Dupont F1

GwilymJJames · Post by **GwilymJJames** » 31 Mar 2013, 13:34

So this is weird.

http://www.dupontf1.com/

Seems to be counting down to 11 o clock tomorrow. Caption "Not just another team".

Could we have a new team for 2014? Pedro de la Rosa seems to think so...

EDIT: Tomorrow is, of course, April Fool's Day. I do hope this isn't one of those stupid things.

Meatwad · Post by **Meatwad** » 31 Mar 2013, 13:41

I did some research and found that this site is owned by someone named Julia Wurz!

http://whois.domaintools.com/dupontf1.com

Julia Wurz also happens to be the name of Alexander "1049" Wurz's wife.

It could be a coincidence but I don't think so.

EDIT: It doesn't seem to be an actual F1 team but a book written by Julia Wurz called "SuperEgo" where Vincent Dupont is the boss of a fictional F1 team.
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/juliawurz

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 31 Mar 2013, 14:51

Meatwad wrote:I did some research and found that this site is owned by someone named Julia Wurz!

http://whois.domaintools.com/dupontf1.com

Julia Wurz also happens to be the name of Alexander "1049" Wurz's wife.

It could be a coincidence but I don't think so.

EDIT: It doesn't seem to be an actual F1 team but a book written by Julia Wurz called "SuperEgo" where Vincent Dupont is the boss of a fictional F1 team.
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/juliawurz

In all honesty, Mrs Wurz scares me. Perhaps even more than her husband does.
One quick look at her twitter reveals a lot about her.

She refers to her children by assigned numbers instead of names. She makes horrible threats to certain F1 drivers, wishing them to suffer and look like Niki Lauda.
And smiles about it.
She is a Nazi of sorts.
She has a son at the age of 10. I do hope that doesn't entail anything cult-like.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 31 Mar 2013, 16:14

Expecting Dupont's chief rival to be Dupond???

Post by **tommykl** » 31 Mar 2013, 16:49

dr-baker wrote:Expecting Dupont's strangely similar-looking associate to be Dupond???

Fixed.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 31 Mar 2013, 19:57

tommykl wrote:
dr-baker wrote:Expecting Dupont's strangely similar-looking associate to be Dupond???

Fixed.

Ahh, yes, of course. :oops:

Sorry...

Backmarker · Post by **Backmarker** » 31 Mar 2013, 22:28

Delaware's first F1 team? Big sponsor!

Anyway, really it's advertising for Julia Wurz's Mary Sue book.

SuperEgo by Julia Wurz wrote:Stylish, successful, and king of the soundbite, Vincent Dupont is Formula 1’s team boss extraordinaire. For Kate Ellison, landing the job as press officer for a top F1 team is career gold. But in a world of colossal egos, Machiavellian politics, and a well-informed and omnipresent media, is Vincent's cold-blooded approach her only recourse?

Julia Wurz was press officer at Benetton...suspiciously similar to this Kate Ellison character!

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 01 Apr 2013, 02:32

Quite honestly, I think this "DuPont F1" thing may be valid. I see the roots of this team going back to 2003. Any of you know/remember Montoya and Gordon doing a seat swap F1 vs NASCAR? DuPont may have been planing this team since then, with possibly Gordon as an investor. Gordon has also been driving a Chevrolet powered car, which has been sponsored by DuPont for most of his career, and Chevy runs V6 turbo engines in IndyCar as well. If Chevy is running a V6 in IndyCar, then they may plan an F1 team to compete with one of their engines.

As for DuPont coming into F1, I think they may possibly buy HRT's failed F1 team, and possibly save HRT from rejectdom.

Wasn't de la Rosa a test driver for Williams back then in 2003 as well? He might think this team is going to happen because DuPont could have already confirmed him as a driver. It will be interesting to see what happens.

inoue3210 · Post by **inoue3210** » 01 Apr 2013, 04:47

i just think its a asvertisement for some book but i hope its real and scorpion is alive after all

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 01 Apr 2013, 07:47

go_Rubens wrote:As for DuPont coming into F1, I think they may possibly buy HRT's failed F1 team, and possibly save HRT from rejectdom.

Except that HRT's assets - if they can be called that - have already been sold to Teo Matin, a Spanish entrepeneur specialising in recycling. Even if this "Dupont F1" team could acquire those assets, they'd be useless: the HRT F112 was designed around a Cosworth engine, and Cosworth are not building an engine for the 2014 season. It would be an exercise in pontlessness for anyone to buy those cars in the hopes of starting up a team. About the only thing they had of value was an entry, but when the team failed to find a buyer, it defaulted to the FIA.

