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Team US F1 has promised an innovative approach for the design of its first Formula 1 car, as the Charlotte-based operation edges closer its first test with the 2010 challenger.

The outfit has spent almost one year working on the new car and one of its chief designers, Scott Bennett, has revealed that the team will not simply be following the pack.

"I'm extremely fortunate in that I've been able to do most of the car's layout from day one - I've seen and had a hand in almost every step of its evolution," he wrote on the Team US F1's official website.

"Primarily I've been responsible for the front and rear suspension, particularly packaging. This has been a huge challenge. F1 cars are small, and we are fitting a lot of stuff into a very tight volume.

"And we're doing a few things quite differently than they have been done in recent years. I can't give specifics (yet), but we've looked at everything with a fresh perspective, and come up with some different answers.

"We'll know whether they were the right or wrong answers soon enough, but our car certainly won't be a clone of anything else out there. And did you know that we're the only one of the four new teams designing our own gearbox?"

Bennett is overjoyed at the opportunity he has got to help work on US F1's first car, with only a few weeks now before the machine hits the track for the first time.

"In less than a year we've built a very capable shop, put together the smartest and most talented group of people I've ever had the privilege of working with, and designed what should be a fast, reliable, safe, drivable, and yes, beautiful car," he said.

"This team means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, but for me it's literally a dream come true. When those lights go out at the start of our first race, it will be both the end of a long road, and the start of a new one. I can't wait."