Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) was a
motor racing
Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...
team and engineering firm founded in 1976, in
Kidlington, near
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, England, by touring car racer
Tom Walkinshaw.
The company initially handled privateer work before entering works touring car racers for manufacturers such as
Mazda
, commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan.
In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one m ...
and
Rover
Rover may refer to:
People
* Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian
* Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer
* Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist
Places
* Rover, Arkansas, US
* Rover, Missouri, US
* ...
. However, TWR became most closely associated with
Jaguar
The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...
, a relationship which started in 1982 with the successful entry of the
Jaguar XJS
The Jaguar XJ-S (later called XJS) is a luxury grand tourer manufactured and marketed by British car manufacturer Jaguar Cars from 1975 to 1996, in coupé, fixed-profile and full convertible bodystyles. There were three distinct iterations, w ...
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
Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...
victory in a V12-powered
XJR-9
The Jaguar XJR-9 is a sports-prototype race car built by Jaguar for both FIA Group C and IMSA Camel GTP racing, debuting at the 1988 24 Hours of Daytona.
Development
An evolution of the design for the XJR-8, the XJR-9 was designed by Tony So ...
. 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
Bloxham is a village and civil parish in northern Oxfordshire several miles from the Cotswolds, about southwest of Banbury. It is on the edge of a valley and overlooked by Hobb Hill. The village is on the A361 road. The 2011 Census recorded ...
. 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
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is an English manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated with ...
automobiles which was also at the time under Ford's ownership.
TWR had continued to achieve racing success with other manufacturers, notably winning Le Mans again in 1996 and 1997 in a
Porsche
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...
-powered
WSC-95. However, it was the costs resulting from the purchase of the
Formula 1
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
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
Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. It was an Australian automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter which sold cars under its own marque in Australia. In its last thre ...
.
Touring and sports car racing
![Rover Vitesse 19850706](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Rover_Vitesse_19850706.jpg)
TWR started by modifying
BMW 3.0 CSLs, but soon was contracted to head
Mazda
, commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan.
In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one m ...
's works program in the
British Touring Car Championship
The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA
TOCA, formally trading as BARC (TOCA) Ltd, is an organiser of motorsport events in ...
. The TWR developed
RX-7
The Mazda RX-7 is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, rotary engine-powered sports car that was manufactured and marketed by Mazda from 1978 until 2002 across three generations, all of which made use of a compact, lightweight Wankel rotary engine.
...
, with
Win Percy
Winston "Win" Percy (born 28 September 1943, near Tolpuddle, Dorset) is a former motor racing driver from England. Percy was British Touring Car Champion three times, and at the time of his retirement was the most successful non- Antipodean driv ...
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
Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...
-winning
Range Rover for René Metge in 1982, TWR began an association with
British Leyland
British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It was partl ...
, preparing the
Jaguar XJS
The Jaguar XJ-S (later called XJS) is a luxury grand tourer manufactured and marketed by British car manufacturer Jaguar Cars from 1975 to 1996, in coupé, fixed-profile and full convertible bodystyles. There were three distinct iterations, w ...
and
Rover 3500 Vitesse for both the BTCC and
European Touring Car Championship.
Success in the latter series (as well as the French championship) with both cars led to a partnership to develop a
Jaguar prototype for
Group C
Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with ''Group A'' for touring cars and ''Group B'' for GTs.
It was designed to replace both Group 5 special production cars (closed top touri ...
racing, for use in both the
World Sportscar Championship
The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992.
The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance, and road racing events in Europe and No ...
(WSCC) and the
IMSA GT Championship
IMSA GT was a sports car racing series organized by International Motor Sports Association. Races took place primarily in the United States, and occasionally in Canada.
History
The series was founded in 1969 by John and Peggy Bishop, and Bill F ...
(IMSA).
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 (for IMSA) and TWR (for WSCC). 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
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...
and the
24 Hours of Daytona
The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layou ...
in
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...
and
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
. The series started in 1985 with XJR-6 (Group 44 used the XJR-5 and XJR-7), designed by
Tony Southgate
Tony Southgate (born 25 May 1940, Coventry, England) is a British engineer and former racing car designer. He designed many successful cars, including Jaguar's Le Mans-winning XJR-9, and cars for almost every type of circuit racing. He was respon ...