For all intents and purposes, HRT F1 is dead.

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 01 Apr 2013, 08:20

Captain Hammer wrote:For all intents and purposes, HRT F1 is dead.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 01 Apr 2013, 09:19

It's very likely that it is an April's fool joke. Let's just sit back and enjoy it.

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 01 Apr 2013, 09:23

Update; Autosport are in on the joke.

GwilymJJames · Post by **GwilymJJames** » 01 Apr 2013, 09:47

It seems like an April Fool's Joke,with the one problem that it's not remotely funny.

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 01 Apr 2013, 09:56

Dupont F1

Team Principal

Team Manager

Driver 1

Driver 2

Managing Director

Technical Director

Sporting Director

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 01 Apr 2013, 09:58

GwilymJJames wrote:It seems like an April Fool's Joke,with the one problem that it's not remotely funny.

I get the feeling it's a product placement masquerading as an April Fool's Joke...

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 01 Apr 2013, 09:58

Stramala [kostas22] wrote:Update; Autosport are in on the joke.

GwilymJJames wrote:It seems like an April Fool's Joke,with the one problem that it's not remotely funny.

Hence, maybe, why it's under Autosport's soft news classification. But I found this interesting:

The driver line-up is expected to feature an ex-world champion and a promising rookie.

Which would put paid to the Docklands Light Railway theory above, but is likely to reintroduce... Jacques Villeneuve, hence the allegedFrench connections?

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 01 Apr 2013, 10:11

Umm, I've just Googled Dupont F1, and the result was, umm, somewhat interesting. Their website was not on the first page of results, but the second result is, let's say, well-known to some people round here...

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 01 Apr 2013, 10:34

dr-baker wrote:
Stramala [kostas22] wrote:Update; Autosport are in on the joke.
GwilymJJames wrote:It seems like an April Fool's Joke,with the one problem that it's not remotely funny.

Hence, maybe, why it's under Autosport's soft news classification. But I found this interesting:
The driver line-up is expected to feature an ex-world champion and a promising rookie.

Which would put paid to the Docklands Light Railway theory above, but is likely to reintroduce... Jacques Villeneuve, hence the allegedFrench connections?

It seems Jacques Villeneuve is always a favourite for new teams rumours...

2136 Autosport F1 news wrote:A new F1 team might be unveiled today in order to enter F1 next year. Some group of people have been quietly behind the scenes grabbing financial back-up and hiring staff. As for the drivers it seems the team looks forward to put the urn containing the ashes of an ex-world champion in one of their cars and some young talentless hotshot who regardless and somehow has plenty of sponsorship money. Despite this, blah blah blah...

Also, is it any possible to make a stealth staff hiring these days? And manage sponsorship of sorts when not even some existing teams can do it? Still looking forward to see the joke unfold in amusing fashion. By the way, according to some dude in the F1Technical forum thread about this 'team' it is the teaser image from the presentation of the McLaren MP4-27 but reversed and in blue that they are using!

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 01 Apr 2013, 10:56

Oh well, nothing happened. I thought it would be more elaborated, really. Disappointing...

GwilymJJames · Post by **GwilymJJames** » 01 Apr 2013, 10:57

Dupontf1.com wrote:Not just an F1 team... but a novel about Vincent Dupont and his F1 Team

Right, well at least I know what book I'm never going to buy.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 01 Apr 2013, 11:00

GwilymJJames wrote:
Dupontf1.com wrote:Not just an F1 team... but a novel about Vincent Dupont and his F1 Team

Right, well at least I know what book I'm never going to buy.

Guess I was wrong, they just were very slow at updating stuff. Something happened, but yes, it is a book that I won't buy either...

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 01 Apr 2013, 11:13

Like I said, a very lame and unimaginitive advertising campaign. Clearly the marketing department at Autosport & whichever publisher Julia Wurz is signed to doesn't have a good grasp of how to achieve virality. B - O - R - I - N - G.

Post by **mario** » 01 Apr 2013, 11:20

Backmarker wrote:Delaware's first F1 team? Big sponsor!

Anyway, really it's advertising for Julia Wurz's Mary Sue book.

SuperEgo by Julia Wurz wrote:Stylish, successful, and king of the soundbite, Vincent Dupont is Formula 1’s team boss extraordinaire. For Kate Ellison, landing the job as press officer for a top F1 team is career gold. But in a world of colossal egos, Machiavellian politics, and a well-informed and omnipresent media, is Vincent's cold-blooded approach her only recourse?

