NOVEMBER 13, 2000

Jaguar gets planning permission

JAGUAR RACING has secured planning permission to start building its new headquarters at Silverstone.

JAGUAR RACING has secured planning permission to start building its new headquarters at Silverstone. TheÊFordÊMotorÊSportÊCampus will be built on a 50-acre site which extends from Silverstone's main entrance down to the outskirts of Silverstone village. If everything goes to plan the work will be finished by 2003. The priority for Ford will be the Jaguar windtunnel and the Cosworth Racing engine facility, both of which could be operational by the middle of 2002. When the center is finished it is expected to house 1200 people.

As part of the restructuring process under new managing-director Bobby Rahal, we expect an announcement shortly about the appointment of Nigel Stepney as the team's new director of racing. Stepney has been employed for the last seven years as team coordinator at Ferrari but now that the Italian operation has won the World Championship Stepney is expected to return to England.

There have also been strong rumors in recent days that the team will also announce the appointment of a new technical director to replace Gary Anderson. It is not clear who would be available for this role but the obvious choice would be MikeÊCoughlan from Arrows (although he has a contract with Arrows for one more year) although Rahal may conclude that it is better to bring in someone from the United States of America. The recent problems with Reynard Motorsport could free up one or two well-known technical men such as Bruce Ashmore or John Travis. Ashmore joined Lola in the late 1970s and has headed the design teams of Lola and then Reynard in recent years. In addition to running the Reynard CART program he also oversaw the construction of the Auto Research Center in Indianapolis and so would be a useful man for Jaguar to have...