, 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 (for IMSA) and XJR-11 (for WSCC) 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 (hence the XJR-12 being deployed at Le Mans and the 24 hours of Daytona).
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
Ross James Brawn (born 23 November 1954) is a British Formula One managing director, motor sports and technical director.
He is a former motorsport engineer and Formula One team principal, and has worked for a number of Formula One teams. Serv ...
– for the final year of Jaguar racing in WSCC. Although this car won both the WSCC Drivers' and Teams' championship, Jaguar (along with almost all other manufacturers) 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 (Davy Jones) 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 customers, 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
Walkinshaw Andretti United is an Australian motor racing team based in the Melbourne suburb of Clayton. The team currently fields two Holden ZB Commodores in the Supercars Championship for Nick Percat and Chaz Mostert, along with a Porsche 91 ...
and
HSV Dealer Team.
TWR modified its
XJR-14
The Jaguar XJR-14 is a sports-prototype racing car introduced for the 1991 World Sportscar Championship season. It was designed by Ross Brawn and John Piper, and was built and run by Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR), on behalf of Jaguar Cars.
Design
...
design (which had also been used by Mazda in the final years of the
World Sportscar Championship
The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992.
The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance, and road racing events in Europe and No ...
as the rebadged
Mazda MXR-01) into the
TWR WSC-95 for
Porsche
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...
. Porsche decided against using it in 1995 due to a sudden rule change, but in
1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
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
The 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 65th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 14 and 15 June 1997.
The race saw the first of a record (as of 2022) 9 wins at Le Mans for popular Danish driver Tom Kristensen.
Pre-race
The Dunlop chicane wa ...
.
In 1997,
Nissan Motorsports turned to Tom Walkinshaw Racing to help them develop the
Nissan R390 GT1
The Nissan R390 GT1 was a racing car built in Atsugi, Japan. It was designed primarily to gain a suitable racing entry in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1997 and 1998. It was built to race under the grand touring style rules, requiring a homologated ...
race car (a re-bodied XJR-15) to compete in
sports car racing. In the
1998 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 66th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 6 and 7 June 1998.
Schedule
Events for the 24 Hours of Le Mans began on 2 May with technical inspections, before initial pre-qualifying on 3 May. The race week b ...
, 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
![DAVY JONES2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/DAVY_JONES2.jpg)
During this period, TWR worked with many of the world's leading drivers, including
Win Percy
Winston "Win" Percy (born 28 September 1943, near Tolpuddle, Dorset) is a former motor racing driver from England. Percy was British Touring Car Champion three times, and at the time of his retirement was the most successful non- Antipodean driv ...
,
Martin Brundle
Martin John Brundle (born 1 June 1959) is a British former racing driver, best known as a Formula One driver and as a commentator for ITV Sport from 1997 to 2008, the BBC from 2009 to 2011, and Sky Sports since 2012.
Brundle contested the 19 ...
,
John Watson,
Armin Hahne,
Steve Soper,
Jeff Allam
Jeffrey Frank Allam (born 19 December 1954 in Epsom, England), is a former British racing driver who made his name in Saloon Car racing. He now works as Head of Business for Allam Motor Services in Epsom which are a Skoda sales and service and V ...
,
John Goss,
Jean-Louis Schlesser
Jean-Louis Schlesser (born 12 September 1948) is a French racing driver with experience in circuit racing and cross-country rallying. He is known for his wins of many different competitions. He is the nephew of Jo Schlesser, a former Formula On ...
,
Gianfranco Brancatelli,
Denny Hulme,
Raul Boesel
Raul de Mesquita Boesel (, born 4 December 1957) is a Brazilian former racing driver who raced for the March and Ligier Formula One teams and later raced in Champ Car and the Indy Racing League.
He won the 1987 World Sportscar Championship and t ...
,
David Coulthard,
Jan Lammers,
Johnny Dumfries,
Larry Perkins
Larry Clifton Perkins (born 18 March 1950) is a former racing driver and V8 Supercar team owner from Australia.
Biography Early years
Growing up on a farm in Cowangie in the Mallee region of Victoria, Larry, the son of racing driver Eddi ...
,
Patrick Tambay
Patrick Daniel Tambay (25 June 1949 – 4 December 2022) was a French racing driver, commentator, and politician, who competed in 123 Formula One races between 1977 and 1986, securing five pole positions and winning twice. Between 1977 and 198 ...
