Back To Basics (Jaguar)

Member Name: thecoin

Product:	Jaguar
Date:	13/01/01 (214 review reads)
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This time last year hype was growing about the Jaguar Racing Teams first year in Formula 1 racing.Alot of pundits where out giving predictions on how Jaguar would do in their first year and many thought they could become a front runner straight away.How wrong they where,Jaguar went for the tactics of trying to build one of the most complex cars on the grid and I am afraid it backfired on them.The revolutionary new oil pump system they introduced last year did nothing for them but cause reliability problems and hampered most test sessions for the team leading up to the start of the 2000 campaign.

Jaguar have been quick out of the blocks this season in launching their new car in order to try and get as many miles of testing under their belt as possible before the F1 season kicks off in Melbourne in March.The team have come out saying they have gone back to basics with the engineering of the car and have got rid of all the troublesome unproven concepts that the old car had.Bobby Rahal has been given the task to try and get "the big cat" back on track and says hes looking at the car as "the first true Jaguar" and that for this seasons he's looking for Jaguar to gain some respectibility.He believes there is no magic bullet for finding performance and says how to get performance you need a good solid design which he believes the new Jaguar has.

Last years car was designed by Gary Anderson who has since left the Jaguar outfit and has been replaced by John Russell who has come from Williams and has designed the new Jag.Rahal has been impressed by the way Russell has approached the job and likes the way that Russell has gone back to basics with the design of the new car rather than carry on where Anderson left off trying to build a ground-breaking car.Rahal is a strong believer that you can`t just design a revoulutionary car and put it straight out onto the grid and expect results.He believes that revoulutionary cars should be tested
untill there bullet proof before being raced as Jaguar found out to their cost last year.Former McLaren designer Steve Nichols has also had a big say in the new R2 Jaguar and believes the team has a much better chance of getting it right this year.The team has tested many of the parts for the new car over the winter on the old car and have already ironed out some of the teething reliability problems so now have more time in testing to concentrate on getting performance from the car rather than worrying about reliability which was the case last year.Nichols believes Jaguar have built a engineering platform which will enable them to move forward.He believes it will take time for the team to gel but he thinks they are all on the same wavelength and should try to use their experience from last year to help in this seasons campaign.

Here's a brief look at the new Jaguar R2

Gearbox
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The team has dumped the shared engine and gearbox cooling system it used last year.Instead it has increased the ratio of the current gearbox to make it seven speed.The disadvantage to this it you have more shifts but the advantage is the car will be running at higher revs for longer.

Aerodynamics
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The cars aerodynamics are basically the same as last years.The team didn't see many problems in this area last year so have tryed to keep this area similar to last years car.The only slight change is that the front-wing endplates have been raised a little to keep the car inline with new rules for the 2001 season which the FIA have imposed.

Suspension
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The front suspension is an evolution of the 2000 cars system but the rear has had a total overhaul.Number 1 driver Eddie Irvine often complained about this area last year and the team have totally revised it and believe they have made quite al
ot of progress on this front.

The team will this year use Michelin tyres.This could help them at some circuits where the Michelin's are believed to have a massive performance advantage over the Bridgestone runners in getting to the front of the grid.Jaguar are extremly pleased with the work they have done so far with Michelin and have been doing alot of testing and development work on the new rubber.

On the driver front things have changed.Eddie Irvine has been retained as the number one driver for 2001 and did a fantastic job last year for the big cat often qualifying the machine in the top 10 but couldn`t seem to get performance out of the car in races and often dropped down the field or retired from races with reliability failures.The teams second driver this year is Luciano Burti.Burti raced with Jenson Button in Formula 3 coming second that season in the British Championship.Whilst Button went straight on into F1 Burti took up the post as Jaguar test driver last year and due to good testing performances has now been promoted to the racing team since Johnny Herbert retirement from Grand Prix racing.Burti did well at Austria last year when he was called up to race just hours before the qualifying session when Irvine was taken away ill.He has a knowledge of quite a few of the circuits on the Grand Prix calender thanks to his testing role last year and if he can get the right car underneath him could prove to be the real surprise of the season.

Anyway,lets hope that the car decked in British Racing Green can start on the road to success this season.The package seems to be there and there's no doubt they have top line drivers so expect to see the big cat at the right end of the grid this season.

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