October sees the start of the 3rd season of the all electric Formula E series, and this year, motor sport welcomes back a very special name. It’s been 12 years since Jaguar dropped out of the Formula 1 championship after a tough 5 year spell, which saw the occasional podium and glimpse of what could have been. The first race of the new Formula E season starts in Hong Kong, and Jaguar through their drivers, Mitch Evans and Adam Carroll will be hoping to make an immediate impact challenging the current champion Sebastian Buemi of the Renault e-Dams team.
The task of creating a striking, modern brand identity was given to Brand strategy and design agency, Brand Union. As the majority of Formula E races are held in city centres, the tracks tend to be very tight, with hairpins and sharp turns mixed with long fast flowing straights. This is represented in the livery on the Jaguar race car with blue lines flowing down the sides and through the front nose. Account director for Brand Union, Ben Beardmore spoke about his companies relationship with JLR. “Brand Union and JLR have a rich history of working together. Having partnered for the past three years, previously working on projects such as Land Rover Ben Ainslie Racing, we understand the energetic and adventurous nature of the work they do. Now is a pivotal time for Jaguar as it steers its way into the world of electric vehicles and we’re excited to be part of the journey.”
Season 3 will surely be the biggest to date with a hefty calendar of 14 races in 12 different countries. Hong Kong hosts the opening round in October, and the teams will travel on to Morocco, Argentina, Mexico, Monaco, France, Germany, Belgium, Canada and eventually finishing with a double header in Brooklyn, New York, in late July 2017. 2 races are yet to awarded to a host city. In terms of drivers, the field keeps it’s mix of highly experienced ex-F1 personnel such as Jean-Eric Vergne, Nick Heidfield and Nelson Piquet Jr and young up and coming hopefulls, such as Felix Rosenqvist and Antonio Felix da Costa.
In terms of the car and rule changes for the new season, a few potential game changers have been introduced. The total amount of energy regeneration has been increased 50% from 100KW to 150KW, allowing the drivers to change strategies mid race through their new steering wheel controls and make an even more unpredictable and exciting race. The regeneration, or ‘regen’ as it is known is when the car is slowing or the driver is not on the accelerator, a device collects energy and pumps it back into the motor, just how an electric hybrid car works. A clever new battery pack has been created allowing the cars to still power out 200KW even with the increased regeneration, which is capable of powering the car up to 140mph. Michelin have created new tyres for season 3 and the overall weight limit for the car has been dropped to 880kg.
With Formula E, we are guaranteed to have wheel to wheel, wing to wing racing, and this year with 20 drivers on the grid, and the famous Jaguar name, Hong Kong is set to be a race to remember.
Grange Jaguar currently have some excellent new and used offers, follow the link and book yourself a test drive – http://www.grange.co.uk/new-jaguar-offers
Source 1 – http://fiaformulae.com/en/news/2016/september/what-s-new-for-season-three/ – 27/09/2016
Source 2 – http://www.thedrum.com/news/2016/09/12/designing-jaguar-s-formula-e-racing-team-brand-identity – 27/09/2016