Thursday 15th September 2016

Where's the real racing car Jaguar? PH Blog

Matt's not sold on Jaguar's arrival into Formula E; here's his alternative Jaguar racing plan

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I'm not a Luddite. Really. Despite the fact I think Jaguar needs a V8 race car rather than an electric one. The idea of autonomous cars for commuting really appeals, I'd have a VW XL1 in a shot and the original Honda Insight remains one of my favourites as well. I'm happy to embrace new technology that is interesting, relevant and exciting. Honest.

Formula E hasn't convinced me yet. The argument is made far more eruditely than I could on Jalopnik but, fundamentally, I don't think it makes for an especially thrilling race series. The cars aren't very fast, the lack of noise is odd and how eco-friendly is having two cars for a single race? It should be the vanguard of EV tech, yet at the moment it all feels a bit contrived.

For a brand like Venturi, building an EV product range from Formula E makes sense. But there's not going to be an all electric Jaguar for a while, and would you really buy an F-Pace hybrid because of Jag's Formula E involvement? The collaboration between Jaguar and Williams for the C-X75 already seemed to work rather nicely for hybrid development too.

Putting aside the true relevance of Formula E, I'm personally disappointed as a fan that this is the path Jaguar has chosen. Think of the cars in Jaguar's glorious racing past: various D- and E-Types, the XJS, the XJR-9, the saloons in touring cars; there are so many iconic cars that have captivated audiences for decades and continue to do so. Can you imagine that happening with the I-Type 1?

I don't wish to discount Formula E entirely, because I think there's the potential for it to be a truly innovative and groundbreaking series. But I don't think now is the time for Jaguar to be involved. Of course it requires participation to advance further, which gives us stalemate. As a crowd pleaser for 2017 though, and a tactic to draw young people into the brand, I have another way.

F-Type GT3. Obviously. It makes so much sense. The renders have already been done and look superb. But think about it. It could use the production car's V8 - giving a tangible link back to the showroom - with the weight saving tech used in the racer also able to benefit the road car. We all know Jags could use shedding a kilo or two, after all.

There's a Bentley factory team to battle for British V8 glory, plus all the rivals from the road on circuit too: Audi R8, Nissan GT-R and AMG GT to name three. Factory developed and raced by extremely competitive private teams, they would provide perfect opposition. Imagine the PR opportunity from beating the Germans in Germany. On top of this, championships like the Blancpain GT3 are brilliant to watch. The cars and powertrains are diverse, providing real entertainment for the fans disillusioned by more homogenous formulae. Stood as the sun goes down, watching a 911 through Eau Rouge with sparks flying off it, is not a sight you forget.

And imagine an F-Type doing that! Despite a vastly improved product line up, Jaguar still has an image issue. Namely, that only old people buy their cars. I appreciate I don't speak for every 25 year-old lad in the country, but knowing the Audi R8 racer uses very nearly the same engine as the production V10 makes the road car a lot more appealing. That it's so successful (and looks so damn good) as a racing car only heightens that. I'd wager that people in their 30s and 40s who could afford an F-Type would still be excited by a motorsport effort.

There was a lot of discussion last week about the role of Formula E in bringing young people to the Jaguar brand; here I can't comment, because being 11 and watching racing cars seems a long time ago. Are today's kids inspired by electric racers? Or the old and loud ones, with silly spoilers and big engines? I'm fascinated to know.

Is Formula E the right move for Jaguar? Or is there another motorsport alternative other than GT3? I'd love to know your thoughts. In the meantime I'll be watching all the D-Type, E-Type and XJS videos I can find.

Matt

[Jaguar GT3 renders: James Gibson]

[Beefmeister]

I couldn't agree more. Jaguar needs to do an F-Type GT3 to start properly racing again.

The 5.0 V8 is a bit of an old dog by now, not really up there with the rival power plants but it could provide either a fitting swansong for the engine or as a testbed for a new engine, which is surely on the cards soon.

[Beefmeister]

Dan_1981 said:

So when DO we think there will be an electric Jag?

There's going to be an electric SUV smaller than the F-Pace (logically called E-Pace) in a couple of years

[Beefmeister]

TrivsTom said:

The trouble with Formula E is that Formula 1 will be all electric within 10-15 years

Please put down the crack pipe.