Jaguar TCS claimed its first Formula E team title on Sunday at London’s unique ExCel Centre indoor/outdoor track, marking the culmination of more than eight years of work since the carmaker first bet on electric racing.
The win was bittersweet for the Coventry-based luxury carmaker, with New Zealanders Nick Cassidy and Mitch Evans missing out on the drivers’ championship, leading to scenes of devastation in the team’s VIP area.
The team relived the emotions of the win. For the VIPs at Jaguar HQ, the win was a reminder of the brand’s hopes for a future that will soon be all-electric.
Electric cars in the future
The appeal of having a racing team is clear to manufacturers. It can revitalize an old brand, especially one that markets itself on speed and innovation. And race day is a great opportunity to wine and dine customers.
They can also display their cars for the general market, which generates a lot of money behind the glamour of the racing team.
Occur in Financial Times – The Future of the Car conference last year, Aston Martin CEO Lawrence Stroll He boasted that his company had sold between 300 and 400 Vantage F1s because a replica of it had appeared as a safety car in Formula 1 races.
This would have equated to about $80 million in revenue.
But perhaps more importantly, the races are a testing ground for the cars that will one day burn up the highways of Europe.
It’s only natural that Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), which has pledged to build only electric cars from next year, has chosen Formula E as its testing platform.
When Jaguar Land Rover hired James Barclay to become its first electric racing team manager in 2015, he said he and his team literally started with a blank piece of paper.
Jaguar Racing via Getty Images
“We wanted to use it as a real test bed for electric vehicle technology,” Barclay said. luck At a roundtable session on Friday.
“Doing so would likely be a little ahead of the curve for technologies used on the road in production vehicles.”
After eight years in the field, the automaker is beginning to reap the benefits of those innovations in a fast-moving sector.
Last year, at the Monaco EV Grand Prix, the team tested “Refined” transmission fluid Developed by Castrol.
Silicon carbide semiconductors technologyThe technology was first developed in Jaguar’s 2017 Formula E car and will be introduced to its commercial models in 2021.
“It forces you to do things that natural evolution can’t do because you have to innovate to beat the competition,” Barkley said. luck.
Future Innovations
Barclay says the lag time between discoveries on the Formula E track and their conversion to a commercial car is about four years, as was the case with its carbide technology.
Part of that comes from its partnership with team sponsor Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), whose parent company also owns JLR.
Like Jaguar Land Rover, TCS had a presence in Formula 1 through a partnership with Ferrari, but left it behind to focus on endurance racing through its sponsorship of marathon races such as the London and New York.
It has since partnered with Jaguar in Formula E racing.
The factory has usedDigital TwinIt was developed by TCS, which is helping JLR run simulations using digital copies of the group’s cars and drivers.
“The technology used in care is very important,” says Abhinav Kumar, global chief marketing officer, TCS.
All of Jaguar’s and TCS’s innovations will lead to faster, more efficient and more agile cars, says Barclay.
Last Sunday was the last day for the Jaguar TCS team to roll its Jaguar I Type 6 Formula E car into the garage, making way for the next, more advanced version from the car manufacturer.
But before long, the powertrain, re-refined oil and innovative software used on the racetrack would be making their mark on Jaguar’s road cars around the world.