USF1 starts YouTube channel

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YouTube CEO Chad Hurley joined USF1 back in August but until now we’ve not seen much in the way of what that means for the team.

There was talk of how USF1 would open up to fans in new ways using technologies like YouTube. That took a step closer to reality today as the team launched its official YouTube channel, which Hurley broadcast via his Twitter account.

There are three videos up there at the moment including the one above plus interviews with Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor. This one shows time-elapse footage of the factory being prepared and a chassis being built.

USF1 are the only team yet to announce either of their 2010 F1 drivers – are they planning to use YouTube to do it?

View the official USF1 YouTube page here

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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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40 comments on “USF1 starts YouTube channel”

  1. Prisoner Monkeys
    24th December 2009, 9:05

    Nay-sayers take note.

    Lets hope the actual team is as professional as that video was.

  2. Good vid ,i hope they are competitive and not just rolling chicane’s

  3. A nice vid and good to actually hear/see some progress from them.

  4. They’ve italicised the ‘F1’ part of their logo since the original was released. Looks nice.

    Always amazing to see how our favourite types of car are made too.

  5. I think Bernie is a very clever man. Im sure he fully expects USF1 to be on the grid next year, he just wanted to provoke a reaction with his “they wont be on the grid” comments and get them to prove us wrong. And out of this we have the youtube channel :) nicely done indeed!

  6. I will be glad if You Tube can put old F1 race video in their web as now they are sponsoring F1

    1. Good point!

    2. I don’t think Chad Hurley is getting his “side project” and his work mixed up. He doesn’t even own youtube, since he sold it to google for 1.65 billion. I guess we will just wait and see.

  7. There is no doubt that usf1 will be on grid come race 1.

  8. Interesting vid. Great to watch. They haven’t sorted team uniform yet though, the football shirts give it a bit of an amateur feel!

  9. Hmm…I’m surprised by the postive reaction to this video. At least we’ve finally heard from them again after 3 months of silence, but like Jeff above says it does look a bit amateurish.

    The video suggests they’ve rented some small warehouse, dragged a few people in off the streets and started building car pieces. Looks a bit like a garage project to me…

    1. and how many f1 teams have you led?

      1. @ Ned

        It’s nice to finally have heard from them and see them going through with their promise.

        About the warehouse looking like a garage project…let’s not criticize just to criticize.

      2. F1Yankee, I’ve not led any F1 teams funnily enough… not quite sure what has to do with anything though.

        Don’t get me wrong, I’m not exactly anti American or anything, I just think this team will bomb on current evidence. I hope I’m wrong though

    2. First, I remember reading that this ‘small warehouse’ this ‘garage project’ is taking place in was the facility for one of the NASCAR teams (I don’t remember which one). So its not exactly like they put this in an old abandoned storage building.

      More importantly, I have been around a few of these type of operations. The equipment they were showing is exactly what I would expected to see. Personally, I don’t care what color they painted the walls, the style of the furniture, what’s hanging up for decor. This is about racing, not interior decorating.

      1. It was previously owned by Joe Gibbs Racing, who have won a few Sprint Cup Championships and a slew of races in the past few years. While the place has apparently undergone a complete revamp, hopefully some of the good luck was left behind by the former owners :)

    3. Also, if that video looked like a garage project to you, invite me over sometime. I’ve never met someone who had several CNC machines, the capability to make scale foam models, and produce a carbon fiber body panel. With those kinds of toys it would be quite a garage project!

    4. Honestly Ned, what do you expect to see? A bunch of little green men in shiny suits with plasma ray guns? ;)

      The place has four walls, a roof, lighting, and- one presumes- water and sewer service. It may not be the McLaren Technology Center, but it seems to suit their purposes quite well.

    5. It’s not about what the guys look like or even what the workshop looks like, it’s about the knowledge and skills that the people working in the workshop have. I think it’s quite exciting the approach they are taking, and I hope it works, and they are successful.

