We recently broke the news that YouTube co-founder and CEO Chad Hurley had invested in the new U.S. Formula 1 Racing team USGPE (previously US F1). Now in a series of articles posted on Autosport.com, Hurley shares more details about the investment.
The most interesting article was this one, in which Hurley is quoted as saying he believes the new grand prix team can “do a YouTube” and become a huge success by doing things differently. Here’s the full quote:
“The business aspect of what attracted me to US F1 is just that, that it is a start-up. And it’s a very similar situation to one that would be in Silicon Valley. It’s a small team of talented, smart individuals trying to break the mould, trying to accomplish something that others think is impossible. I believe in Ken and Peter and the team that they have put together, and I believe that we have a chance to hopefully start from a clean slate and try to build a team in a different way.”
Hurley also said he hopes to be able to actually help the racing team “with business relationships, and helping the team with integrating technology – ways that they can leverage and benefit from social media and the Internet broadly.”
The full interview can be found here (it includes a bit about Hurley having had a conversation with Bernie Ecclestone, the primary authority in Formula One racing).
(Thanks to Darren Stuart for the tip)
Just like youtube? Losing money but being very popular?
+1
Yes, here is another bubblehead mistaking luck for brains.
If Google has not acquired Youtube, it would have run out of money and been sued to oblivion and Chad would be working at Burger King.
Indy Car !!!
+100
LOL… help F1 win with Social Networking. Bubblehead deluxe.
I think what he means is he’ll sell it to someone else – make a bucket of cash and laugh whilst the new owner bleeds money.
Exactly what I was thinking… just like YouTube: years and years, still viewed by millions of people, but still no profits in sight, still bleeding money.
Oh well.
F1 Racing
1. Costs lots of money
2. Hard to break into
3. Need unreal drivers
4. Dominated by Europeans
5. Dominated by Europeans
6. Dominated by Europeans
AND
7. Domainted by Europeans with more money, research and engineering capability who are “light years” ahead.
Did I mention Dominated by Europeans?
So what? I like the idea of the US being more involved in F1 racing (even though they already have been under the hood for decades), so that it becomes even more global. It is going to cost a lot of time and money, and F1 is definitely more about selling the dream, but one has to start somewhere. Americans were unknown on the Tour, then Greg Lemond and Lance Armstrong came. Everybody has been laughing at their World Cup efforts, but they are very slowly getting there, though they still have a long way to go.
Nice headline.
That was my first thought too. Being popular and succesful but making no dime.
Ahhahaah that was good, HIYO…
The thing is, and I hate to generalize, but american car companies/racing teams just aren’t as technical or as advanced. Compare F1 to Indycar or NASCAR.
In my opinion, the only way USF1 can succeed is if they hire some good European engineers and R&D teams.
What’s well known to the guys who started USGPE, but is not well known in general is that much, if not *most* of the R&D and engineering that ultimately goes into a Formula One car originates in the United States.
The carbon fiber for the chassis, the brake components, engine control software (written partly by Microsoft!), and on and on… All of it comes from the US.
In addition, those NASCAR teams you deride have access to more sophisticated wind tunnel and car testing facilities than manyF1 teams.
These USGPE guys specifically located their team in the US because they knew being closer to the source of much of the R&D and engineering that goes into modern F1 would give them a big cost and possibly competitive advantage.
You are joking right?
Ferrari is Italian pride. They do most of it. Although F1 is very international and great talent has no boarders.
Same with Germans – they have the best engineering and auto knowledge in the world. They don’t let anyone else touch their stuff.
Components maybe yes, but talking how everything is done US-based is plain wrong since for Ferrari, McLaren etc.
it’s all about marketing and what’s most important – their national pride.
In a sense it’s like space race on track – who has the best engineering skills ( Brawn for example this year ) and who can build the best cars. And for a while look at the public!
Check the public – Italian/German/Spain flags etc.
Their RD is based in US because it is US team.
Ferrari is backed by Ferrari. McLaren is backed by Benz. Renault is backed by Renault etc.
They do it to show off their skills and get PR. That’s it
So I present facts and you respond with “look at the flags” and you think *I’m* joking?
