Team Haas

[Crafty_]

Colin Kolles has an application in, backed by Romanian Government money apparently.

Personally I don't think he should be given an entry.

[Auntieroll]

As Bernie would say: "The more the moneyer".

Given that the rear grid positions are usually taken up by the least well funded teams it would make commercial sense to pad the grid out with as many teams as is possible, some of them are almost certain to perish in the next year or so, fresh blood is absolutely vital to keep the whole circus going.

I hope they surprise the front runners, they just might!

[slipstream 1985]

2nd string honda team would bbe of benefit to honda mclaren and the haas team imo

[slipstream 1985]

Gaz. said:

http://www.statesman.com/weblogs/formula-austin/20...


Given that he races Chevrolets in NASCAR, would GM be interested in supplying an F1 engine? Fiat are a major shareholder of Chrysler & Daimler AG own a fair proportion of the rest so I did wonder if that would have a bearing on Haas not using Ferrari & Mercedes engines for F1?

would they want the ferrari engine?

[bananaman1]

Subways to be a team sponsor maybe ?

[Crafty_]

Gaz. said:

http://www.statesman.com/weblogs/formula-austin/20...


Given that he races Chevrolets in NASCAR, would GM be interested in supplying an F1 engine? Fiat are a major shareholder of Chrysler & Daimler AG own a fair proportion of the rest so I did wonder if that would have a bearing on Haas not using Ferrari & Mercedes engines for F1?

There was talk that Haas would use a ferrari gearbox, don't know where that comes from though.

For GM to get interested they'd have to get lots of exposure in the US.. not sure, but I wouldn't discount it.

[bishbash]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if they end up with a Honda engine, it's got to make sense for Honda to hedge their bets and supply a second team and the American audience has to be a very big draw for them. However I also wouldn't be surprised if the team became Acura Hass rather than Honda Hass, in the same way it's Infinity Redbull, not Renault.

[The Hypno-Toad]

bananaman1 said:

Subway to be a team sponsor maybe ?

Interesting connection. Rumours are that they are looking to become a major F1 sponsor.

[Crafty_]

The Subway thing is interesting, because they currently sponsor "Cousin" Carl Edwards in NASCAR, who drives a Ford for Jack Roush. Haas are a rival team in the Chevrolet camp.

Just a thought... if Haas did put an ops base in Europe, potentially the UK, there's this guy who is out of work and might just get bored of going fishing every day.. at the same time there is a long time engineer who leaves his current employment at the end of the year....

I love it when a plan comes together some actor bloke said once...

[Exige77]

Think Honda Engines are exclusive to Macca for 2015.

Unlikely Haas start with one engine and change to another for the following year.

Don't think Daimler Benz are involved in Chrysler anymore. 100% Fiat.

[stevesingo]

http://plus.autosport.com/premium/feature/5972/can...

Comes accross as very confident. Possibly arrogant? I guess we will see how they get on. Getting a car to the grid is a huge undertaking, being competative is a whole world of magnitude greater.

[2fast748]

I don't understand why people are so quick to jump into bed with Dallara? When was the last time they produced a truly competitive racing car? Alex Caffi and Andrea de Cesaris drove their last decent F1 car.

[Crafty_]

2fast748 said:

I don't understand why people are so quick to jump into bed with Dallara? When was the last time they produced a truly competitive racing car? Alex Caffi and Andrea de Cesaris drove their last decent F1 car.

How many other companies could actually design & build a chassis ? Probably not many. They've got aqlot of experience in single seaters.

I was thinking about this today, Toyota are quite active in US motorsport. They also have lots of facilities in Germany - certainly enough to build a car.

What if Haas gets them involved, uses their facilities & expertise in Germany, they supply the engine and eventually the team becomes US centric ?

It'd see them up against Honda and increase their motorsport presence further.

This would delay the entry until 2016, but I think a 2015 entry is unlikely - he hasn't even got the facility in Carolina built yet and he'd have to pick up an engine deal with an existing manufacturer.

[egomeister]

Crafty_ said:

egomeister said:

While there is a lot of talent in the Charlotte area, its not F1 talent. The supplier base is geared to Nascar, and F1 requirements are different. USF1 struggled because of location before their demise. I don't see why you'd make a difficult task into a near impossible one by setting up there.

USF1 struggled because they didn't have the money or a clue what they were doing.

Haas is not stupid, Automation make sales in excess of $1 billion a year, he's run a NASCAR team for 12/13 years. He also owns one of the best wind tunnels in the world which is already in use by NASCAR, Indy and F1 teams.

My guess is the car would be designed & built in the US and operated from Europe. I wouldn't be surprised if he delays entry until 2016 though.

I wonder if he will be chasing the Merc engine deal spot when McLaren depart for Honda.

Sure, USF1 has problems with poor leadership and lack of cash, but their location hampered them massively too with difficulties in attracting experienced staff and suppliers who were used to serving the needs of an F1 team.

Some of the quotes I have read suggest to me a certain naivety about what it takes to produce a competitive F1 car - for example: "I just think we as Americans have the ability to take complex machines and figure out how to make them go fast without all the complexity. I could be wrong, but I have that gut feeling," Top F1 cars are complex because competitiveness comes from getting every little factor optimised - I just don't see how you can achieve the performance without the complexity.

[Crafty_]

Agreed, but look at NASCAR, its even harder to make a difference there because you can't change much about the body shell and the basic chassis is mandated by NASCAR. Lots of detail and small changes make the difference.. oh and money.

Automation make CNC machines, some of the best in the world, complex, precise machinery. Don't forget Windshear already have quite a bit of experience in aero too.

Haas is no fool and yeah maybe he has things to learn but to mark his organisation as another USF1 isn't naive I think.

[RobGT81]

2fast748 said:

I don't understand why people are so quick to jump into bed with Dallara? When was the last time they produced a truly competitive racing car? Alex Caffi and Andrea de Cesaris drove their last decent F1 car.

Dallara built the Audi LMPs until this year and they didn't do too badly.

[DanielSan]

The Hypno-Toad said:

Interesting connection. Rumours are that they are looking to become a major F1 sponsor.

Could that be where Mclaren have been sniffing round?

[McClure]

Exige77 said:

Think Honda Engines are exclusive to Macca for 2015.

I wonder whether Honda could renegotiate that; given the importance of the US to them I would think they would jump at the chance of being involved with a US team.

[thegreenhell]

This situation and the way he's going about it has many echoes of BAR; using a spec-chassis constructor to build him an F1 car and "beat the Europeans at their own game."

BAR, if you remember, were going to continue Reynard's tradition of winning their first race in every new category they entered, and they weren't short of funding either...

I do hope this team comes to fruition and manages to make a respectable go of it, but it does sound to me like he's rather underestimating what it takes to compete at the highest level of F1.

[revrange]

He would be better off going an buying Lotus off Genni and getting it properly funded.

Dallara chassis and F1 don't seem to mix, fear this is floored project before its begun.