    6. Hey, all you Yanks seem to take offence to what I have to say about USF1. I’m sorry, but I see nothing to share your confidence. Obviously, it’s hardly a garage, but by F1 standards it isn’t going to be enough. Even small teams such as Force India have half decent facilities.

      I even watched the video again to see if I was wrong first time round… but I’m afraid to me it still looks more MTV Pimp my Ride than Formula 1 team

      1. No offense taken from an American standpoint- I am an American and see no bias in what you say. But how do you know all about the facilities at these other places? So what if the guys aren’t all decked out in McLaren-style shirts- to me, all that matters is that the car shows up and runs well :)

      2. I’m with Ned here. They seem to be running Windows Vista $:)

      3. I (a Californian) don’t find offense in your opinions and think your comments unwittingly speak more to superficial cultural differences in approach and desired appearances than anything else.

        Like you Ned, I expect USF1 to struggle mightily as any new team would (and should) if the stalwarts of the sport are doing their jobs.

        However, unlike you, their struggles will not be because of their lack of nifty shop uniforms or the fact they’re housed in a 40k sq. foot dry-walled facilty (versus a glass walled uber-shop overlooking a man made lake).

        Rather, it’s much more simple. That is, COMMON SENSE tells us they’ll struggle as a newbie start-up in an immensely competitive business/sport with an enormously steep technological learning curve. It’s how they respond to challenges as the season progresses and beyond that will be the true measure of their success or failure. Inanimate uniforms and year one garage facilities will have very little to do with it..that much is certain.

  10. Although they are one of the new teams on the block with little (none?) F1 experience, I hope they do well. Granted, I’ve only been a fan of this sport for less than a year, I think this is a great move away from NASCAR and Indycar Racing for America.

    1. Agreed, and I hope for many years to come.

  11. Pedel to the Vettel
    25th December 2009, 0:02

    Yer i agree with ned it does look abit like a garage project with the small warhouse and the lack of USF1 colours and the old MTV pimp my ride feel to it. But I dont judge a book by it’s cover hope you do well in you first season because it gets boring beating brazilains :p

  12. Pedel to the Vettel
    25th December 2009, 0:28

    But USF1 fans should look at Mclarens base thats what the real big teams have.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tah3ciWHWE&feature=related
    Red bull racing have the concord wind tunnel which makes USF1 look like little poor people lol.

    1. The amazing building isn’t what makes the cars go fast. It’s the brains and the knowledge of the engineers that work for the team that make the cars go fast. Engineering design is undertaken on computers using calculations and science. That stuff can be done anywhere, an amazing building doesn’t make people smarter. USF1 look as if they have an appropriate workshop to build two cars, which is all they need. Lets see how they go first before knocking them as having no chance.

      1. Pedel to the Vettel
        26th December 2009, 20:26

        yer it does lol thats why they have the building in the first place because they are smart lol. And thats why they have bigger, faster and more accurate computers then USF1 does.

        1. Yeah, no, McLaren have the big massive impressive building because they have existed as a team for about 47 years. When Bruce McLaren started the team in 1963 that they didn’t have anything like the McLaren Technology Centre.

          The McLaren Technology Centre was only finished in 2003, 40 years after the team was first started, and cost 300 million pounds to build.

          Why would a new team spend 300 million pounds on a headquarters, when that 300 million pounds could be used on something more worthwhile, like I dunno, designing a car that is fast. Maybe in 40 years, USF1, if successful might have an equally as impressive headquarters.

          Finally I’m not sure if you understand how design engineering work, but the computers are just a tool, like a hammer is to carpenter. It’s the people operating the tool that determine whether the end result is any good. In the right hands a $50 hammer can produce results equally as good as $100 hammer. Same goes with engineers using computers and software packages. To me it sounds like USF1 might just know how to effectively use the tools that they have.

