the US F1Fanatics are being ‘snobs’….

  16. There is a rumour now, that US F1 are asking the FIA permission to skip the first races, and start their season in Barcelona!

  17. As an American my USF1 skepticism is cash based. No title sponsor or significant other sponsors other than Chad Youtube Hurley as a partial partner. To me that means a car that will be a last minute slapped together effort, or possibly none at all.

    Remember the Minardi days when they never tested the car and came straight to the first race and had their first test during Friday practice? But at least they had the previous seasons of experience to build from. These boys have nada.

    Not overly optimistic on my part. But it is tedious reading all the snide shots the team takes. And now
    unexplainable “tackiness” of American sports in general.

    Regarding American cars that can’t go around corners I would reference Ford GT40, Corvette, Viper, Caddilac sports sedans, Jim Hall designed CanAm cars, Mustang and Camaro road racers, etc. My only point here is perception is not necessarily reality.

    Okay, I’m braced for the counter attacks, let ‘er rip!

    1. I can’t explain the tackiness I’m afraid… it’s just a feeling. It’s the same feeling I used to get when Briatore went on about ‘improving the show’ and having shorter races. Without wishing to sound like an old bugger, society at large is all about having things quicker, faster, more points, more glamour, more points, more ‘shiny things’ and I associate this (perhaps wrongly) with the USA.

      I’m just giving my honest opinion really, sorry if it causes any offence!

  18. Has anyone taken a moment to reflect on the fact that USF1 has produced this video to just be a cool looking video? No, the wing isn’t attached. I don’t think they care because the intent of the video is to show something getting smashed and looking cool rather than to show an FIA approved crash test!

    I think GeorgeK needs to add the Shelby Daytona to his list of American cars. If you haven’t heard of that car, look it up. Had an amazing run taking on and beating Ferrari in the 60’s!

    1. Errr…not sure why someone should do this. Even that costs money…and if you would know how to do it, why do a fake test and present it via youtube to the whole world? That gives us ( the Europeans ;-) ) even more the impression of having here a F1 Team made in Hollywood. Not more. They had the chance to buy the 2010 Toyotas…for a start and to learn, I think that would have been a clever move.
      Now they are desperately looking for engineers with F1 experience, but they don’t know that most of the Europeans still need a work permit for the US…
      However I still hope they gonna make it…but time is running out I guess

  19. @Steve_P83, I couln’t agree with you more.

    @wisenheimer, you do realize that Hollywood is about 2,400 miles from Charlotte right? That’s about the distance from London to Ankara, Turkey and Charlotte and Hollywood probably have less in common than London and Ankara. My point is that a simple youtube video from a cheap handheld camera has nothing to do with Hollywood and I personally think your comment is quite silly. It’s yet another example of Europeans jumping on the chance to diss the US team. I mean really, a youtube video and “a team made in Hollywood, not more”.

    Please tell me how much the video portion of the attached video costs….umm, NOTHING. The car and the test costs a lot, and they had to do it. To record it and post it costs…nothing…Remember…youtube is their sponsor…..

    Also, why is this a fake test???

    1. @mfDB, first of all I didn’t say and think that it was a fake test, Steve_P83 mentioned it could be a fake test just to show a cool video. And you’re right, the filming doesn’t cost anything, but to do (in case it is one) a fake test costs money (to produce a part, even if its fake it costs something), which doesn’t make sense to me. Therefor I think it is a real test, it would just be a waste of money if it was fake.
      With “made in Hollywood” I meant that to me what USF1 did up to now is more “acting” than showing real results…like this front crash. You can’t say “we passed the first crash test” if you need to have the pylons on and a wing section. These two little details are very cruical during the front test and influence a lot the g-values that are measured and satisfy the regulations.

      Whatever.

  20. @ John H

    Honest “opinions” without factual support are in and of themselves hurtful regardless of the context.

    I can generally agree that tackiness of all sorts can be found in any society; just as we can find snobbery in many. “American sporting tackiness” as a discussion reference while debating F1 issues is not relevant nor appreciated.

    I too have been around the circuit for more laps than I care to admit to, and while I consider myself semi-toughened by life experiences I find myself still rising to the defense of my own society.

    @ Steve_P83

    Thanks for the Shelby Daytona note, Aaesome car; sad that I overlooked it.

  21. Cool. I wish there were moe of these and other tests for us to see…

  22. ok its 20 days to the first race and I speak for all the f1 fans…where the hell is the car??

  23. i love the movie g-force, that characters are quite funny ‘

  24. g-force is very nice, i love all the characters in that animated movie *”.

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