Why the hell should German and Italian engineers and carmakers ask advice from country that’s Government Motors went bust?
Germans have the best engineering and Italians have the best design taste. Why the hell should they make anything in the U.S?
Carmakers back them. And they are very national about that.
Where are your “facts” considering that U.S has anything to do with a sports that is run by Europeans and who’s participants are largely European carmakers?
What was the last aerodynamic and yet powerful car made in the US? I’d bet you’d say ummm……ummmm……ummmmm……ummmmm…….
does dodge viper count?
There are a bunch of BMW F1 engineers with nothing to do next year…
Why can’t they ask NASA to build them a fast car?
YouTube… as in ‘we’re losing € 470 million bucks this year buy, hey, the whole world knows who we are’-Youtube?
These guys are burning cash even faster than they’re burning rubber…
F1 Racing Team making money??
Good Luck
I would have put my money into something like Tesla Motors or another Green Technology.
all is possible, I wish them luck, but its going to be freaking hard to even earn some points and not even thinking about medals.
gosh absolutely no clue about F1…
Well… anyone can waste their money as they see fit.
Tech Crunch seems to be losing a lot of commenting as of late where are the readership going?
I just dont get this. I cant see this team troubling the likes of Ferrari for over a decade.
I have no expectations with the USF1 team. I do not think they have the technology or the drivers to compete with the existing teams in 2010.
Good luck Chad !!
Might as well buy a yacht if you think F1 is a good investment.
+1
They say that the two best days of your life are:
1) When you buy your yacht
2) When you sell it
Best of luck to US GPE, it will be great to see a US team in F1. But, there is no chance they will “do a YouTube” and become successful quickly.
F1 is about 100x more competitive than the startup world. For a start, your competitors are funded to the tune of $100M to $500M (annually!), all have been around for 10-50 years and have a single focus – win races.
Its far better to take a 5-10 year view and hope to win one race in the first 5 years and perhaps the championship in 10.
That said, I’m sure they punch-above-their-weight. Roll on 2010 and lets see what they can do!
Ian
Go Chad!
Would be nice if there were at least one race in the US on the F1 circuit.
BTW, USGPE has a deal in place to use Cosworth engines. Cosworth engines are not competitive in F1. The 2nd and 3rd tier teams use Cosworth if they can’t get (or afford) an engine supply deal with Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault, or Toyota.
FWIW, Cosworth hasn’t had an engine in Formula One for several years, so it’s hard to say whether they will or won’t be competitive.
The engines now are for more homogeneous than they were when Cosworth last competed (rev-limits, common ECU, etc.)
Umm… Cosworth has been in and out of F1 for years and in the last 20 years the result has been uncompetitive. Your point that Cosworth hasn’t been in F1 for the last couple of years (since Williams upgraded to Toyota I believe) almost guarantees that they won’t be competitive this time either.
The right engine doesn’t guarantee success (Williams has beat Toyota and Red Bull has beat Renault) but the wrong engine does sadly guarantee failure.
I guess I disagree: F1 is so aerodynamically based that the engine is a secondary concern. Witness the huge performance disparity among the teams using the same engines (3 Ferrari teams, 2 Renault teams, 2 Toyota teams, 2 Mercedes teams).
Also, Cosworth was not “in and out” of formula 1, and has been competitive in the modern era. (Rosberg set fastest laps and qualified in the top 5 in 2006).
Between F1 and Tesla, TC needs to start an automotive section.
What’s the old saying?
What’s the quickest way to become a millionaire F1 owner? Start as a Billionaire.
Wow, I love that.
Wow, good luck Chad, you are going to need it.
One common saying in Europe is: “Do you know how to make a small fortune? Start with a big one and buy an F1 team”.
In any case kudos for giving it a shot, plus I’m sure you will have tons of fun!
Please keep me up to date on everything Chad Hurley does please. To me, he is “the most interesting man in the world” I just wish he would send more tweets!
Simple adage proven over and over again in racing:
“How do you become a millionaire in racing?… You start out as a gazillionaire and get talked into joining the party.”
