Sunday 11th September 2016

Jaguar in Formula E - official!

Drivers and Panasonic sponsorship confirmed, plus a name as well: I-Type 1

---

Any faint, lingering hopes that Jaguar's return to motorsport might mean an F-Type GT3 or XE DTM car have been quashed with the official unveiling of the Formula E car. It's called the I-Type 1, the team is sponsored by Panasonic (nobody has mentioned F1, funnily enough) and the race debut is at Hong Kong next month.

The car will be driven by Northern Irishman Adam Carroll, Mitch Evans and Ho-Pin Tung. Jaguar says it is the first premium manufacturer to enter the sport, though this comes off the back of Audi confirming official support of the ABT team ahead of it becoming a full works outfit next year. Either way, Formula E will be delighted to have such big brands joining the series.

At the car's debut, there has been a lot said about the influence of motorsport on Jaguar's road cars. Remember disc brakes, the XK straight-six and monocoques were first seen in the race cars before being seen on the road. There was a video with Stirling Moss to hammer the point home. So yes, you can expect to see EV technology on production Jaguar cars soon.

Moreover, Jaguar says its aims are to "change the perception of EV technology" and also to inspire a new generation of motorsport fans. Say you're a young enthusiast who has only ever known hybrid F1 - does that make Formula E of greater interest? Crucially too, does it make Jaguar a more appealing brand to younger people, a demographic it has always struggled with?

Those are questions to be answered in the future. For now we know that the car has completed a "successful" three-week test program at Donington Park and that an official Jaguar race car will return to motorsport in Hong Kong on October 9. We'll bring you more as that date approaches, or you can follow the new Jaguar Racing Twitter for more details. Welcome back to racing Jaguar!

Watch the video here

 

[Craiglamuffin]

Interesting move given how big customer GT racing is getting. I would have thought that would be more natural territory for Jaguar.

Formula E feels a bit like powerboat racing. A very cool looking thing to put in a corporate brochure or on a billboard, but very few proper followers.

[David87]

Presumably they're looking at Panasonic battery development to power future JLR road cars.

[rampageturke]

Great news

[big_rob_sydney]

Like it.

More competitors will hopefully push the tech onwards and upwards.

[AshBurrows]

I'll bet they're Ho-Pin to win some races and get some good exposure in the far east.

[Mr.Jimbo]

AshBurrows said:

I'll bet they're Ho-Pin to win some races and get some good exposure in the far east.

OUT!

As a JLR employee 2nd and a Motorsport enthusiast 1st, I was a bit dissapointed that we chose Formula E - but owt's better 'n Nowt as they say. Hopefully opens the door to more motorsport down the line

[romac]

AshBurrows said:

I'll bet they're Ho-Pin to win some races and get some good exposure in the far east.

Just to fill in the important missing gaps in the driver line-up info, Mitch is a kiwi and Ho-pin tung is chinese-dutch. Bet they wish they'd kept the eType name back for this!

[Impasse]

I thought this was announced a while ago? Wasn't there a fancy launch do at The Shard some time back?

[Byker28i]

Was chatting to someone on holiday from JLR who was connected with this. Sounded very interesting and technically challenging.

[ProBodge]

Hasn't Formula E been canned yet?!

After the initial novelty wore off it rapidly became dull for me.

[j90gta]

Battery powered racing is sadly supposed to be the future. As a racing fan, I look forward to the day that someone is able to build a power supply unit that can actually last a reasonable race distance at a decent racing speed (imagine Le Mans with teams having to use 40 sets of batteries just to last 24 hours and just how much heat can an electric motor take, or would we end up with the Le Mans 30 minutes!!). Can anyone say that Formula E has actually delivered any excitement. From a spectator's point of view motor racing is very much a sensory thing involving sight, hearing and smell and Formula E just doesn't do it for me. Having said that the current state of F1 is hardly any better with the best sounding car on the grid being the safety car. I'm sure that those lucky enough to be going to Goodwood this weekend will have a really memorable time, taking in all the different shapes, sounds and the smell of Castrol R! Will this generation of Formula E cars be held in such high regard as a historic racing car with an internal combustion engine? Cynical rant over.....

[luke g28]

j90gta said:

Battery powered racing is sadly supposed to be the future.

Close, only completely wrong.

The future of racing is wirelessly charged cars that dont need to refuel or recharge or drag 100s of kgs of fuel around behind them.

[Dave Hedgehog]

ProBodge said:

Hasn't Formula E been canned yet?!

After the initial novelty wore off it rapidly became dull for me.

1 lap and it was dull

[kambites]

j90gta said:

Can anyone say that Formula E has actually delivered any excitement.

From the few races I've seen, on TV I'd say the racing is better than that in F1. Of course you could view that as damning with faint praise.

[Composite Guru]

Hopefully they will do better than their attempt at F1.

I know how bad it was because I worked there. My have been the Ford connection that did it.

[DonkeyApple]

Craiglamuffin said:

Formula E feels a bit like powerboat racing. A very cool looking thing to put in a corporate brochure or on a billboard, but very few proper followers.

Very interesting analogy. For me I think I found powerboat racing more interesting than Formula E from a spectators' perspective.

Your point reminded me of going all the way to (I think) Bristol Docks to watch the F1 boat racing with my father who was contemplating moving his F1 sponsorship to boats. He took one look at the size of the crowd and what they were wearing and pretty much turned around and returned to London.

[gangzoom]

Dave Hedgehog said:

1 lap and it was dull

Tittle contenders collide into each other on the first lap of the last race, and than a cat/mouse game of seeing who can set the fastest lap to gain the vital bonus points needed to win the championship, all whilst trying to find gaps on the traffic.

Compared to Monza, even with Hamilton fluffing the start it was a case of team mates following each other for lap after lap.

[98elise]

j90gta said:

Battery powered racing is sadly supposed to be the future.

I really hope not. I am a big fan of EV's for day to day road use, but in racing it makes no sense. Racing is for enjoyment, and EV's are only fun if your behind the wheel. Take away the noise (and smell) and you've lost half of the sport. When I attend GFOS I am excited by every type of racing vehicle from any era, but EV racing leaves me completely cold.

That's from someone with Tesla on order!

[MikeGoodwin]

Cant wait to hear the electric motors split my eardrums as they tear round the tracks. OH WAIT.

[rampageturke]

MikeGoodwin said:

Cant wait to hear the electric motors split my eardrums as they tear round the tracks. OH WAIT.

its ok grandpa we can adjust those hearing aids for you