Posted on 12th July 2016
The Jaguar I-Type 1 Formula E car has been punctuated by a series of teething problems for the new powertrain; even though the car has been running since May.
But Jaguar are continuing to test the car this month as the famous British sports car marque gets ready for its championship debut in three months' time.
The weight of the Formula E cars proved critical in season two, with several teams falling of foul of experimental powertrain set-ups.
The minimum weight limit in the series is 888kg, and some of the cars, notably the twin-motor set-up cars of NEXTEV TCR and DS Virgin Racing, are known to have been north of 15kgs heavier than the minimum.
In an interview with Motorsport.com today, a team personnel issued the following statement regarding the issues that Jaguar face with the car currently as follows:-
“There were some issues with overheating, and there is some concern about the weight of the car being too much, but it is all at an early stage, and there is much more we can work on.
“We did a bunch of days last month and then we will get more done in July. Operationally the team is working well and by the Donington test days [in August] we will be in decent shape.”
In his own statement to the media today, Craig Wilson, the Managing Director of Williams Advanced Engineering (which is a technical partner of the Jaguar Formula E team) admitted that the weight targets are demanding in the all-electric formula. Wilson said the following:-
“It’s challenging, because so much of the car is ‘controlled’, so you don’t have a lot to work with. But it’s one of the things we can approach well because of our engineering knowledge [at WAE], so we’re confident.
“We don’t know if [our car] will be the lightest, the timeframe makes that challenging. We could have been more aggressive in that area, but then you run the risk of reliability problems.
“But generally speaking we’re confident about being at the right weight.”
Further on in his interview today, Wilson also acknowledged that Jaguar is on the back foot compared to the other teams who have had one full season of racing with their own technical solutions, and two seasons of knowledge of the chassis, tyres and other key aspects of Formula E racing. Wilson added the following:-
“The Jaguar brand always has expectations attached to it. But from the performance side, [entering in season three] is like giving your opponents a three second head start in a 100m race.
“No matter how good you are, you won’t catch up straight away. The rules are too stringent for that; you can’t just invent something that’s massively superior to anyone else.
“And then you see at some races issues like making the tyres work, that are nothing to do with the powertrain. We have no experience of running this type of car on track, so we have to learn all that.”
At the moment, the Jaguar team has still yet to name any drivers for its Formula E programmea and has suggested that it won’t have a line-up for season three confirmed before September.
There were rumours circulating in the paddock that the team was in discussions with Anthony Davidson earlier this year but a deal to run the former F1 driver is now understood to be unlikely.
Besides Davidson being tipped for the drive with Jaguar; other racing drivers such as Alex Lynn, Adam Carroll, Oliver Rowland, Mike Conway, Bruno Senna and Pastor Maldonado are all believed to be possibilities for the team.
Sarah Jones-@jonesy_laaa
Photo by Autosport Magazine
