Speaking to Autosport, Ken Anderson had the following to say about the team and the car:

“Quite a lot of it is ready to manufacture. The chassis is locked down, because we were waiting to hear if the (Cosworth) engine rev limit was 20,000rpm or 18,000rpm”.  The FOTA/FiA battle has now settled that at 18k.

“The chaps will now start building the chassis in August. We will have it rolling on the ground in late September, without bodywork or stuff, and then the bodywork will get added in October. Ken Anderson”.

Anderson also spoke of the growing squad and his closeness to signing a deal with Spain’s Aragon circuit to allow them to use the facility as a European base. This is something USF1 wanted all along, and although the car will be designed and manufactured in Charlotte, the distance involved between North America and where the majority of races are held means that a European base makes more sense.

“We were only approved a few weeks ago and it wasn’t prudent to order $5 million of machines until we were there. We have about 20 staff at the moment, but we have got 20 or 30 starting in August. The thing is we need people to run machines, and there was no point having them until the machines are there”.

Anderson went on to say,“The Aragon facility is a fantastic facility, the people there are very nice, very helpful. It is a great place for winter testing, and we would like to have our drivers based there… and run all the time.”

He also pointed out that should the Aragon deal not come together, they are also evaluating Paul Ricard in France as a possible base, the French test track proving popular with many current Formula One teams for testing purposes.

Nothing much has been said about the driver line-up, although the team must be in talks with some drivers at the moment. Last week, Danica Patrick all but ruled out a switch to Formula One, proving what many had predicted. Speaking with the LA Times, Patrick was asked if she had nailed down her chosen category for next year (IndyCar, NASCAR or F1), to which Danica replied with “it’s probably not F1”.

photo credit ©brian dowling

Author: Jeff