Jaguar's [Lack of] PerformanceThe second-biggest underperforming team this season, after BAR, has been Jaguar. After a dismal debut season, the team made virtually no improvement compared to its pitlane rivals for 2001. Another season of millions of dollars spent, and Monaco aside, mostly lackluster performances to show for it.
How could the team get it so wrong for a second consecutive season?
The problem, according to Premium Performance Group and Jaguar Racing boss Niki Lauda, was the wind tunnel. Using inferior tunnels makes it difficult to accurately calibrate and makes tests unrepeatable. The result is a car that responds inconsistently to set-up changes and suffers from unexpected characteristics. Lola blamed wind-tunnel calibration problems for its woeful CART Champ cars of the mid- to late '90s.
The company has since built a tunnel similar to the one employed by Reynard, and has seen its fortunes rise. Jaguar, however, has been using Swift's wind tunnel, and the success of the team's cars has been comparable to Swift's luck in CART.
"We need a wind tunnel," said Lauda. "We used the Swift tunnel in California, but it is no good. Everyone is moving to a Reynard-type, even here in the States." One key advantage to owning a tunnel, instead of renting time in someone else's, is the equipment and sensors stay in place, instead of being moved in and out to accommodate different users, he said.
The peculiarity in the R2's performance is that it is better on full tanks and worn tires than on empty tanks and fresh tires. So the cars qualify poorly but improve compared to the other teams during the course of the race.
The solution is at hand, Lauda promises. "We bought a Reynard tunnel." The result of using the old tunnel was a bad car, and the team had no means to improve it, Lauda complained. "The car was poor right from the beginning. Then, if you want to develop it quickly, you need the facilities. This is what we don't have."
Not all of the R2's problems are aerodynamic, Lauda conceded. "The problem is this car is big." Big might be good for vintage American luxury cars, but it is a significant handicap among competitors that are going to extremes such as changing their engine design to lower the car's center of gravity. "Other cars are about 60 kilos underweight," said Lauda. "They are born like this, so you can move the weight. Ours is 25 kilos underweight, so I can't move it as much as the others can."
While pledging improved performance for next season, Lauda doesn't expect to have Jaguar fighting to be at the front of the grid until the year after.
"The car for 2003 will be really competitive," he said. "Now all we can do is probably qualify 12th on average. Today [for the USGP] we are 14th. If we could, next year, expect to do a Sauber job of this year, then we will have done a big step forward. Then you can qualify in the first eight, and you can continually expect points if you are reliable."
Once the team has its car in order, then it can afford to demand more of its drivers, he said. "If we get the car going, I think it is easier," said Lauda.
How does a team manager keep his drivers pushing hard when they know the car provides a fine excuse to loaf? "I kick their asses, it's all I can do," bellowed Lauda. He rates both his drivers highly, despite the dearth of results.
"Pedro is highly motivated," he observed. "Eddie is much better than people expect. The guy is quick. We must give him better material."
Once the team has the car Lauda wants, he'd really like to get one of the current name-brand drivers into the cockpit. But he says he is frustrated by the long-term contracts everyone has signed. "We need to get the right guys driving it. Next season, all the drivers are taken."
Who would Lauda put in the R3 if he could? "I'd like [Juan Pablo] Montoya, or Ralf [Schumacher]. There are a lot of good guys out there. We need to go to the next generation. Whatever guy you pick up will need at least a season before you know what is going on. But everybody on the grid is tied up. More than just for 2002, also for 2003 and 2004."