Hmmmm. Rumors USf1 is out....:(

http://jalopnik.com/5473765/report-u...be-founder-out

On a related note....

http://www.sniffpetrol.com/wp-conten...riverslist.jpg

I was just going to post that story, but then someone came into my cube to talk about XML namespaces.

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/formula-1-...p-2010-season/

Crazy-ass speculation: Mr. You Tube goes and buys Campos, using assets to help the struggling USF1 squad. He then sells the two extra grid spots to Stefan GP.

Well, it almost makes sense. Campos and USF1 are both struggling and they each have one confirmed driver. Their combined assets might make them into one successful backmarker team. Meta Campos USF1 Team. With driver Bruno Senna and Jose Maria Lopez. Almost has a nice ring to it.

You're a goddamned genius Nick!

Someone put him through to Peter Windsor ASAP!!

...but seriously, when's the next Wind Tunnel on? Call and tell Dave your idea, it's actually a good plan... if there's enough time to merge the two development programs without getting further behind.

Actually, its not my idea. The always reliable 'some dude on an internet forum' posted that he heard a rumor that is what is happening. None of the major F1 sites has even speculated on that (including the rumor-mongering ones) so, I don't know how likely it really is.

So? Call Dave and say it anyway. :lol:

Further rumors:
http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/8982.html

So, hopefully we'll know something soon, at least with regards to Campos.

Now it's Jack's turn to try to make a comeback. :lol:

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/formula-1-...ith-stefan-gp/

Next thing you know, we'll have Fangio's body strapped into a F1 car.

Jack and Ralf on the same team would ... my lord can you think of a less interesting driving pair?

I dunno... it'd be team schadenfreude. We could start a pool on how many times they prevent each other from scoring points.

Looks like Campos has been saved, with an official announcement eminent.

http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns22070.html

Looks like my dreams of a USF1/Campos combined team are not going to happen.

Also, the only official word from USF1 is from their official twitter account in which they state that they are not gone, and more news is coming soon.

http://twitter.com/USF1Team/status/9286348516

http://www.crash.net/f1/news/156961/...premature.html

USF1 is now in Jean Todt's hands

http://en.espnf1.com/teamus/motorsport/story/9205.html

So, I'm wrapping up the recoding of the ff1 website to support the new 10 scoring positions, and in the process I added in the ability to support drops like we did in the first year.

Is anyone interested in having drops again? I disliked the way it twisted the strategy towards just picking the same big name drivers up front that first year. But now with so many drivers that look like they can win, and additional teams and 10 picks per round, I think we can probably do 1 or 2 drops and still keep the same sort of strategy we've had the last few seasons.

What do you guys think?

Also, is everyone interested in playing again this year? It took me a lot longer to update the site than I thought it would, but it should be open this weekend some time for registrations.

I'm definitely down. I can't decide how I feel about drops.

Yes, I want to play. I am not a fan of drops, even with the 10 points position, I don't think they're necessary with the large field.

I would like to play this year too.

Dayna and I will play again this year

When do I sign up? I don't care about the drop.

I'm finishing up the registration code today. Hopefully by this evening, registration will be open.

The website is UP!

http://ff1.seccs.org/

Let me know if anyone has issues w/ registration, or anything else for that matter... nearly every line of the site was touched in the rewrite. I tested the hell out of it, but I'm sure there are still some minor bugs.

I'm in..

I'm in too.

:mad:

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/formula-1-...o-miss-season/

Will Peter Windsor at least end back up on the Speed broadcasts?

Wow, a 7 figure bond to show 'proof of their intentions to race next year.' Paying over a million dollars to not race?

I really hopes this means they can get their shit together to race next year.

The penalty for not making the grid may be in the 10's of millions... so they're probably saving at least $9M with their offer.

Is anyone having issues w/ the paypal integration?

I see two accounts created w/o paying... David (I'm assuming that's you skimonkey) and 7thBeatle (who I don't know). You guys have issues, or are you just waiting 'till later to pay?

I'm currently staying at the resort with unsecured wireless so I wasnt to keen on logging into my paypal account. I'll pay when I get back home. Dayna will sign up when we get home as well

Cool. Just wanted to make sure it was working because I only got in about 2 or 3 hours of testing in the paypal sandbox before going live. I'm not sure my code will handle every possible error condition... well it will, but just by aborting and printing an ugly error message.

Phew, lots of interesting little bits of news today.

