Head of Aerodynamics Defends 'Sensible' R4

Jaguar Racing's head of aerodynamics Ben Agathangelou has defended the cautious approach of the Milton Keynes team when designing the new R4 car which was unveiled today.

The Ford-owned squad said the new Cosworth-powered R4 was a more conventional and less adventurous design than last year's R3, which struggled for performance for most of the year. The team were even forced to go back to the drawing board to fix an aerodynamic glitch.

Agathangelou, who designed the new R4 along with head of vehicle design Rob Taylor and head of vehicle performance Mark Gillan, says the conservative approach is what the team needed.

"It'll be a solid, sensible car," said Agathangelou. "That might sound a bit staid, but that's because 'solid' and 'sensible' aren't sexy words. Well, I'm sorry, but that's what R4 needs to be.

"It needs to be a solid and sensible base that we can develop throughout 2003 and into 2004 and beyond â€" because we can't keep junking everything at the end of every year and starting from scratch again, which to an extent is what happened between R2 and R3.

"We want R4 to be a rigourously specced car, with no anomalies. It'll be a platform on which to build and develop. So I'm not going to tell the media, 'Come and see the swoopy bits I've designed! Aren't they lovely?!' I'm more likely to say, 'There's our car. It's sensible and solid. It does what it says on the tin. Now we're gradually going to make it better and better.'"

31-year old Agathangelou joined Jaguar last season after working for three years at the Benetton/Renault teams as chief aerodynamicist.