Full Throttle

US F1 co-owner Ken Anderson says the team will have their car ready for January testing ahead of their debut Formula 1 season in 2010.

Below is a Q and A session between Autoweek and US F1 co-owner Ken Anderson.

Q: Ken, we’re hearing about a lot of activity in Charlotte these days. What is going on at the U.S. F1 Team?

It has been quite a ride since we started the team last year, and has become far more intense since the signing of the Concorde Agreement. Our world headquarters is now complete and fully functional, and the 2010 race car is in the construction phase.

Q: So the car is finally being built? Isn’t it a little late to get something like that started?

Funny that you ask that question–we get that one a lot. Thanks to our in-house design and engineering staff and the aid of our technical partners, for the last 10 to 12 months, the car has gone through thousands of iterations in a virtual environment. With this virtual design, we can test and be sure that it’s right from structural, design and engineering standpoints, so we don’t have to make a part, test it, break it and start again. Instead, we’ve taken out a lot of the guesswork and can get close to a race-ready piece right off of the machines, which is happening now. Our timing is according to plan, with an early November “roller” and a finished car in time for January 2010 testing.

Q: So who’s building the car? Americans? Europeans? Are you building the car in Charlotte?

I’ll answer the last part of the question first. Yes, we’re building the car in our shop here in Charlotte. America is known as a “melting pot,” and our team is a reflection of just that. Americans, Europeans, New Zealanders, Welshmen and more are responsible for the race car, including many who have high-level experience in the current Formula One environment. Many of our new hires we connected with back in June and July, and they will be joining the team formally at the end of the month. We are very grateful to the current Formula One teams for releasing some of our “newest” team members early–that has been a huge help as we continue to prepare for the 2010 Formula One season.

Q: Let’s talk about what we’re seeing in some of these pictures. What are we looking at here?

In two words, we’re “fully equipped.” Our machine shop features three- and five-axis CNC machines; we have a composite shop with autoclaves and a 24-foot CNC cutting table; a complete fab shop; assembly and sub-assembly; electronics; research and development; design and engineering; CFD and aerodynamics; marketing and communications; and a full in-house HD production facility, just to name a few departments. Building a team and a world-class manufacturing facility are a work in progress, but we’re ahead of schedule and are excited about going racing next year.

Q: Can you talk a little about the cost efficiency of manufacturing a Formula One car in the United States. How can the operation be cheaper than what we’ve seen out there?

The major cost savings will be that the engineering and production of the cars will be done in the United States. Our technical partners located within a 30-mile radius of our shop contribute to this savings, as there are some departments we don’t have to have in-house, such as a wind tunnel, shaker rig, K&C machine, additional CFD support and a center of gravity machine. What most people see–the transporters, motor coaches and the “lifestyle” side of Formula One–are a much smaller part of the overall budget and will be located at our European facility, which we’ll tell you about soon.

Other reports suggest US F1 are backpedaling on having a team comprised of all American drivers.

“Because of all the time we’ve lost, our ambition to run two young Americans is looking more difficult, I’m still hoping we’ll be able to run one American, but that’s a tall order because there aren’t many Americans out there with superlicences,” Peter Windsor told Autosport.

Well, ain’t that a fact?

Dreams of Danica are dashed, not that she was ever in the mix, and despite Papa Michael’s hope for the impossible son Marco is far from making a move to F1.

Hell with his heritage one would think he could out perform AGR teammate Danica, but hasn’t.

There’s something to be said for marketing, should Andretti secure a slot with US F1, he would become the third generation Andretti to compete in F1 after 1978 title winner Mario and father Michael, who endured a ahem… difficult season, with McLaren in 1993.

“There is a huge argument for running one experienced driver to give us that leg up into year one,” said Windsor. “You could ask why that wasn’t always the argument because it’s a nice feeling for a new team to have two young drivers who grow at the same rate.

There’s an even better argument an experienced driver teamed with a youngster is the best way to go and there have been many such instances in the past that point in that direction.

I’m betting US F1, assuming they make the 2010 grid, will debut with just such a line-up and noether will be American.