The rules and regulations governing how Jaguar Racing goes for the F1 championship—including car specifications—are outlined in this section of the Federation Internationale De L'Automobile's official site. Incidentally, the FIA oversees the rules and regulations of all kinds of motorsports, including rallies and Formula 3000 racing. To keep up to date on the latest in F1 racing, check out ITV's F1 site, one of the better F1 sites on the web. This isn't the only Jag we've been inclined to cover. Check out Larry Gould's article, Jaguar Assesses "Perfect" Parts That Aren't Perfect.

A Brief Introduction

Based in Milton Keynes, England, in an 85,000-ft² facility that houses some 280 administrators, engineers, designers, production personnel, and associated others that are vital to making it happen, Jaguar Racing is working to win the FIA World Championship—perhaps better known in the U.S. as simply “Formula One.” On September 24^th, at the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Jaguar, along with teams from companies including Ferrari and BMW, will race in the U.S. Grand Prix, which may help boost the visibility of this open-wheeled series in America.

Jaguar is, of course, owned by Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford Motor Co. So as part of our on-going mission to provide you with looks at things that go fast, here’s a look at some aspects of this racing team.

An Einsteinian Observation of Sorts: Speed Is a Relative Thing

Fast cars don’t necessarily mean short development times. According to Jaguar Racing spokesperson Cameron Kelleher, “The chassis itself takes about 111 weeks to build, but the on-going design process means that various chassis components, including bodywork, can mean that the chassis can be up to six months in the design stage.” Simply stated: they’re always working on the design, so the clock doesn’t ever really stop ticking. Kelleher adds, “Modifications and refinements to the chassis are determined by wind tunnel tests, which happen for 12 months of the year.” Jaguar Racing tests at a wind tunnel in California.

Hewlett-Packard is a “major partner” of Jaguar Racing; not surprisingly, its computers are used exclusively throughout the firm. Unigraphics Solutions is a “technology partner” with the team; its Unigraphics CAx tools are used by the Jaguar Racing design staff to develop the vehicles. Parts machining is performed at Milton Keynes with CNC equipment.

An interesting contextual/temp-oral point about the six months on the chassis is that the 2000 F1 season, 17 races in all, lasts from March 12 (the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne) to October 22 (the Malaysian Grand Prix in Kuala Lumpur). Which means that the entire season lasts a bit longer than the time it takes to design the chassis for a season.

The current vehicle, the Jaguar R1, is powered by the Cosworth CR-2. The engine is designed and built by Cosworth Racing in Northampton, England. This is a 2,998-cc, 10-cylinder engine that features a cast aluminum alloy block and heads (this is a V-configuration), forged aluminum pistons, and a steel crankshaft. The engine measures 569 mm long, 506 mm wide, and 492 mm high (including the air box). It weighs in at just 97 kg. (“Power output?” you’re wondering. Sorry. These racing people are tight lipped about some things, and that spec is one of them.) Kelleher: “Like the chassis, work starts on the design of the engine at the midway point of the current season in preparation for the following season.”

Good engineering practice is not lost on them: “The engine and chassis, designed and manufactured in parallel [emphasis added], come together in early December each year for the car’s shakedown run.” This gives them some three months before the cars are on the grid for the first race of the season.

Slowly But Surely

Stewart Grand Prix was established in 1996; it ran its first season in 1997; it won its first race in September 1999, at the Nuburgring, just a few days after it had been announced at the Frankfurt Motor Show that the team would become Jaguar Racing, which rolled out for the 2000 series. As of this writing (late April 2000), neither of the two Jaguar Racing drivers (Eddie Irvine and Johnny Herbert) has won an F1 race. (The FIA World Championship . . . unlikely.)

Your Mother Should Know

Jackie Stewart: Legendary race car driver. Consultant to Ford. And a man who didn’t want his mother to worry.

Jackie Stewart, original but retired chairman and CEO of Jaguar Racing (September 1999 to January 2000), goes way back with Jaguar: an older brother was a member of the Jaguar works team in 1955. (An amusing note about Jackie: in order to keep his mother from worrying about him when he participated in his first motor race, he entered as “A.N. Other.”) He is one of the top five F1 drivers of all time.

Quick Etymology Lesson

Did you ever wonder where the name “Cosworth” comes from? It is a combination of portions of the surnames of the two engineers who founded a company to tune Ford engines in 1958: Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth. Cosworth Racing has been a part of Ford since 1998.

Why Does a Major Corporation Do This Beyond Obtaining Good Visibility on the TV Sets of Millions of Zealous European Motor Sports Fans?

Neil Ressler, Ford vice president-Research and Vehicle Technology and chief technical officer, as well as the top man at Jaguar Racing: “I have always advocated the closest possible links between the racing team and Jaguar’s engineering team in Coventry and Jaguar engineers and designers are already contributing to the racing program. I also believe that Jaguar’s production car engineers can learn a great deal from the racing team in Milton Keynes.

“The need to solve problems quickly breeds a nimble and innovative culture which we will be able to transfer to the road car development programs. I regard technology and process transfer as one of the major advantages for Jaguar and I intend to ensure that we use it for the benefit of our customers.”

The Obligatory Materials Review

The body is composite. The engine is aluminum. The combination is engineered to go exceedingly fast.

The car: The R1 is a composite monocoque structure. The all-aluminum CR2 engine is a fully stressed member. The longitudinally mounted six-speed transmission is housed in a magnesium case. The front suspension utilizes upper and lower wishbones fabricated with carbon fiber. The rear suspension makes use of upper carbon fiber wishbones and a lower setup fabricated with a composite-steel hybrid. The brakes, front and rear, are AP Racing lithium alloy six-piston calipers with Carbon Industrie carbon fiber discs and pads.

One interesting note about the fabrication of the body. Kelleher says, “Carbon composite laminating is very labor-intensive and is the area where we have the most ‘human touch.’ Each individual layer of carbon composite material is physically placed in an epoxy resin mold by our lamination department personnel.”