First US F1 car to be ready in October

Team US F1 expects to have its new car ready by the end of October, as it ramps up its efforts to be on the Formula 1 grid next year

Work at the team's Charlotte factory has been pressing on following confirmation of the squad's 2010 entry, and team principal Ken Anderson has revealed that the design of the new car is well advanced.

"Quite a lot of it is ready to manufacture," Anderson told AUTOSPORT. "The chassis is locked down, because we were waiting to hear if the [Cosworth] engine rev limit was 20,000rpm or 18,000rpm.

"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."

Anderson has said that the confirmation of the team's 2010 entry has allowed it to push ahead with the ordering of machinery it needed, which in turn will mean a recruitment drive can now get underway.

"We were only approved a few weeks ago and it wasn't prudent to order $5 million of machines until we were there," he said. "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."

Team US F1 is expected to confirm in the next few weeks that it has secured investment from YouTube co-founder and current chief executive officer Chad Hurley.

The outfit is also close to a deal to use the Spanish Aragon track as its European base.

"It looks like it," said Anderson. "It is not signed or sealed though. We are evaluating there and Paul Ricard.

"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, or at Paul Ricard, and run all the time."