Teams 2002:
JAGUAR
Third to present itself; third year in F1... Jaguar moment
of truth. After a very good beginning (when they bought a very well organized
Stewart), the team reinforcement created in reality a useless bulky structure
and things went in a different way. Last year was mainly used to retrench the
claims, rationalized and reorganized the team and build a simple reliable
car, but with time going by even Ford F1 interest seems reducing together with
the world sales of the American colossal firm.
They need results.
With the failure of getting the so popular Adrian Newey in the technical staff
which would have been so good for the team and letting Bobby Rahal go, now to
lead the team is the Austrian Niki Lauda who is really committed to solve any
problem.
Soon we'll know the efficiency of his work. Hopes are high and the team is quite
optimistic, knowing they worked rather well.
The 4th of January we saw the new Jaguar R3. The sight is definitely
pleasant (Jaguar livery is between the most beautiful ones) but one can tell
is not all glitter.
The car shows a definite cut with the past.Leaving behind useless fear and conservative
solutions they now produced a faster car, without any compromise and concentrating
on results.
The bigger change is at the front face which is lower and curved ( Ferrari is a teacher on that) but narrower made from the most advanced technology. The engineers were able to keep nice and low the gravity centre and kept the old suspension system. Plus, even tho' they made the car much lighter they manage to keep a good level of body rigidity. But the best team achievement is the aerodynamic thanks to a very hard work in the wind tunnel; during this year they'll be able to use the new one and we will be waiting for more improvements.
Talking of the front, the bonnet classy slim down to a narrow
tail meeting the fairing of the back light and the fin support; the sides are
not particularly big, the air vent is well designed (like most of the F1 cars)
and at the back there are a couple of baffles very similar to the old R2.
The cockpit area has been cleverly created to minimize the impediment of the
side protection with good results.
At the introduction one could see the pride of a team that
worked well; Niki Lauda is sure the "big" are now close feeling the
gap have been reduced and he is very positive about 2003 season thinking that
Mclaren and Williams are now the nearest teams to compete with; Steve Nichols
is sure to have build a truly fast car.
The team is very optimistic and finally sure to be on the right track to get
to the top, on the contrary - according to someone- it will be difficult to
stay at this high formula.
Technical schedule
Auto/Car: | Jaguar R3 |
Motore/Engine: | Cosworth CR4 V10 |
Trasmissione/Transmission: | 7 speed Semi-Automatic Gearbox |
Telaio/Chassis: | Carbon fibre |
Sospensioni/Suspension: | Push rod with torsion bar front and rear |
Cerchi/Wheels: | BBS Magnesium Front: 13 x 12, Rear: 13 x 13.5 |
Pneumaici/Tyres: | Michelin |
Peso/Weight: | 600kg with driver |