Tom Walkinshaw Racing


Tom Walkinshaw Racing was a motor racing team and engineering firm founded in 1976, in Kidlington, near Oxford, England by touring car racer Tom Walkinshaw.
The company initially handled privateer work before entering works touring car racers for manufacturers such as Mazda and Rover. However, TWR became most closely associated with Jaguar, a relationship which started in 1982 with the successful entry of the Jaguar XJS into the European Touring Car Championship, chalking up a number of wins that year. The relationship continued and by 1988, TWR-Jaguar had taken its first Le Mans victory in a V12-powered XJR-9. Further success followed with a Le Mans win in 1990.
TWR and Jaguar formed JaguarSport initially to build tuned versions of Jaguar road-cars, culminating in the production of the XJ220 and XJR-15 sports cars at a new facility at Bloxham. With Jaguar bought by Ford in 1989, its relationship with TWR faded and by 1994, JaguarSport had been liquidated, with the Bloxham factory being overhauled for production of Aston Martin automobiles.
TWR nonetheless continued to achieve racing success with other manufacturers, notably winning Le Mans again in 1996 and 1997 in a Porsche-powered WSC-95. However, it was the costs resulting from the purchase of the Formula 1 team Arrows in 1996 that led to the demise of TWR in 2002.
The UK assets and facility were bought by Menard Competition Technologies. The facilities were used as Arrows Grand Prix International, Super Aguri and Caterham F1 teams headquarters. The Australian part of the business was sold to Holden.

Touring and sports car racing

TWR started by modifying BMW 3.0 CSLs, but soon was contracted to head Mazda's works program in the British Touring Car Championship. The TWR developed RX-7, with Win Percy in the driving seat, won the title in both 1980 and 1981. Walkinshaw himself also took a win in the Spa 24 Hours.
After preparing the Dakar-winning Range Rover for René Metge in 1982, TWR began an association with British Leyland, preparing the Jaguar XJS and Rover 3500 Vitesse for both the BTCC and European Touring Car Championship.
Success in the latter series with both cars led to a partnership to develop a Jaguar prototype for Group C racing, for use in both the World Sportscar Championship and the IMSA GT Championship. John Egan, Jaguar chairman, was keen to put Jaguar back on the map after Jaguar was privatised in 1984 and felt that a return to sports-car racing would give Jaguar a much needed boost in international markets. As Bob Tullius' Group 44 initially ran Jaguar powered cars in IMSA, Jaguar partnered with both Group 44 and TWR. However, it soon became clear that a single partner could successfully run in both WSCC and IMSA and so by 1988 TWR had secured the contract to run in both series.
TWR Jaguar cars won the WSCC outright in 1987, 1988 and 1991 and won the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1988 and 1990. The series started in 1985 with XJR-6, designed by Tony Southgate, with a chassis built from carbon-fibre and power provided by a highly tuned Jaguar V12 engine. This was followed by XJR-8, which won the WSCC Team's Championship in 1987, then XJR-9 which won the WSCC Team's Championship in 1988 and also secured victory at Le Mans the same year, returning in much the same form as the XJR-12 to win Le Mans again in 1990. TWR developed its own engine for the next series of cars, the XJR-10 and XJR-11 of 1989 and 1990, employing a 3.5 litre twin-turbocharged V6, which was capable of far more power than the V12 but was less suited to 24 hour racing.
However, rule changes made the 3.5-litre turbocharged cars defunct within just one season of the WSCC and so TWR developed the all-new XJR-14 for 1991 – the first full car designed by Ross Brawn – for the final year of Jaguar racing in WSCC. Although this car won both the WSCC Drivers' and Teams' championship, Jaguar decided that it no longer had any interest in WSCC due to unfair rule changes. For IMSA in 1991, TWR ran the XJR-16, a development of the XJR-10. In spite of six wins in fourteen races, TWR-Jaguar was placed second overall to the more consistent Nissan team. For IMSA in 1992, Jaguar's last season in sportscar racing, XJR-14 was brought to America, but lack of development to deal with tighter, bumpier US circuits, meant that it could not repeat the result of the previous year in WSCC, taking second in the Driver's championship and third in the Manufacturer's Championship.
In 1991, in parallel with production of the XJR-14, TWR also developed the £500,000 XJR-15 for a select group of cusomers, based on the Le Mans winning XJR-9. This was raced in its own series, the Jaguar Intercontinental Challenge, supporting F1 races at Monaco, Silverstone and Spa. The winning driver, Armin Hahne, took a US$1m prize. The car was also road-legal, the only road-car to be fully designed and built by TWR.
In Australia, Walkinshaw Racing competed in the Australian Touring Car Championship, including spells as factory-back teams under the names Holden Racing Team and HSV Dealer Team.
TWR modified its XJR-14 design into the TWR WSC-95 for Porsche. Porsche decided against using it in 1995 due to a sudden rule change, but in 1996 it was entered at Le Mans by Joest Racing and won the race, a feat it repeated the following year at the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans.
In 1997, Nissan Motorsports turned to Tom Walkinshaw Racing to help them develop the Nissan R390 GT1 race car to compete in sports car racing. In the 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans, Nissan was able to achieve considerable success with all four of their cars finishing the race, placing 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 10th overall.

