Jaguar R3 & R5- The F1 Champions
What do Beck’s Beer, HSBC Global Bank and Rolex have in common? They’re all sponsors of the Jaguar powered R series Formula 1 race cars. These vehicles raced in the 2000 through 2004 seasons. Two of this highlights were the R3 and R5. Jaguar’s R3 was the F1 racing car for Jaguar Racing in the 2002 season. The Jaguar R5 was a F1 car used by Jag during 2004′s season. The R5 was the last chassis made by Jaguar Racing, before they became Red Bull Racing in 2005.
Jaguar R3
Jaguar R5
The R-Series of Jaguar Racers have a dicey history – The original R1 car proved largely disappointing, despite flashes of promise. It generally proved difficult to drive and suffered from an unreliable gearbox. Eddie Irvine, the 1999 championship runner-up, could only score 4 points, placing the team ninth overall in the Constructors’ Championship. The team went through several owners – from airline moguls to former racers. Neither seemed to be able to get Jag race cars to place in the top three in any competition. During a promotion in 2004 the mose of the R5 was laced with $250,000 worth of diamonds – one of which went missing after the vehicle was involved in an on-track accident.
In November 2004, energy drink company Red Bull confirmed that they had purchased the Jaguar Formula One team from Ford – putting an end to the short and sordid story of Jaguar R-Series Racing.
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