Formula One Features — January 2001

There was something very British and understated about the Cooper Car Company's dark green and white striped livery, quite out of keeping with the magnitude of the stride it had helped F1 to make with its re-introduction of the rear-engined philosophy. But though he was renowned for his party sense of humor, John Cooper CBE was never a man to blow his own trumpet...

December and January are the months when Formula 1 people are most relaxed and access to the drivers and team personnel is at its easiest. This is the time of year when people are prepared to talk about their expectations for the coming season and to make predictions about their own and other's chances.

Boxing Day last year saw the passing of a man to whom British motorsport owes a deep debt. While looking at the fabulous achievements of the Ford Cosworth DFV engine that he inspired, here is also an insight into what made Walter Hayes such an influential player.

I feel a special cheer following the result of the Monte Carlo Rally. The fact that Tommi Makinen tore up the form book to win in his museum piece of a Mitsubishi is neither here nor there, to be honest. Neither that Colin McRae carried the flag for Britain with aplomb. No, it was dear old Skoda taking on all comers to finish fourth on one of the world's most famous events.

On the way home from the Jordan launch I did something of which I could never previously have believed myself capable. I bought a Robbie Williams CD.

I suppose it's a fact of life that rather too many people in the F1 pit lane get a kick out of other people's misfortunes. When you add that to the other key F1 affliction, namely an inability to remember anything that took place earlier than yesterday lunchtime, then you can understand why misfortunes in pre-season testing are almost doubly painful as anything one might experience in the helter-skelter of the season's fortnightly racing.

Honda-engined cars have been very quick in the last tests of the 2000 season, and the company stands on the brink of a new era in its F1 history after returning from a seven-year break this season. Racing is in its blood, but that's not surprising, given the early life of the unusual man who founded an empire: Soichiro Honda.

With a gigantic sigh of relief Jaguar Racing did the decent thing and ended a winter of rumors, deals, testing times, driver line-ups and hyperbole. In a few short weeks all this tedium will be as a bad dream from which we will have awoken to get on with the business at hand: motor racing. That was the overriding feeling as Messrs. Irvine and Burti peeled away the cloth from their new Jaguar R2 in front of the world's media. Oddly, therefore, there was no palpable air of anticipation, no admiring gasp and barely a ripple of appreciative murmuring.

By far the most impressive thing about Jaguar Racing's launch was not the shiny new Jaguar R2. Nor was it that memories of last year's epic Cecil B. de Mille-style launch were banished by its no nonsense presentation. It was instead the air of anticipation generated by a quartet of young hooligans who will be driving most of the British Racing Green cars in 2001. After the glamour of the big F1 launch wore off a little, each reverted to type and looked at their cars anew - itching to get to a race circuit and beat the living daylights out of them.

The fourth SAE Motorsports Engineering Conference (MSEC) took place in Dearborn, Michigan at the end of November, attracting 38 technical papers on motor sports related subjects. The number of papers is down on previous years, and I believe that this reflects the increasing level of competition in major racing series and the increased involvement of the motor industry. Engineers involved in these series simply do not have the time to write up their research to the level required for publication, and much of the basic research is carried out in cooperation with engineers from major-manufacturer partners, and they do not want their technical secrets widely disseminated.

As the hangovers wear off and life begins to happen once more the motor industry has to contend with a little piece of bad news that passed almost unnoticed amid the hunt for aunt Gertrude's Christmas present and plans to see in the New Year.