Team members

During this period, TWR worked with many of the world's leading drivers, including Win Percy, Martin Brundle, John Watson, Armin Hahne, Steve Soper, Jeff Allam, John Goss, Jean-Louis Schlesser, Gianfranco Brancatelli, Denny Hulme, Raul Boesel, David Coulthard, Jan Lammers, Johnny Dumfries, Larry Perkins, Patrick Tambay, David Leslie, Andy Wallace, John Nielsen, Davy Jones, Alexander Wurz, Manuel Reuter, Derek Warwick, David Brabham, Michele Alboreto, Stefan Johansson, Denis Lian, Tom Kristensen amongst others.
Raul Boesel, Martin Brundle and Teo Fabi each won the WSCC Driver's Championship, driving for TWR-Jaguar. TWR secured victory at Le Mans in 1988 for Andy Wallace, Johnny Dumfries and Jan Lammers; in 1990 for Brundle, Nielsen and Cobb; in 1996 for Davy Jones, Alexander Wurz and Manuel Reuter and in 1997 for Michele Alboreto, Stefan Johansson and Tom Kristensen.
A number of prominent motor-racing engineers made careers at TWR, including Roger Silman ; Tony Southgate and Ross Brawn. Ian Callum was Design Director from 1991 to 1999. TWR was also associated with Peter Stevens, who was a director of TWR Design and designer of the Jaguar XJR-15.

TWR in Formula One

Tom Walkinshaw Racing was involved in Formula One from 1992 to 2002. At first, Walkinshaw became Benetton's engineering director, and was instrumental in developing the car that took Michael Schumacher to his first World Championship title in 1994. A falling out with Benetton boss Flavio Briatore saw Walkinshaw move to a position as team manager at Ligier, which had been acquired by Briatore.
After a failed attempt at purchasing Ligier, Walkinshaw instead bought a majority stake in the Arrows in 1996. The following year, Arrows surprised the world by signing World Champion Damon Hill and introducing Bridgestone tyres to Formula One. Although the team nearly won the 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix, Arrows continued to have trouble attracting sponsorship, and following the liquidation of Arrows, TWR being the major shareholder of the outfit, soon followed suit, closing its doors in 2002 with no major success with the team. TWR Australia was quickly acquired by Holden. The TWR technical centre at Leafield was sold and would later become the headquarters of the now defunct Super Aguri F1 team, and more recently the Caterham team.

Vehicle engineering

TWR created 'TWR Sport' in 1984 to develop heavily modified versions of the Jaguar XJ-S. Designated XJR-S, the cars benefited from the racing experience in European Touring Cars, featuring improved aerodynamics; uprated suspension and brakes; tuned engine and detail changes. The success of TWR Sport led to the formalising of a joint venture in 1988 called 'Jaguar Sport'. Jaguar Sport would initially focus on building tuned versions of Jaguar road cars. However, with overwhelming demand to put the concept Jaguar XJ220 into production, it was decided that Jaguar Sport would design and develop the new sports car, for which a new facility was secured at Bloxham, Oxfordshire. Production commenced in 1990 and continued til 1993.
Following TWR's success with Jaguar at Le Mans in 1988, Tom Walkinshaw had been pressed by a number of wealthy enthusiasts to build them a road legal version of the XJR-9. He decided to put a modified version of the XJR-9 into production, initially designated R-9R but ultimately designated Jaguar XJR-15, a limited-edition road-going racing car. The XJR-15 was produced in 1991 at Bloxham, alongside the XJ220.
TWR then took on the design and development role for the new Aston Martin DB7. This car was designed by Ian Callum and built at the former Jaguar Sport facility at Bloxham.
TWR's final fully developed road car was the XJ220S, limited edition racing version of the XJ220, built between 1996 and 1997. TWR took the standard XJ220, lightened it considerably by fitting carbon-fibre bodywork, an aerodynamic body kit, and stripping out the interior. A tuned J-V6 engine was fitted, rated at completing the package.
In 1987, Walkinshaw established a partnership with General Motors' Australian division Holden, re-creating the former Holden Dealer Team performance and tuning division, Holden Special Vehicles.
TWR undertook work for other manufacturers including development of the Renault Clio V6. TWR were also involved in MG Rover's attempt to develop a replacement for the elderly Rover 45/MG ZS; they were contracted to re-engineer the Rover 75/MG ZT into a smaller car. However, the demise of Arrows and TWR meant that RD/X60, as this project was known, never reached production.

