JANUARY 14, 2003

BAR launches new car

British American Racing began a new era when it unveiled the new BAR 005 in Barcelona this morning, the first car to be produced under the management of David Richards and the new technical team led by Geoff Willis.

"We have made a substantial step forward over the winter," Richard said at the launch, "and I am confident that we will make significant progress towards our long-term target of winning the World Championship."

The team was keen to point out that in the course of the last 12 months the team's engineering standards have been improved dramatically and it hopes that the level of performance will also be much better. The new car is lighter, smaller and has a lower centre of gravity. It is also more aerodynamically efficient. The entire design philosophy was altered which means that this is a completely new car rather than an evolution of the previous model. Honda has produced the new RA003e V10 engine which is also lighter, smaller and produces more power than last year's Honda V10 which was not very reliable.

The team also used the Barcelona launch to unveil its new corporate identity, moving away from the British American Tobacco leaf logo to a very simple B.A.R logo. The livery of the cars has been modified from the normal white but the design is clearly intended to be a step towards a different image which will no doubt emerge at some point in the future. The aim is to give the team its own distinct identity in the longer term.