Julia Wurz was press officer at Benetton...suspiciously similar to this Kate Ellison character!

So, basically what we have had is a bit of viral marketing about a book which effectively sounds like a semi-fictionalised version of Julia Wurz's time at Benetton (the Dupont character sounds like he could easily be modelled on Briatore). At least it is something slightly more substantial than just a practical joke (which was kind of what I'd expected), granted, but still rather underwhelming overall.

DanielPT wrote:Also, is it any possible to make a stealth staff hiring these days? And manage sponsorship of sorts when not even some existing teams can do it? Still looking forward to see the joke unfold in amusing fashion. By the way, according to some dude in the F1Technical forum thread about this 'team' it is the teaser image from the presentation of the McLaren MP4-27 but reversed and in blue that they are using!

It could possibly be done for a short period of time if aggressive non disclosure agreements were struck, but it would be difficult - it's been hard for a team to surreptitiously hire a driver in recent years, for example, or for a senior director to defect from one team to another without generating a fair amount of press interest, and building up a new team from scratch would require a not inconsiderable number of experienced staff. There would inevitably be interest and speculation if a new party started hiring large numbers of experienced motorsport personnel, so you'd probably attract enough attention to be noticed sooner or later.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 01 Apr 2013, 11:21

And the book costs a staggering... 77p at Amazon! Early promotion already, or a sale, anticipating poor sales?

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 01 Apr 2013, 11:34

dr-baker wrote:And the book costs a staggering... 77p at Amazon! Early promotion already, or a sale, anticipating poor sales?

http://youtu.be/vhyGlGgXMxY?t=20s

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 01 Apr 2013, 11:59

Hang on, "Julia Wurz's Mary Sue book"?
MS... Michael Schumacher?

"Julia Wurz was press officer at Benetton...suspiciously similar to this Kate Ellison character!"

KE... Kenny Eaton?
http://statsf1.com/en/kenny-eaton.aspx

WeirdKerr · Post by **WeirdKerr** » 01 Apr 2013, 14:36

dr-baker wrote:And the book costs a staggering... 77p at Amazon! Early promotion already, or a sale, anticipating poor sales?

thought the price would be £10.49

Onxy Wrecked · Post by **Onxy Wrecked** » 01 Apr 2013, 16:44

go_Rubens wrote:Quite honestly, I think this "DuPont F1" thing may be valid. I see the roots of this team going back to 2003. Any of you know/remember Montoya and Gordon doing a seat swap F1 vs NASCAR? DuPont may have been planing this team since then, with possibly Gordon as an investor. Gordon has also been driving a Chevrolet powered car, which has been sponsored by DuPont for most of his career, and Chevy runs V6 turbo engines in IndyCar as well. If Chevy is running a V6 in IndyCar, then they may plan an F1 team to compete with one of their engines.

As for DuPont coming into F1, I think they may possibly buy HRT's failed F1 team, and possibly save HRT from rejectdom.

Wasn't de la Rosa a test driver for Williams back then in 2003 as well? He might think this team is going to happen because DuPont could have already confirmed him as a driver. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Jeff Gordon is already part owner in the Hendrick organization and is laden with money and DuPont has been appearing on Gordon's car less and less. You might be on to something. Even if it little more than an April Fools' joke.

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 01 Apr 2013, 23:56

Not sure If I agree with only a 14 race calendar, not only that but I feel slightly sad that Sauber are gone.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ENTRY LIST
1 Riccardo SANTOS (BRA) MARTINI MAGNA RACING
2 Jake SWEENEY (USA) MARTINI MAGNA RACING
3 Fernando ALONSO (ESP) SCUDERIA FERRARI
4 Felipe MASSA (BRA) SCUDERIA FERRARI
5 Enrico COSTA (ITA) DUPONT LAMBORGHINI F1
6 Marcel MULLER (DEU) DUPONT LAMBORGHINI F1
7 Jenson BUTTON (GBR) MCLAREN MERCEDES
8 Sergio PEREZ (MEX) MCLAREN MERCEDES
9 Sebastian VETTEL (DEU) RED BULL RACING
10 Mark WEBBER (AUS) RED BULL RACING
11 Lewis HAMILTON (GBR) MERCEDES GRAND PRIX
12 Nico ROSBERG (DEU) MERCEDES GRAND PRIX
13 Pastor MALDONADO (VEN) WILLIAMS F1 TEAM
14 Valtteri BOTTAS (FIN) WILLIAMS F1 TEAM
15 Kimi RAIKKONEN (FIN) LOTUS F1 TEAM
16 Romain GROSJEAN (FRA) LOTUS F1 TEAM
17 Paul DI RESTA (GBR) FORCE INDIA F1 TEAM
18 Adrian SUTIL (DEU) FORCE INDIA F1 TEAM
19 Daniel RICCIARDO (AUS) SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO
20 Jean-Eric VERGNE (FRA) SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO

But tell you what, it was great to see Magna racing sweep the title last year.

dinizintheoven · Post by **dinizintheoven** » 02 Apr 2013, 00:44

Never mind that, where are Caterham and Marussia? And, if this is supposed to be fiction, what about HRT, Scorpion, USF1, Epsilon Euskadi, Prodrive, anyone else who might have wanted to be there...

You've lost my support, Mrs Wurz!

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 02 Apr 2013, 00:55

That's the worst fictional F1 grid I've seen on my life! I mean, she didn't even bring Kobayashi back! Or even fill out the grid! Any one of us could do a better grid in our sleep!

CaptainGetz12 · Post by **CaptainGetz12** » 02 Apr 2013, 02:06

dinizintheoven wrote:Never mind that, where are Caterham and Marussia? And, if this is supposed to be fiction, what about HRT, Scorpion, USF1, Epsilon Euskadi, Prodrive, anyone else who might have wanted to be there...

You've lost my support, Mrs Wurz!

Perhaps this is a pessemistic but possible view of Formula 1 in the future, that the current backmarker teams and any future teams-to-be could not get in because the sport got too expensive for all but the megateams that have been sucessful in previous years and/or have a lot of money.

That's the worst fictional F1 grid I've seen on my life! I mean, she didn't even bring Kobayashi back! Or even fill out the grid! Any one of us could do a better grid in our sleep!

Though I can agree with this, the idea that no other drivers will appear on the main teams a few years from now seems a bit farfetched.

Some drivers of respectable merit (Kobayashi, Senna, Petrov, De La Rosa) have been on and off of F1 with surprising frequency, so the thought that the current 2013 roster will remain for more than 3 years seems pretty bizarre to me in the current formula 1 climate. The fact that the story predicts that less and less teams would be able to afford to keep an F1 team afloat makes the lack of other drivers popping in and out even more jarring.

On a side note: Did the story take into account that F1 would switch to V6s from 2014 onward? Cause I dont think Lamborghini has made a V6 before....

Not sure If I agree with only a 14 race calendar, not only that but I feel slightly sad that Sauber are gone.

Perhaps Martini-Magna is Sauber, purchased and made into a top-tier team a la Jaguar =====> Red Bull ? :?:

WeirdKerr · Post by **WeirdKerr** » 02 Apr 2013, 09:16

Why have a mix of real and fictional drivers.... if your doing a fictional thing go the full hog and have them all fictional.....

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 02 Apr 2013, 09:24

WeirdKerr wrote:Why have a mix of real and fictional drivers.... if your doing a fictional thing go the full hog and have them all fictional.....

Besides, if I was someone at Ferrari I would sue her ass immediately, unless the team had officially agreed to be included in such charade which is likely and stupid.

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 02 Apr 2013, 09:25

I think this could have been a great Aprils Fools gag if the end product hadnt been so lame.

Meatwad · Post by **Meatwad** » 02 Apr 2013, 10:07

Shadaza wrote:WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ENTRY LIST
...
13 Pastor MALDONADO (VEN) WILLIAMS F1 TEAM

I guess this explains his awful start to the season.

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 02 Apr 2013, 13:57

WeirdKerr wrote:Why have a mix of real and fictional drivers.... if your doing a fictional thing go the full hog and have them all fictional.....

My guess is that the subject of the book is really the idea of the world collapsing around the main characters with Magna racing stealing Dupont's thunder.
The other teams and short calender are really just place holders as it isn't really a book about F1 but a larger than life character being brought to his knees on a global stage.

jakejm79 · Post by **jakejm79** » 02 Apr 2013, 15:47

I heard that driver #1 was going to be either: Robert Davis, Jean Paul Cassell or possibly Helmut Becker.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 02 Apr 2013, 15:53

jakejm79 wrote:I heard that driver #1 was going to be either: Robert Davis, Henri Latour or possibly Helmut Becker.

Nah. Autosport ("Autosport or it didn't happen," remember?) said the number 1 driver was a world champion. Ergo, being a French team, it had to be a driver with a French-sounding name. Which leaves... Jacques Villeneuve! (a.k.a. Driver Numberone!)