FEBRUARY 5, 2002

Even more on the Arrows A23

Our spies at Leafield are revealing more details of the purposeful-looking Arrows A23, which does as we speculated feature a Sauber-like front suspension.

OUR spies at Leafield are revealing more details of the purposeful-looking Arrows A23, which does as we speculated feature a Sauber-like front suspension. The fuel tank of the new car is bigger than the previous A22 but is still not big enough to allow the team as much flexibility in tactics as might be welcomed although the smaller and more efficient Cosworth V10 engine will help matters.

The car has been designed by Mike Coughlan with input from the aerodynamic team led by former Ferrari engineer Nicolo Petrucci and including Frenchman Eric Lacote (a former Ligier engineer) and Pep Fasulo. According to our spies the results have been promising, although the negotiations to sell the team's Bedford windtunnel to Jaguar Racing caused significant problems, as did the lack of investment in the impressive Bedford facility.

The new gearbox is a derivative of last year's model although modifications have been necessary because of the lower Cosworth engine while the suspension is more conventional than has been the case in previous seasons.

The result is a good-looking car which would seem to have the elements needed to make Arrows a rather more successful team than it has been in recent years. However the question remains over the team's financial restrictions, which have forced the designers to make compromises.