• The FV10 Jaguar R5 broke the lap record at Donington Park (11 March) on its first official test driven by Marc Hynes
The Cars International Team was at Donington Park on Tuesday 11 March for its first test day with their 2004 Jaguar R5, the first of the FV10 programme cars. The F1 car proved reliable and amazingly user-friendly as it coped with various stop starts due to red flags and the usual test day stoppages.
FV10 test driver Marc Hynes was on hand to put the car through its paces over the lunch hour session and despite tricky conditions, due to oil on the approach to the Esses, he managed to break all existing records set by current EuroBOSS cars, setting a time of 55.5 seconds.
Hynes said, “Today was all about testing the car, whilst the lunch break session enabled us to have a clear track. We didn’t go out to beat the lap record, but it was a massive bonus. The car is phenomenally quick and awesome to drive. I’m still getting used to the braking distances and I reckon, without the oil down on the circuit where I had to brake off line, there could be another two seconds in there easily.”
Cars International boss Paul Osborn also went out in the R5 during the afternoon general test session and reported how remarkably easy the car is to drive: “Despite it being a busy test day, the car modifications deliver all the performance of a car of its era with the 18,000 rpm Cosworth 3.0 V10 engine but with an electronics package that makes it reliable and economical to drive for pleasure without costing a fortune.” Bernard Ferguson, former Director of Motorsport for Cosworth is a consultant for the FV10 project. He commented, "The cars and engines ran flawlessly yesterday and despite heavy traffic and a succession of red flags both Mark and Paul showed what the package is capable of. The key to a programme such as FV10 is reliability which allows the drivers the opportunity to maximise the track time available. When the car was on track, either in traffic or on its own, the characteristic sound of a thoroughbred V10 sent a tingle down the spine of everyone present.”For further information about FV10, or Cars International, visit www.carsinternational.com
FV10 Background
Cars International, a worldwide supplier of road and racing cars, set up FV10 (launched in December at Silverstone) in partnership with engine specialists Cosworth, to market and maintain post-2000 Formula One cars for private owners. FV10 has already acquired a fleet of recent-model Jordans, Jaguars and Super Aguris that are now affordable for more than just the super rich.
The FV10 livered 2005 Jaguar R5 runs the refitted 2006 Cosworth TJ 3.0 V10 engine, which has been retuned to provide up to 875bhp.
The FV10 technical and maintenance team is made up of ex-F1 personnel and headed by Tim Preston. He has worked for Formula One teams Williams F1 and Sauber and with F1 drivers such as Damon Hill, Juan Pablo Montoya and Jenson Button.
Mark Hynes heads up the driver training element of the programme. The experienced driver and instructor have trained some the biggest names in Formula One, including Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton.
Paul Osborn and Jonathan Kaiser, co-owners of Cars International, are the driving force behind FV10, and have pulled together an impressive list of companies from the world of motorsport to help deliver this unique offering. Supplementing the technical experience at Cosworth, the list of high profile partners supporting FV10 includes Air Partner, Oakley, AWS Racewear, Avon Tyres and BMTR.
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