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" Caterham F1&amp;#039;s crowdfunding campaign seeking donations to carry them to Abu Dhabi seemed like a last gasp of desperation when it launched two weeks ago. Perhaps that skepticism was unfounded: The team announced on Friday via Twitter that it will race this week at the F1 season closer, thanks to donations adding up to 82 percent of the team&amp;#039;s $3.7 million goal. READ MORE: Facepalm along with us at this Bernie Ecclestone interview    We are delighted to announce that we will be racing in Abu Dhabi next week thanks to the support of the fans. THANK YOU #RefuelCaterhamF1 \u2014 Caterham F1 Team (@CaterhamF1) November 14, 2014    As of this writing, Caterham F1 fans have contributed over $3 million to the campaign, in exchange for swag ranging from hats and T-shirts to racing suits, helmets, and parts pilfered from last season&amp;#039;s cars. With six days left, it&amp;#039;s likely Caterham will meet or exceed its funding goal. Apparently, Caterham F1 is confident enough in its crowdfund&amp;#039;s momentum to call it a victory\u2014the team that sat out the U.S. Grand Prix and Brazilian Grand Prix says it will show up at Abu Dhabi to finish up the season. That&amp;#039;s great news for Caterham, and good news for race fans in general: A bigger starting grid makes for better racing. There&amp;#039;s one guy who won&amp;#039;t be thrilled about it, however. Bernie Ecclestone, in a truly bizarre, astonishingly tone-deaf interview, says &amp;quot;nobody will miss&amp;quot; Caterham, and that they&amp;#039;ve &amp;quot;only got a name that people would know because of the problem they&amp;#039;re in.&amp;quot; Bernie hasn&amp;#039;t hidden his contempt for Caterham (nor anything else, ever, it would seem), having said last month, &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s better they go. I don&amp;#039;t want people going around with begging bowls.&amp;quot; Even if they place dead-last at Abu Dhabi, Caterham F1 will have accomplished at least one thing in getting there: Proving Ecclestone wrong.  READ MORE: Desperate Caterham F1 turns to crowd funding to complete season "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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