Peter Windsor back in the F1 circus

[xpensive]

Wouldn't we like to think that when you have opened a new thread you are in charge of what can be posted on it?

I opened a thread yesterday thinking that it should be contain posts about "most important technical developments",
but what do you know, one member could not resist using it to suit his quest of never being in the wrong. Never ever.

But as long as we're not moderators, we cannot control a thread's content just because we opened it.

[gibells]

One thing I will say is that GP Week is an excellent publication (if you can call it that). It has several in depth snippets others don't have, and with the quality of Sutton Images it makes an excellent read. It also covers Rallying and my other motorsport love- MotoGP. It's very impressive, combined with the fact it's out early Monday morning.

You can't say fairer than that.

[xpensive]

This is xactly why it's so unfathomable that GP Week show faith in this self-documented scoundrel gibells,
someone who makes Andrea Sasetti look like a very serious team-manager.

Perhaps they should ask Pechito Lopez and the Argentinian president what they think?

[segedunum]

I would think it would be impossible to judge the credibility of Peter Windsor's current and future ventures without looking at his past ones.

[EricB]

I, for one, welcome Windsor back to the F1 Circus. I agree with jwielage - I really miss him as a commentator on SpeedTV. (no comment on Will Buxton) I'm sure there were errors made in the USF1 project, but I also have to imagine that when Bernie writes you off and your sponsors follow suit, it's hard to make up that lost ground. I also don't want to turn this into another USF1 thread, but I'm using that example to say that maybe he's not the total buffoon that many people have made him out to be.

[aral]

I, for one, welcome Windsor back to the F1 Circus. I agree with jwielage - I really miss him as a commentator on SpeedTV. (no comment on Will Buxton) I'm sure there were errors made in the USF1 project, but I also have to imagine that when Bernie writes you off and your sponsors follow suit, it's hard to make up that lost ground. I also don't want to turn this into another USF1 thread, but I'm using that example to say that maybe he's not the total buffoon that many people have made him out to be.

You seem to be forgetting that a lot of people lost their jobs and also a lot of money, with suppliers being put out of business. Add to that the fact that families suffered huge disruption and financial loss, due to having to move and then being dropped.
Windsor is reported to have made quite a lot of cash from his so-called input to USF1. So, after destroying lives, how can he be taken seriously?

[RH1300S]

I, for one, welcome Windsor back to the F1 Circus. I agree with jwielage - I really miss him as a commentator on SpeedTV. (no comment on Will Buxton) I'm sure there were errors made in the USF1 project, but I also have to imagine that when Bernie writes you off and your sponsors follow suit, it's hard to make up that lost ground. I also don't want to turn this into another USF1 thread, but I'm using that example to say that maybe he's not the total buffoon that many people have made him out to be.

You are being kind - but an outbreak of kindness wouldn't hurt. We all make mistakes. TBH if, in due course, it turns out that Windsor did his very best and didn't set out to defraud then he deserves another go.

I had always enjoyed reading his articles in the past - didn't always agree with him, but his love for the sport was obvious.

[xpensive]

I, for one, welcome Windsor back to the F1 Circus. I agree with jwielage - I really miss him as a commentator on SpeedTV. (no comment on Will Buxton) I'm sure there were errors made in the USF1 project, but I also have to imagine that when Bernie writes you off and your sponsors follow suit, it's hard to make up that lost ground. I also don't want to turn this into another USF1 thread, but I'm using that example to say that maybe he's not the total buffoon that many people have made him out to be.

You are being kind - but an outbreak of kindness wouldn't hurt. We all make mistakes. TBH if, in due course, it turns out that Windsor did his very best and didn't set out to defraud then he deserves another go.

I had always enjoyed reading his articles in the past - didn't always agree with him, but his love for the sport was obvious.

The problem is the SOB's credibility, he was writing all those bs-stories on the USF1 web-site, telling everything was hunky dory until the bitter end, though he must have known all the time that were not even close to complete a chassis.

Still he went to Argentina in January to meet with the president and accepted 800 000 USD, afterwhich poor Pechito Lopez goes to Charlotte only to find they didn't have as much as a tub for a seat fitting!

[RH1300S]

Perhaps I should have used a bigger IF

But the truth certainly isn't out yet

[conni]

I can tell u this He insisted on the usf1 car NOT having power steering so instead of a lock 2 lock of 180deg it was more than 360deg

conni

[WhiteBlue]

I agree that Windsor seems to be very motivated and F1 seems to be his life. His piece in GPWeek about Hungary wasn't so bad. I don't necessarily agree with everything he writes but that is true for many writers. Unless fraud is actually established by legal means I think that he should not be condemned for his role in USF1. IMO it is quite possible that he was just out of his depth and not in for by bad intentions. I will give him the benefit of doubt until he is proven guilty.

[rsfocus]

This GP Week emag is brand new, first publication was March 15, 2010. The man in charge is Chris Lambden, who runs the Australian magazine "Australian Autosport News". It appears Windsor has also involved Sutton Images.

I wonder if Windsor is able to even show his face at a race.

Although I respect Lambden and Sutton Images, it's a shame they are involved in one more of Windsor's clown acts.

i think if you look a little deeper GPWeek has been around a lot longer than march this year. From memory 2008? could have even been mid to late 2007? cant remember now. It came out of a local mag here called Motorsport News, which was a print mag for a number of years but then went digital (free at first like GPWeek) but then when GPWeek was released Motorsport News became subscrition. if you dont beleive me about it being older than March this year i can email you copies of nearly all of last years issues, i'm sure they are still saved on my computer here at work...

back on topic, wasnt Windsor team manager or something at Williams in its golden age? as in early 90's. He might not be able to run his own team (personally Anderson was the one there who had no idea of F1, putting your son in as tech director with no f1 experience of any sort!) but he must know something about F1, it's not as if he hasnt been around long enough.

[EricB]

Good point on the stories on the website being misleading; that is true. Malicious or just trying to salvage sponsor deals that fell through as a result of Bernie and (mainly) the British press who were writing them off from the word 'go'? I'm not sure, and we may never hear all of both sides. I *am* sure that if Windsor was out to "destroy lives" there were probably far easier ways to do it than starting an F1 team. For me, it was always nicer to hear him speak about the team diplomatically than to hear Ken Anderson imply that he was flat smarter than everyone else. Not that the whole USF1 failure wasn't any of his doing, but I'm curious as to how little or much was due to his mistakes. Perhaps this just sucks more for me because I live in the States...

[zeph]

I can't see why GPWeek is doing this

We're talking about them, and many of us who have never previously been to the GPWeek site may go on to read the articles.

That's me!

bait, hook, line and sinker

[xpensive]

Again, my point is that until the bitter end, Windsor wrote on the USF1 web-site that everything was going just fine,
when it was all too obvious they were nowhere, why it should be difficult to take him seriously.