Campos to be renamed Hispania Racing
Lotus announces sponsorship deal with CNN International
Lewis reveals his father is no longer his manager

and sadly
Peter Windsor replaced in Speed TV role

USF1 looks to be over.

http://adamcooperf1.com/2010/03/02/t...f1-entry-list/

This is a link to Adam Cooper, one of SpeedTV's F1 reporters, personal blog.

EDIT:
Other places are reporting the same news now
http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/formula-1-...actory-closes/
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81819

What a shame.

What killed them I wonder? Plain old lack of funding? You gotta think they wouldn't have had such a terrible time getting money, what with being the only US team... then again times are tough. It's just a shame if the team failed to produce a car due to some logistics or technical issue rather than a funding problem.

http://www.fia.com/en-GB/mediacentre...010_entry.aspx

FIA released the 2010 entry list.
No US F1 and no Stefan GP.

Campos changed its name to HRT F1 Team and they are the only team to not have two drivers.

And the final driver was announced today.

HRT F1 launched their car for 2010 and announced that Karun Chandhok will be Bruno Senna's teammate.

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlin...0/3/10485.html

Wow, less than 5 days before picks are due for the 1st round of 2010!

If there are folks planning on playing this year, it's time to sign up!

BTW: anyone know who "7thbeatle" is? That's not Dayna is it?

ITV had a pretty interesting look back at each year's rookie drivers from the past decade. A lot of famous names, and other names you probably already forgot.

http://www.itv-f1.com/Feature.aspx?T...47873&PO=47873

If its not Dayna, my guess would be Gavin.

Yep, I just noticed that in the paypal receipt for his payment.

You'd think things would now be over between the FIA and US F1... but its not

http://formula-one.speedtv.com/artic...ce-fia-action/

US F1 will likely face the WMSC for failure to show up for the 2010 season. Also, it looks like the bidding process for next year will have a 'reserve' team as well as one that is granted the official entry. It doesn't seem likely that US F1 will be given either the official or reserve entry for 2011.

So I was looking at the picks for Round 1... and 10 picks is a crapload of drivers to have to pay attention to.

I'm starting to second guess picking so many drivers this season. I was wondering if anyone else agrees.

I'm thinking we could wait for round 1 to be over, then change the number of picks to 5 drivers each round... I'd go back and update all the round 1 picks so everyone gets their 5 best scoring drivers from the round, and their other 5 drivers go back into their pool.

Opinions? If there's anyone strongly against a change now that the season's started, I won't make the change... but I'd really like the picks to be more easily manageable for everyone.

I concur. It seems too easy to exhuast my ten picks of the same driver this way, and less stategic.
Not that five pics is going to help me.

Scott, you may be on to something, the 10 picks feel weird, It feel like we're picking half the field. I think going to 5 would make it very challenging, in a good way

OK by me Scott, either way I'm challenged.....as with most things :-)

I'm not playing, but to mirror other "Fantasy" sports leagues, you could make it a real challenge and only pick a 2 car team. Just a thought.

Actually, when we first came up with the idea, we specifically didn't want to follow the normal fantasy model of "managing" a team. We wanted every person to be able to have a winning round at every round. Which is why we went with picking drivers per round.

I was saying 2 drivers per round with the ability to change each round as you do now. Not the whole draft/trade/whatever or worse, stuck with the same two guys all season.

Just a little stricter than your 10 or 5 driver method. Again, just thinking outloud/text.

That idea stinks, Five drivers for me please.

5 picks it is!

It took a little time to fix the picks and make sure the results look right. And we ended up with a bunch of people scoring perfect rounds, just because everyone had 10 tries to get the top 5. But I think in the long run, it's going to make the season easier to manage, and allow for closer competition.

All F1 news articles/opinions aside........Sunday's race was seriously boring

Well it was basically a practice session, so everyone could practice the new rules.

It looks like Stefan GP is done. Not just done for 2010 (we already knew that) but done done.

Their deal with Toyota for the ex-teams resources was contingent on making the grid in 2010. Since that fell through, Stefan has nothing.

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.a...48012&PO=48012

Also, it sounds like there are reports of some shady financial reports coming out of Stefan GP

http://www.f1technical.net/news/14333

It sounds like this guy almost made a team out of nothing with some serious negotiating skills. Not a bad way to get to F1 if you can swing it. And even at times, it almost sounds more plausible than other teams claims *cough*usf1*cough*