Taylor aiming for strong, reliable car

Jaguar's Head of Vehicle Design, Rob Taylor, explains the rigorous work that has been put into the new R4.

Q: Not every F1 team has someone called Head of Vehicle Design. What does it mean?

"I think the key thing is that Jaguar Racing wanted to place more of an emphasis on engineering than they had before. So my job is to take charge of the mechanical design and engineering side of things, reporting to Ian Pocock [engineering director, Jaguar Racing] but drawing on the expertise of Malcolm Oastler [chief engineer, Jaguar Racing]. So it's a slightly different set-up from most teams', I guess, and I have to say it's a good feeling that there are so many people with such solid engineering backgrounds among our senior management figures."

Q: From a mechanical enginerring point of view, what are your goals for 2003?

"To deliver a car that finishes races, to be honest -- in other words, a strong and reliable car that provides a dependable platform to allow the aerodynamics and tyres to interplay consistently. And that's why, on R4, we've been doing far more rigorous component testing than was ever done on R3 -- plus far more rigorous stress work, far more rigorous failure mode analysis and so on. Most failures or mistakes can always be traced back to errors in the detail, so it's the detail that we're now concentrating most on. We're not saying R4 has got to be a race winner; no, it's got to be a good, consistent and reliable car, and that's what it's my job to make sure it'll be."

Q: Who have been the key influences in your F1 career?

"John Barnard, I guess. Rory Byrne, too. Two very different guys, with very different approaches, but truly excellent in their very different ways."

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