Stefan GP S-01

[TheMinister]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81593
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81594

It most certainly exists, unlike certain other entries for this next season. And it's looking ever more likely that it'll be on the grid in Bahrain. So I figure it's deserving of a proper car thread.

But what do we know about it? It's the toyota design for this year's car. It's supposedly going to be driven by Nakajima (and maybe Jaques). And it's (autosport typo) namesake, the Stewart SF01, had something of a reliability hoodoo- 8 finishes out of a possible 34.

Who has gossip? Pictures? Anything? Details other than the fact it has a working engine seem to be very hard to come by.

(if this is too soon, feel free to move it mods- but I'm going to stay optimistic over it)

[bill shoe]

Good time to start this thread.

I have to respect Stefan GP. It looks like their ballsy gambit will probably work. They will race in 2010 despite not yet having an entry. The FIA will have to let them compete in order to quickly sweep under the rug the fact that the FIA chose the wrong teams in the initial 2009 selection process (i.e. USF1, Campos).

In the big picture I think the FIA's selection failure is not due to bad judgements on their part, but rather to the top-down nature of the selection process. That is, if I was in the FIA's position last year I am not confident that I would have picked the winners vs losers any better.

The best process would have been some kind of bottom-up / natural-selection to determine who gets in. This could involve auctioning off the spots, or perhaps saying that the top two GP2 teams are eligible to advance into F1 the following season. However, the mindset in F1 (as in many things in the world right now) is that authorities must decide winners and losers.

Again, congrats to Stefan. Their plan looks kind of obvious in hindsight, but having the balls to push the buttons and actually go through with it is really quite remarkable. I do not buy team clothes, gear, etc, but I think I might make an exception for Stefan. I think I am their second fan (after TheMinister).

[outer_bongolia]

I had read somewhere that Stephan was going to use the Toyota engines. Guessing that they have enough of a supply for this year, they would need to look for a new source for 2011.

Do you think Toyota will actually continue producing engines for customer teams if this experiment goes well?

[Dukeage]

Only if they're competitive, and supposedly it wasn't the best engine to have last year.

[WhiteBlue]

The best process would have been some kind of bottom-up / natural-selection to determine who gets in. This could involve auctioning off the spots, or perhaps saying that the top two GP2 teams are eligible to advance into F1 the following season. However, the mindset in F1 (as in many things in the world right now) is that authorities must decide winners and losers.

You don't need to worry about that in the future. The power play between FiA and FOTA was partly over the right to decide who gets an entry. The 2009 scenario is sperseded since they all signed up for the 2009 concord agreement. The next time there is a new team admittance issue the process will run according to the concord agreement.

As usual this is secret and I bet it will be even less effective than the FiA action last year. What good will it do to put the entry decision in the hands of fat cats like Montezemolo who will enter third cars by the top teams to eliminate any competitor even of the scale of Super Aguri or Campos.

Such decisions are best made by the FiA which will benefit the sport as a whole. We can thank Max for bringing Cosworth back so that F1 can survive even if Mercedes pulls out. This btw is a real danger. If they don't win they will pull out as Zetsche said. I don't even want to think about F1 with Ferrari and a shaky Renault as the sole engine suppliers. Pretty soon all the races would be decided by team orders before they even switch off the lights.

Back to the Stefan car and team. It looks like all the bad apples will end up in one basket. Stefanovic who obviously has bribed a bankrupt and corrupt Serbian government to sink public funds into the team, Mike Caughlan who deals in industrial espionage and Chad Hurley who seems to love back stabbing more than any other type of business.

[bill shoe]

The best process would have been some kind of bottom-up / natural-selection to determine who gets in. This could involve auctioning off the spots, or perhaps saying that the top two GP2 teams are eligible to advance into F1 the following season. However, the mindset in F1 (as in many things in the world right now) is that authorities must decide winners and losers.

You don't need to worry about that in the future. The power play between FiA and FOTA was partly over the right to decide who gets an entry. The 2009 scenario is sperseded since they all signed up for the 2009 concord agreement. The next time there is a new team admittance issue the process will run according to the concord agreement.

As usual this is secret and I bet it will be even less effective than the FiA action last year. What good will it do to put the entry decision in the hands of fat cats like Montezemolo who will enter third cars by the top teams to eliminate any competitor even of the scale of Super Aguri or Campos.

Such decisions are best made by the FiA which will benefit the sport as a whole. We can thank Max for bringing Cosworth back so that F1 can survive even if Mercedes pulls out. This btw is a real danger. If they don't win they will pull out as Zetsche said. I don't even want to think about F1 with Ferrari and a shaky Renault as the sole engine suppliers. Pretty soon all the races would be decided by team orders before they even switch off the lights.

Back to the Stefan car and team. It looks like all the bad apples will end up in one basket. Stefanovic who obviously has bribed a bankrupt and corrupt Serbian government to sink public funds into the team, Mike Caughlan who deals in industrial espionage and Chad Hurley who seems to love back stabbing more than any other type of business.