TWR in MotoGP

In 1997, former motorcycle world champion Kenny Roberts formed his own racing team and manufactured a motorcycle. Basing his company in England to take advantage of the Formula 1 industry, Roberts enlisted Tom Walkinshaw Racing to help develop a three-cylinder two-stroke engine. While the motorcycle was never able to win a Grand Prix race, it did manage to win a pole position with rider Jeremy McWilliams taking the top qualifying position at the 2002 Australian Grand Prix.

Return to British Touring Car Championship

In 1994, TWR returned to the BTCC, allied with Volvo. This partnership was responsible for the controversial 850 Estate racing car, which was only rendered uncompetitive when the FIA allowed the use of aerodynamic aids in 1995. TWR then built and ran the works 850 Saloon with six wins in 1995 and five wins in 1996, and S40 securing one win in 1997 in the BTCC.
In 1998, TWR Volvo won the British Touring Car Championship with Rickard Rydell driving the S40. TWR also aided in designing the road-going Volvo C70 coupe and convertible.

Motorsports results

YearsSeries / RaceAssociate ManufacturerCarsDriverResults
1980 - 1981British Touring Car Championship, European Touring Car ChampionshipMazdaRX-7Win Percy, Pierre Dieudonné, Tom Walkinshaw, Chuck NicholsonBTCC Championship winner, 1980 and 1981, ETCC winner 1981
1982Paris-DakarRoverRange RoverRene Metge, Bernard GirouxOverall Winner
1981-1987British Touring Car ChampionshipRoverVitesseAndy Rouse, Peter Lovett, Jeff Allam, Neil McGrath, Pete Hall, Dennis Leech, Graham Scarborough, Tim HarveyChampionship winner, 1983 ; Championship winner, 1984
1982-1984European Touring Car ChampionshipJaguarXJ-STom Walkinshaw, Hans Heyer, Win Percy, Jean-Louis Schlesser, Enzo Calderari, Chuck Nicholson, Armin Hahne, Martin Brundle2nd in 1983, Championship winner, 1984. Spa 24 Hours winner 1984
1984James Hardie 1000RoverVitesseJeff Allam, Armin Hahne, Steve Soper, Ron Dickson1st in class
1985James Hardie 1000JaguarXJ-STom Walkinshaw, Win Percy, Jeff Allam, Ron Dickson, John Goss, Armin HahneWinner, third place and DNF
1985-1986European Touring Car ChampionshipRoverVitesseTom Walkinshaw, Win Percy, Jean-Louis Schlesser, Eddy Joosen, Pierre-Alain Thibaut, Steve Soper, Hans Heyer, Martin Brundle, Gianfranco Brancatelli, Denny Hulme, Neville Crichton, Dave McMillan3rd in 1985. 2nd in 1986
1985World Endurance ChampionshipJaguarXJR-6Martin Brundle, Hans Meyer, Mike Thackwell, Jean-Louis Schlesser7th in Teams Championship
1986World Sports Prototype ChampionshipJaguarXJR-6Derek Warwick, Eddie Cheever, Jean-Louis Schlesser, Gianfranco Brancatelli, Brian Redman, Armin Hahne, Hans Heyer, Jan Lammers3rd in Teams Championship; DNF at Le Mans
1987World Sports Prototype ChampionshipJaguarXJR-8Martin Brundle, John Watson, Jan Lammers, Eddie Cheever, Raul Boessel, Armin Hahne, John Nielsen, Win Percy, Johnny DumfriesDrivers Championship winner ; also top 4 drivers ; Teams Championship winner; 5th at Le Mans
1988World Sports Prototype ChampionshipJaguarXJR-9Martin Brundle, John Nielsen, John Watson, Andy Wallace, Jan Lammers, Johnny Dumfries, Eddie Cheever, Raul Boesel, Henri Pescalaro, Danny Sullivan, Price Cobb, Derek Daly, Kevin Cogan, Larry PerkinsDrivers Championship winner ; Teams Championship winner; Winner: 24-hours Le Mans
1988IMSAJaguarXJR-9Eddie Cheever, Johnny Dumfries, John Watson, Martin Brundle, Raul Boesel, John Nielsen, Jan Lammers, Davy Jones, Danny Sullivan,2nd in Driver's championship ; 3rd in Manufacturer's Championship
