Jag RB3 Expectations?

[shiny side up!]

Wondering what y'all think is going to come from the latest Jag evolution... It was junk in Silverstone, but its pace in testing at Monza today wasn't that bad, De la Rosa had a 1.24.7 to Pizzonia's 1.24.0 and Panis's 1.24.6, and he beat Salo by over a second...

Oh yeah, James Courtney's test came to an early end with a 300km/hr shunt in Ascari (rear suspension)...

[mac]

I'm not too confident. It seems to still be slow, and things like rear suspension failures at 300km/h aren't good. That isn't a bad time, though.

[Lee Janotta]

Shoot it, put it out of it's misery.

[Jukebox]

How could the tether of a wheel snaps just like that without having to have any impact in the first place?

That definitely is very dangerous and the Jags should look closely on their safety aspect

[f1manoz]

Jaguar need better drivers to develop the car. Frankly, Irvine and PDLR can't do the job.

[Jukebox]

It's not the drivers at fault but the whole team who is involved with the designs that should be replaced. The drivers drives the car and the data accumulated are analyzed and from there further improvements can be made.

The chassis and aerodynamics expect are just not up to the F1 standard to be competitive just yet. The engines aren't that bad as Arrows had made a few suprises with them.

[senna12]

There was a story in the recent past regarding a particular wind tunnel, that was basically so out of date it was providing totally unreliable data.

Is Jaguar still having to rent-a-tunnel? And have they rushed these new bits through so quickly that they are breaking right away?

I'd be looking ahead to the R4. And not with a great deal of hope, either. We are talking 2 to 3 seconds needed here, just to be competitive. That is a MAJOR undertaking, to say the least. I don't think they can do it, IMHO.

Jukebox is correct, the Arrows has shown what could have been possible, especially with the second best driver behind the wheel!

So far, Niki's not cutting it. He did quite a bit of damage when he pulled the power trip on Rahal. He is reaping the benefits of his autocratic style now.

[Adam43]

Jaguar do have a wind tunnel now, although I feel this will not be enough to see improvement.

In terms of developing the car, it is clearly down to the engineers AND drivers. The engineers can only go on what the drivers tell them. And back to back comparisons can only work if the drivers can drive consistently.

I think the problem lies with the designers, the engineers and the drivers. The previous lack of their own wind tunnel accentuated this.

[Super Tourer]

I read this week that Jag have now decided that the problem is mechanical rather than aero, which means they won't cure this in a wind tunnel.

Irvine said corner turn is was better, but the new mod's have thrown up a new set of problems, which they seem to have no idea how to solve. I don't think their testing time's mean much. Pizzonia normally seems to concentrate on longer run's, testing particular components or tyes as opposed for going for fast lap times. William's are interested in constructive test's, not being fastest on a test day.

You never know what spec Jag are running either, how many times have we seen them fast on a Friday, but second from back row on a Saturday!

Basically, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. If a car is fundamentaly bad - it's bad, and nothing you do will change it that much.

Worryingly for Jaguar, it doesn't look as if the current technical line up will be able to produce anything much better next year, having spent the last six months working on an aero solution - that they now find should be a mechanical one. Doesn't bode well.

FWIW, I can't see Ford sticking with it, they need to make cost cut's, Jag F1 would be a good place to start and just concentrate on being an engine supplier.

[Jack racer]

Boat anchor and a expensive one at that

[twig]

i know you havent heard from me in a while, and i know you are all deeply sad because of that.

Just to clear things up, the car that was crashed in the hands of the aussie, (or crashed itself) was actually not a R3B! it was the R3! i think Pedro was testing the R3B, and Irvine, if he was there.

I dont know what to think of the R3B, i dont think we can really judge the silverstone performance, that was just to crazy, as to form a benchmark of your opinion on, and besides, it is only the first gp.

just wondering, is it just the aerodynamics altered, or the cars design completely?

Tom.

[shiny side up!]

Based on the fact that they say they now have a 'new' mechanical grip problem, I think the update was all aero, in the form of floor, wings, and side-pods. Swervin' Irvine has commented that the car has much more downforce now... they just still can't force the car to behave on track. Seems there must be a fundamental flaw in the car's suspension design.

[neilap]

BAR have the some problem, I think. It seems that the cars are "sows esrs". Jag did screw up with all their political garbage and now the cars suffer. Unfortunately they will need to start looking into next years car. This one is a dud.

[Jordi]

BAR didn't have a great Canada GP with the new pack, but scored points this time around.

Jaguar has not been good since it was Stewart... I dunno how they converted a car that could take poles and almost wins under normal conditions to this 4 dogs R1, R2, R3 and R3B...

[mac]

Poor James can't get a break in that Jag. His first test of the year was plagued by mechanical problems, and then it rained. And then this happens at his replacement test!