Super Aguri: the second coming

Five years after its brief Formula 1 stint came to an end, the Super Aguri name is back in the motorsport headlines after the announcement that it was being revived for an ambitious campaign in the FIA's new Formula E series.

The all-new operation will be led by overall executive chairman Aguri Suzuki, who has formed the new look Super Aguri Formula E (SAFE) team along with other key figures from the former Super Aguri F1 squad, which disbanded in 2008.

Peter McCool will act as technical director, while Mark Preston will be team principal. Commercial affairs will be overseen by Ferry Spijkerman and all four are shareholders in the fresh venture. The team will be based in the UK.

Former McLaren and Super Aguri F1 designers, Preston and McCool, along with Spijkerman, have been the instigators and driving-force behind the new project, working on forming the initiative into reality since the middle of 2012. The trio got the green light from Formula E in September, only after Suzuki himself agreed to relaunch the Super Aguri brand.

"Our whole modus operandi will be to generate an efficient and competitive organisation that majors on engineering excellence in all-electric technology," said McCool.

"We want to be more than just a racing team. We want to embrace a new vision in motorsport business and use the FIA Formula E philosophies in harmony with our own ambitions to develop the future of mobility. These are to ensure a fresh and exciting engineering entity which can thrive within the industry on a long-term basis."

All Formula E's races will take place in high profile city locations

Mirroring Formula E's philosophy of bringing the concept of the all-electric series to major urban cities, SAFE is planning to base its headquarters in Tokyo. McCool is determined to give the team a publicly visible platform to build the new-look Super Aguri brand upon.

"Ever since I first heard about Formula E, I have always wanted to have a city centre base," he explained.

"I am talking about having the team based in a major city centre with a showroom that people can walk past and see the cars being worked on and the new technology being applied.

"This will make SAFE and Formula E so much more inclusive and also showcase what the business is all about; electric technology and sport. I want it to reflect Formula E's vision of appealing to a young, bright and urban audience."

Commercial backing for the venture is likely to come from Asia, via Suzuki's considerable contacts within the continent. The team is also utilising commercial specialist Spijkerman, who has many years' experience of working within F1 and with prestigious Japanese consumer electronics companies, and who along with his fellow directors at SAFE, is charged with securing a workable budget.

SAFE has ambitions to design its own car and powertrain, possibly as early as the second year of the Formula E Championship campaign.

Technically the outfit has the wherewithal and experience to undertake the design process of such a project with McCool and Preston having specialised in integrating powertrains into chassis throughout their previous F1 careers.

Super GT in Japan is currently the main Aguri racing programme © LAT

The team is even believed to have instigated initial design concepts with experimental battery clusters for SAFE's future use in the second phase of its plans for the 2015/16 season.

"We want to be in a position where we can react quickly to regulation changes," said McCool. "We not only want to have the fastest car on the track, but to get to that point we want to have the fastest brainpower back at our base and also in the pitlane.

"I see the new series as an intellectual championship where engineering talent and foresight is just as important as what takes place on the track.

"We have the right business model to make this happen in an attractive and entertaining way and for the public to embrace all-electric and zero emission motorsport."

SAFE is currently scouting for their premises and forming the rest of its team line-up in readiness for testing next summer ahead of the inaugural FIA Formula E Championship, which begins in Beijing on September 20 2014.

Q&A with Peter McCool, technical director, SAFE

What was the genesis of SAFE and how was the official slot in FIA Formula E Championship sealed?

Aguri Suzuki with Formula E chief Alejandro Agag at the team announcement

When the FIA Formula E project was announced we were instantly attracted to it and started to put some plans in place. We met with Alejandro Agag and his team earlier this year and fully informed him of our intentions and objectives for the SAFE project, presenting our vision for a Formula E team that represents Japan and Asia.

Once Aguri came on board over the summer the final major part of the jigsaw was in place and now we are looking ahead to the inaugural season of the FIA Formula E Championship.

Is there a sense of unfinished business for the Super Aguri brand?

SAFE is a completely fresh company and indeed a fresh challenge. This time we will begin from the same starting blocks as our rivals, which really wasn't the case in F1.

We want SAFE to be the most efficient and competitive proposition on the Formula E grid from the very start. We are all very hungry to make that a reality and if what happened in the past adds more motivation for the team then we will take that and use it positively.

What about potential drivers?

I see it very much as having one experienced driver and one up-and-coming star within the team. Of course it would make sense for us to have a Japanese driver in one of the seats.

Formula E has already captured the racing world's interest

I would like the team to become a proving ground for future stars as well. There are so many F1 hopefuls who get so little test mileage these days. It might be nice to get one of them to be part of the team in that capacity, because even F1 will have to embrace this technology fully at some stage in the future.

With all the circuits being street tracks it will also be invaluable training for drivers' racecraft, so on all fronts I am sure it will be very attractive to that pool of ambitious racers that are on the cusp of F1.

From a technical perspective where do you think the technology will go as it progresses with the Formula E Championship?

From an engineer's point of view it is exciting because the championship has got to morph into a genuine open formula after the first season. This in itself can become tricky and the FIA Formula E organisers are doing a good job and being very sensible in starting with only proven technology that will deliver exciting and close racing.

Then the strategy is to bring all the latest technology on stream progressively, as and when it is fully understood and reliable. We will then be able to push the boundaries and use more of the technology to showcase what will be possible for general automotive companies.

There is so much scope for making this series a really impressive technology formula and that as an engineer I find really exciting.

Mark Preston is a veteran of Super Aguri's F1 days © LAT

What do you make of changing cars during the race?

On the one hand it is not the ideal way of solving the energy storage issues on the cars. However, on the other hand it is no real difference to a normal pitstop.

In sportscar races the stops can take over a minute with driver changes and so forth. With these stops you are just changing another function, like they do in MotoGP on occasion.

I think it will be something that takes a bit of getting used to, but will then eventually become an exciting extra element in the context of the race.

Will your contacts at McLaren be of significant benefit to you in regards to the powertrain and electronics?

No. Everything will be scrupulously fair and having worked for McLaren I know they will be the ultimate professional technology supplier in terms of parity between all of the entrants in the FIA Formula E championship.

What do you hope the Super Aguri Formula Formula E team will achieve?

I hope we race competitively and professionally in the first year. Then I hope we continue to pioneer and innovate as we showcase Japanese technology and our vision of mobility - while winning!