Fast and reliable as BAR breaks records


By BAR Honda
April 8 2005

In an exhaustive two-car, three-day, four-driver test at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona this week, Lucky Strike BAR Honda broke its own lap record - set over a year ago by Takuma Sato - and completed 719 laps reliably, the equivalent to over 11 Grand Prix distances.

This week's test focused on aerodynamic upgrades, running the latest specification engine from Honda and completing a full evaluation programme with tyre partner Michelin. The test provided a big boost for everyone at BAR Honda who have worked tirelessly on performance improvements for the start of the European season.

Jenson and Anthony started the test on Wednesday driving chassis 007-01 and the new chassis 007-05 respectively. After both drivers completed early set-up runs, Jenson worked exclusively on aerodynamic upgrade evaluations to complete a total of 109 laps. Anthony concentrated on evaluating tyre options for the Spanish Grand Prix, whilst also running the engine to its target mileage. He completed a very impressive 143 laps.

Jenson remained in chassis 007-01 on Thursday and continued his aerodynamic evaluation. He completed 141 laps setting the fastest time of the day - a 01:13.552, a new lap record for the Circuit de Catalunya. Takuma joined the test driving chassis 007-05. He spent the early part of the morning on set-up runs, followed by a tyre evaluation which he continued into the afternoon, completing a total of 121 laps. With Takuma's programme completed, and making the most of the track time available, Enrique took over for the last ninety minutes working mainly on the set-up of the car, completing 21 laps.

Takuma and Enrique continued the driving responsibilities on Friday with Takuma remaining in chassis 007-05 and Enrique moving to chassis 007-01. With the rain coming down intermittently throughout the day, both drivers ran through an intermediate wet tyre programme. Enrique ran for a total of 65 laps taking the engine past its target mileage before it finally failed. He did not run again having completed his day's objectives. By late afternoon, the track had dried sufficiently to move onto grooved tyres and Takuma ran through an aerodynamic evaluation. He completed a total of 129 laps today.

Mark Ellis, Chief Test Engineer, commented "This week has been an extremely positive test for us. The whole team has worked impressively to prepare the cars to the highest standards each day and both cars have proven to be very reliable which has enabled us to get through a huge amount of work. We have worked solidly on the performance of the car and have made definite progress. We will continue this programme at Paul Ricard next week where we will make further preparations and introduce further new parts before the first European race at Imola. This week we have also completed greater than the required two-race event mileage on three different engines, which is a big boost for everyone at Honda. Everyone at BAR Honda is working tirelessly to get us back to the front of the grid."

Shuhei Nakamoto, Engineering Director at Honda Racing Development, added "We made good progress with the engine this week and will continue pushing forward at Paul Ricard next week."

Best Barcelona Times 2005
Pos  Driver Team Engine Tyre Best Lap Gap
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
25 
26 
27 
28 
29 
30 
31  		Button
Alonso
Fisichella
Trulli
Sato
de la Rosa
Wurz
Zonta
Barrichello
Badoer
M Schumacher
Raikkonen
Heidfeld
Coulthard
Klien
Pizzonia
Montoya
Davidson
Liuzzi
Gene
Webber
Speed
R Schumacher
Panis
Massa
Karthikeyan
Bernoldi
Monteiro
Jani
Villeneuve
Pastorelli 		BAR
Renault
Renault
Toyota
BAR
McLaren
McLaren
Toyota
Ferrari
Ferrari
Ferrari
McLaren
Williams
Red Bull
Red Bull
Williams
McLaren
BAR
Red Bull
Ferrari
Williams
Red Bull
Toyota
Toyota
Sauber
Jordan
BAR
Jordan
Red Bull
Sauber
Jordan 		Honda
Renault
Renault
Toyota
Honda
Mercedes
Mercedes
Toyota
Ferrari
Ferrari
Ferrari
Mercedes
BMW
Cosworth
Cosworth
BMW
Mercedes
Honda
Cosworth
Ferrari
BMW
Cosworth
Toyota
Toyota
Petronas
Toyota
Honda
Toyota
Cosworth
Petronas
Toyota 		M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
B
B
B
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
B
M
M
M
M
M
B
M
B
M
M
B 		1:13.552
1:13.971
1:14.074
1:14.231
1:14.247
1:14.391
1:14.391
1:14.502
1:14.641
1:14.761
1:14.920
1:14.929
1:14.932
1:14.957
1:14.982
1:15.141
1:15.199
1:15.500
1:15.656
1:15.737
1:15.841
1:16.122
1:16.281
1:16.796
1:16.565
1:16.999
1:17.243
1:17.560
1:18.037
1:18.096
1:24.731 		0.000
0.419
0.522
0.679
0.695
0.839
0.839
0.950
1.089
1.209
1.368
1.377
1.380
1.405
1.430
1.589
1.647
1.948
2.104
2.185
2.289
2.570
2.729
3.244
3.013
3.447
3.691
4.008
4.485
4.544
11.179