Q. If you are not granted the dispensation to delay your entry until 2011, do you have the money to stay open and keep waiting until the entry selection process happens?
KA: Put it this way, if the FIA grants us a reprieve to be able to come out in 2011 then we have the funding committed.
Chad got into this deal a year ago with his business plan and an idea, now we have a factory, people, machines and parts. People can come here and see how we can be on the grid in 2011, so it is a lot easier to raise money for that.
I guess Plan C, if they say no, and we have to go to the back of the queue and resubmit a proposal like everybody else... I think the proof is in the pudding. If we have a car sitting here... it would be pretty compelling evidence that we can do it.
Q. Do you have the money to stay open for another year waiting for that process?
KA: I haven't even tried to line that up. If we are granted 2011, then it is not a problem. If we are not, then it is a leap of faith for somebody, and I don't have that lined up. Until they tell us no, we are not quite going down that route too far.
Q. And Chad would be willing to bankroll it until 2011?
KA: Chad would participate. He would not put all the money in. We have other investors who want to buy into the company, but it is in Chad's interest, if it keeps going, to stay involved. He is in, but he is not going to pay for the whole thing. We do have investors lined up to do that.
Q. Have you now released Jose Maria Lopez from his commitments?
KA: Yes.
Q. Are there any drivers you have under contract?
KA: No. Lopez was the main one. We had other drivers we were talking to, but until we knew we were moving forward we didn't sign them.
Q. These must be difficult times for you...
KA: I just want to thank everyone for their support, and hopefully we will be able to be there next year. It is ironic that this is exactly where we wanted to be in a year ago – to start in March and do it all year long. We were very, very close but it didn't happen. But it would be pretty easy to do for next year.
Q. How many people do you have on the payroll?
KA: We are almost 90 people on the design and build side, but quite a few of those were [temporary] contracts. As they started dropping off, we started hiring racing people. And then, once things started getting difficult we didn't take people on and said to people that if there was something else they wanted to do, they might want to go look at it. We are probably at 50-60 right now – that we could get back next week if we get the nod.
Q. What is the situation with Aragon in Spain now?
KA: The building is there. They only just completed it about a month ago, and we were just about to start moving some equipment in. That is the thing – we said we would have a factory here, a facility there and all the trucks and trailers. We were all geared up and ready to be in Bahrain.
Q. So you actually had trucks ready?
KA: Yes, we bought two trailers from Brawn. They were the old Honda test trailers. They only had 1,500 miles on them, as the only journey they ever did was Brackley to Silverstone! We got them refurbished and ready to go. So from the equipment standpoint we are good to go.
Q. So your future hinges on the FIA decision?
KA: Absolutely.