  13. Good too see some progress from them but am thinking there a little bit behind. If they only have CF modles been built while lotus has a ful scale wind tunnel program in op then there behind or sure

    I just want to see 4 new teams on the grid with some spiced uped racing. Don’t care what there called as long as there on the grid

  14. For all you people talking about wind tunnels, I have two things to add:

    1. Wake up and perhaps do a very little bit of research on the USF1 project. If you do, you’ll discover that the team is using the Windshear wind tunnel facility- located in Charlotte, described as the best of it’s kind in the world, and has been used by several F1 teams in the last few seasons. I know some people may have a hard time believing that such an advanced piece of auto racing technology could be designed and built here in America, but go and ask the various teams that have been at the place latley.

    With so much technology related to the auto racing industry already located in the area, USF1 has little need to incorporate as much equipment at their facility as other teams. It is a tremendous cost savings, and creates work for the local economy. Again, I can’t blame you if your team is beaten by what you may view as a ragtag operation, but I admire the new way of doing business that the team is using.

    2. If the wind tunnel is such a big deal, why aren’t all of you throwing up a fuss at Vrigin/Manor for desiging their car without using any wind tunnel at all?

    1. You are 100% right! The USF1 team is located in an area where Some of the best race cars in the world are tested and where companys that most of F1 teams all over the world buy from and work with. Its funny how they wanna bash The USF1 team about the stuff they have in their shops but have we seen the new teams shops? I will bet that their shops look the same or not even as nice. Maybe you guys should look at the other teams then come back and make your comments. Like the guy before me said some of the teams are not even doing wind tunnel testing. In F1 terms thats crazy right? Talk about a ragtag operation what kinda F1 team don’t do wind tunnel testing? I would love to hear you guys answer to that and also answer to why if they are such a ragtag group why do F1 teams come from all over the world to test on some of the equipment they are using? I would love to hear an answer to that. Just watch and see when the other new teams cant keep up or does just as good i wanna know what all you people have to say then bc it will be funny bc you will not have a single thing to say then

  15. Prisoner Monkeys
    25th December 2009, 12:24

    The USF1 website has also had a major overhaul. There’s a lot of content in there, and we’ve got some renders of a car to match. It actually looks quite aggressive. A lot of potential doubts about the team have at least been assuaged.

  16. Good to see something from USF1 – finally. Their factory looks decent and they are definetely builing F1 cars there. Of course, this is somewhat smaller than what you see from other teams, but don’t forget that they are a new team. On their Website they are also saying where they are doing wind tunnel testing etc. (http://www.usgpe.com/blog.html) – I like the idea of putting the actual car in a full-scale wind tunnel next door – from a cost-cutting perspective this makes sense. Now I’m thinking that we’ll actually see 26 cars next year!

  17. Between Ken Anderson & Peter Windsor there is a lot of business acumen and a lot of Formula 1 experience. I’m sanguine about them getting the car to the grid. Heck, it might even start.

    As others have said, their approach to car building, or even housing/operating the team, may be different from the classical F1 model. But Americans tend to think that form follows function, and to build a car that runs on petrol and motor oil, they tend to think more in terms of cinder block walls and concrete floors for their garages, rather than glass and porcelain & alabaster(though I admit the Macca digs are quite pretty).

    Their facility is, I’m sure, smaller than Macca’s, but as GMan & others so rightly point out, the area in which they have located is rife with automotive specialty companies & facilities. (As well as some very nice lakes.) The Windshear wind tunnel facility, for those of you who don’t know, is one of the premier facilities in the world, the only rolling-road wind tunnel in the Americas, and one of only three such facilities in the world.

    I think US-F1 is in good hands, and I’ll trust Ken and Peter to get it to the grid. And I’m sure Peter will remind the boys to not scratch their bums or pick their noses in the paddock–well, at least not while the cameras are on.

  18. admittedly, the one thing i would change is the lack of uniforms. i don’t expect that to impact the final product, but at this point presentation is everything. if it were me, i would have invested a few hundred dollars on some USF1 t-shirts.

  19. maestrointhesky
    30th December 2009, 12:55

    Let’s hope their cars stay together better than the US tracks that have been used for F1!

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