Winner: 24-hours Daytona
1988European Touring Car ChampionshipHoldenCommodoreTom Walkinshaw, Jeff Alam15th at RAC Tourist Trophy
1989World Sports Prototype ChampionshipJaguarXJR-11 / 9Jan Lammers, Patrick Tambay, Andy Wallace, Alain Ferte, John Nielsen, Davy Jones, Price Cobb, Andrew Gilbert-Scott, Derek Daly, Jeff Kline, Michel Ferte, Eliseo SalazarNOTE: transition year from V12 to V6 turbo
8th in Drivers championship ; 4th in Teams Championship
1989IMSAJaguarXJR-10 / 9Derek Daly, Martin Donnelly, Patrick Tambay, Jan Lammers, Davy Jones, Raul Boesel, Price Cobb, John Nielsen, Andy WallaceNOTE: transition year from V12 to V6 turbo
3rd and 4th in Driver's Championship. 2nd in Manufacturer's Championship
1990World Sports Prototype ChampionshipJaguarXJR-11 / 12Martin Brundle, Alain Ferte, Jan Lammers, Andy Wallace, David Leslie, Franz Konrad, John Nielsen, Price Cobb, Eliseo Salazar, Davy Jones, Michel Ferte, Luis Pérez-SalaNOTE: XJR-12 used for early part of season and Le Mans
Winner: 24-hours Le Mans in XJR-12; 2nd in Teams Championship; 4th in Drivers Championship
1990IMSAJaguarXJR-10 / 16Martin Brundle, Price Cobb, John Nielsen, Davy Jones, Jan Lammers, Andy Wallace, Alain Ferte2nd in Manufacturer's championship; 3rd and 5th in Driver's Championship; Winner: 24-hours Daytona
1991World Sportscar ChampionshipJaguarXJR-14 / 12Derek Warwick, Martin Brundle, Teo Farbi, John Nielsen, Bob Wollek, Kenny Acheson, Davy Jones, Raul Boesel, Michel Ferte, David Leslie, Mauro Martini, Jeff KrosnoffNOTE: XJR-12 used solely for Le Mans
Winner: Teams Championship; Winner, Drivers Championship ; 2nd, 3rd, 4th at Le Mans 24 hours
1991IMSAJaguarXJR-10 / 12 / 16Martin Brundle, John Nielsen, Eddie Cheever, Kenny Acheson, Davy Jones, Scott Pruett, Derek Warwick, Raul BoeselNOTE: XJR-12 used solely for 24 hours Daytona
2nd in 24 hours Daytona; 3rd in Driver's Championship ; 2nd in Manufacturer's Championship
1991Jaguar Intercontinental ChallengeJaguarXJR-15Derek Warwick, David Brabham, Davy Jones, Juan Manuel Fangio, Armin Hahne, Bob Wollek, Tiff Needell, Jim Richards, Matsuaki Sanada, Cor Euser, David Leslie, Andy Evans, Yojiro Terada, Ian Flux, Matt Aitken, John WatsonJaguar Intercontinental Challenge : Winner, Armin Hahne
1992IMSAJaguarXJR-12 / 14Davy Jones, David Brabham, Scott Pruett, Scott GoodyearNOTE: XJR-12 used solely for 24 hours Daytona
2nd in 24 hours Daytona; 2nd in Driver's Championship ; 3rd in Manufacturer's Championship
1992World Sportscar ChampionshipMazdaXJR-14 Maurizio Sandro Sala, Johnny Herbert, Alex Caffi, Volker Weidler3rd in Teams Championship; 4th in Le Mans 24 hours, 8th in Drivers Championship
1993IMSAJaguarXJR-12Davy Jones, David Brabham, Scott Pruett, Scott Goodyear, John Nielsen, John AdrettiENTRY IN 24 HOURS DAYTONA ONLY
Result: 10th
1993Le MansJaguarXJ220CDavid Brabham, Andreas Fuchs, Armin Hahne, Jay Cochrane, Win Percy, David Leslie, John Nielsen, Paul Belmondo, David CoulthardWinner, GT Class. Subsequently, disqualified due to procedural error relating to catalytic converters
1996Le MansPorsche WSC-95 Davy Jones, Alex Wurz, Manuel ReuterWinner
1997Le MansPorsche WSC-95 Michele Alboreto, Stefan Johansson, Tom KristensenWinner
1997Le MansNissanR390 Kazuyoshi Hoshino, Érik Comas, Masahiko Kageyama12th
1998Le MansNissanR390 Aguri Suzuki, Kazuyoshi Hoshino, Masahiko Kageyama, John Nielsen, Michale Krumm, Franck Lagorce, Jan Lammers, Erik Comas, Andreas Montermini, Satoshi Motoyama, Takuya Kurosawa, Masami Kageyama3rd, 5th, 6th, 10th

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