Teams 2002:


JAGUAR

jaguar01.jpg (18521 byte)

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.

jaguar02.jpg (14340 byte)

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.

jaguar03.jpg (11204 byte)

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