Fun Facts…
_ BMW announced they are quitting F1 at the end of this year citing cost issues after buying an established team in 2005. A few wins but no championships.
- Honda announced it was quitting F1 on December 5th of last year. No results to speak of.
- Toyota has been long-rumored to be leaving F1 after joining in 2002 and spending $300M per year to get… did worse than Honda.
TV time is given to front runners. Good luck…
“TV time is given to front runners.”
Exactly, and a Cosworth powered F1 team has no hope of being a front runner.
Someone explain to me why it would be in YouTube’s interest to advertise their brand on a car that runs at the back of the field. It isn’t about brand visibility because YouTube is already known by everyone who matters. Any thoughts? Is it simply because the Chad wants to hang out with the Euro crowd in the paddock?
Honda became Brawn GP…
If you don’t know who they are, they are #1 (Jenson Button) and #4 (Rubens Barrichello) in drivers’ championship. They are also #1 in constructors’ championship.
Cosworth is a legendary name in F1. Teams accepting their engines will have more engineering flexibility in other areas.
Oooooooooooooooops?
Yay! Now you can tweet from an f-1 car!
US doesn’t compete in F1 because the American public has no interest in it. Just like soccer. We dominate the things we care about.
That’s true, the American public has no interest in soccer. They also have no interest in electing politicians who can think.
More like “we care about things we dominate”.
Nothing wrong with what Chad’s doing. He’s just having fun. I just find it funny that it’s being called an “investment”.
That’s like calling a yacht an investment. It’s fun, it’s cool. But it’s no investment.
F1 is a mess of a sport right now anyways. Whoever said this guy mistook luck for brains was spot-on.
F1 – Made in America Technology – Woot
Dominated by Europeans? Webber is from Australia, Barrichello & Massa are from Brazil.
Also, there are lots of people who make lots of money in the F1.
The F1 Circus travels the world. During this the companies involved import and export cars, car parts. Invoices in and invoices out.
Very complex to control from a tax point as what is the value of a certain part before and after each race from country to country.
I dont why people complain about the lack of profits at Youtube. How the heck does that matter to us as consumers ?!
The guy created a site that’s now a top-5 site in the world. Its a great site. Everyone uses it. The world would be a worse place without it. End of story.
Banging on about start ups who don’t succeed
er…
Brawn GP ?
lets just watch this space and not make noob like assumptions.
GL HF You Tube
The team’s official name is US F1 (formerly USGPE prior to official acceptance for the 2010 season).
F1 is currently a terribly expensive sport, but the only team spending the reported $500M/yr is also the only team whose sole existence has nothing to do with road cars outside of selling them to fund their racing endeavors. Ferrari’s sole purpose for breathing is racing, not selling road cars. $500M/yr expenditures for them on developing an F1 car is equivalent to whatever operating expenses incurred by Toyota/Mc-Merc/Renault/etc. in their normal road car business.
Starting next year the teams have all agreed upon a budget cap along with concrete plans to reduce those costs even further as time goes on. The eventual goal is to reach early-90s spending levels within a couple of years.
BMW’s departure had more to do with corporate restructuring and a change in company culture than it did with money. The German car maker would rather focus on developing green technologies and solutions for its road cars, which is unfortunately not the immediate goal of F1 (i.e. lowering operating costs). KERS (kinetic energy reclamation system) was a green technology being pushed in F1, but BMW’s already had that system in development for a while. So, again, despite the current exorbitant costs of F1 it’s going to be cheaper moving forward and the cost of admission for companies like YouTube is going to drop significantly as well.
Whether US F1’s endeavors actually pay off and begin drawing more American audiences depends largely on whether Aunt Bernie brings back a USGP and how accessible he makes the sport to American audiences (right now all of the races are scheduled to meet the demands of Western Europeans).
Time will tell.
Good luck to HF and YouTube.
sorry to say but this guy needs to pull his head out and stop drinking his own koolaid. he got very lucky w/YouTube like that founder of Flickr. Without the technical expertise of his founding partner-who did most of heavy lifting btw, this guy would still be creating graphics at Paypal.
u tube sponserd by harpic down the pan an clean round the bend