You know, there's something true in what you say. Perhaps they should be called Scoundrels and Thiefs F1 Team. I love them anyway. They're exposing the bad decisions of the control freaks in charge of F1. They're rebels without an entry. How cool is that? F1 needs more thumbs in the eye of power. I'm an even bigger fan of Stefan GP now.

[andartop]

You don't need to worry about that in the future. The power play between FiA and FOTA was partly over the right to decide who gets an entry. The 2009 scenario is sperseded since they all signed up for the 2009 concord agreement. The next time there is a new team admittance issue the process will run according to the concord agreement.

As usual this is secret and I bet it will be even less effective than the FiA action last year. What good will it do to put the entry decision in the hands of fat cats like Montezemolo who will enter third cars by the top teams to eliminate any competitor even of the scale of Super Aguri or Campos.

Such decisions are best made by the FiA which will benefit the sport as a whole. We can thank Max for bringing Cosworth back so that F1 can survive even if Mercedes pulls out. This btw is a real danger. If they don't win they will pull out as Zetsche said. I don't even want to think about F1 with Ferrari and a shaky Renault as the sole engine suppliers. Pretty soon all the races would be decided by team orders before they even switch off the lights.

Back to the Stefan car and team. It looks like all the bad apples will end up in one basket. Stefanovic who obviously has bribed a bankrupt and corrupt Serbian government to sink public funds into the team, Mike Caughlan who deals in industrial espionage and Chad Hurley who seems to love back stabbing more than any other type of business.

I won't comment on the "this is secret, but I bet it will be even less effective.." bit.

I won't comment on the "we can thank Max..." bit either.

I won't even comment on the "all the races will be decided by team orders..." bit.

I take all these to be your personal opinions, which you are of course entitled to.

The bit that brought tears of laughter in my eyes though I have to comment on: "Stefanovic who obviously has bribed a bankrupt and corrupt Serbian government to sink public funds into the team..."

And my comment goes like this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co ... ernal_debt

[axle]

I had read somewhere that Stephan was going to use the Toyota engines. Guessing that they have enough of a supply for this year, they would need to look for a new source for 2011.

Do you think Toyota will actually continue producing engines for customer teams if this experiment goes well?

I *believe* they are selling ~20 engines they had ready for 2010 in a one off deal as no other engine would fit so late in the day. In return, a load of engineers from Toyota keep their jobs and Kazuki Nakajima gets another drive.

It's a good deal for both sides as Toyota shifts some next to useless (to them) equipment on and keeps its engineers in a job. And StefanGP get a complete package with out much outlay.

Now we just need USF1 to do the honourable thing and pull out in the next week and let SGP get on with it.

However, that's just for this year, I would then expect that the 13th slot would be back up for grabs again for 2011 and SGP would have to "win" it's continued participation as right now it would only get a place because it's the ONLY team that can step in at such late notice.

[Richard]

Yes, lets have a thread about the car.

Speculation about corruption, collusion and formation of the team belong in the thread about the team ...

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7797 .

[mith]

It's the end for Stefan GP.

Stefan Grand Prix's hopes of getting on the grid in 2010 as Team US F1's replacement suffered a blow on Wednesday night, when the FIA announced only 12 teams on its 2010 entry list.

[...]

"Having considered the various options, the FIA confirms that it is not possible for a replacement team to be entered for the Championship at this late stage," the FIA said.

Any reason, why? My bet is that it's because Stefanovic sued FIA after he wasn't accepted for the starts in their first attempt during summer.

Safety reasons would be silly, cause I really don't see why Campos vel Hispania Racing can start without testing and Stefan with a class better Toyota's car wouldn't be able to do so.

I don't like the FIA politics at all. First of all, I really don't get, why established teams with knowledge like Prodrive wasn't accepted but total rookie Campos or Anderson was.

I don't want to accuse anybody without proves, but it can smell corruption and personal deals from miles

Here's full article: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81828

[horse]

It's the end for Stefan GP.

Shame. Death of the Toyota chassis, also?

[mx_tifoso]

Any reason, why? My bet is that it's because Stefanovic sued FIA after he wasn't accepted for the starts in their first attempt during summer.

Read the other Stefan GP thread, this is covered extensively in there.

Basically they were never in the original list of the accepted tenders for 2010. They weren't part of that list so they now have to enter a tender for 2011. No ifs, ands, or buts.

The FIA don't want to allow their selection process to be made a fool of. Either play by their rules or go home, and rightly so.

[scarbs]

From Adam Coopers blog, we can see the car has an under roll structure and from 2009 Friday testing we can assume it has a 'V' nose.

http://adamcooperf1.com/2010/03/01/d-da ... ear-delay/

[RacingManiac]

except the process was made fool of by the selected entrants themselves...

[mx_tifoso]

except the process was made fool of by the selected entrants themselves...

True, but that was out of the FIA's hands. They can do whatever they want with someone who is not in their little circle, just say no, period.