,
David Leslie,
Andy Wallace,
John Nielsen,
Davy Jones,
Alexander Wurz,
Manuel Reuter
Manuel Reuter (born 6 December 1961 in Mainz) is a German former race car driver.
He has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice:
*in 1989 24 Hours of Le Mans for Sauber-Mercedes
*in 1996 24 Hours of Le Mans for Joest Racing
He also won the Inte ...
,
Derek Warwick,
David Brabham
David Brabham (born 5 September 1965) is an Australian professional racing driver and one of the most successful and experienced specialists in sports car racing. He has won three international Sports Car series and is one of four Australians t ...
,
Michele Alboreto
Michele Alboreto (; 23 December 1956 – 25 April 2001) was an Italian racing driver. He was runner up to Alain Prost in the 1985 Formula One World Championship, as well as winning the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans and 2001 12 Hours of Sebring spo ...
,
Stefan Johansson
Stefan Nils Edwin Johansson (born 8 September 1956) is a Swedish racing driver who drove in Formula One for both Ferrari and McLaren, among other teams. Since leaving Formula One he has won the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans and raced in a number o ...
,
Denis Lian
Denis Lian (traditional Chinese: ) (born 8 March 1972) is a Singaporean race car driver.
Denis Lian is Singapore's most successful professional racing driver. In 2002, he was crowned Asian Formula 2000 Champion, becoming the first Singaporean ...
,
Tom Kristensen
Tom Kristensen (born 7 July 1967) is a Danish former racing driver. He holds the record for the most wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with nine, six of which were consecutive (from 2000 to 2005). In 1997, he won the race with the Joest Racing te ...
amongst others.
Raul Boesel (1987), Martin Brundle (1988) and
Teo Fabi (1991) 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 (Operations Director);
Tony Southgate
Tony Southgate (born 25 May 1940, Coventry, England) is a British engineer and former racing car designer. He designed many successful cars, including Jaguar's Le Mans-winning XJR-9, and cars for almost every type of circuit racing. He was respon ...
(engineering director) and
Ross Brawn
Ross James Brawn (born 23 November 1954) is a British Formula One managing director, motor sports and technical director.
He is a former motorsport engineer and Formula One team principal, and has worked for a number of Formula One teams. Serv ...
(engineering director).
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
The Jaguar Sport XJR-15 is a two-seater sports car produced by JaguarSport, a subsidiary of Jaguar and Tom Walkinshaw Racing between 1990 and 1992. Only 50 were planned (although 53 chassis were eventually made), each selling for GB£500,000.
...
.
TWR in Formula One
![Damon Hill 1997 Arrows Yamaha Hungary](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Damon_Hill_1997_Arrows_Yamaha_Hungary.jpg)
Tom Walkinshaw Racing was involved in
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
from
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
to
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
. 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
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
. A falling out with Benetton boss
Flavio Briatore
Flavio Briatore (; born 12 April 1950) is an Italian businessman. He started his career as a restaurant manager and insurance salesman in Italy. Briatore was convicted in Italy on several fraud charges in the 1980s, receiving two prison senten ...
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
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
. The following
year
A year or annus is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the hou ...
, Arrows surprised the world by signing World Champion
Damon Hill and introducing
Bridgestone
is a Japanese multinational tire manufacturer founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi (1889–1976) in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan. The name Bridgestone comes from a calque translation and transposition of , meaning 'stone bridge' in Japan ...
tyres to Formula One. Although the team nearly won the
1997 Hungarian Grand Prix
The 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix (formally the XIII Marlboro Magyar Nagydij) was a Formula One motor race held at Hungaroring, Mogyoród, Pest, Hungary on 10 August 1997. The race, contested over 77 laps, was the eleventh race of the 1997 Formula On ...
, 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 and later
Caterham F1 teams.
Vehicle engineering
![Jaguar XJ220 1997 - side](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Jaguar_XJ220_1997_-_side.jpg)
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 (50/50) in 1988 called 'Jaguar Sport'. Jaguar Sport would initially focus on building tuned versions of Jaguar road cars (the XJR-S coupe and XJR saloon). However, with overwhelming demand to put the concept
Jaguar XJ220
The Jaguar XJ220 is a two-seat sports car produced by British luxury car manufacturer Jaguar from 1992 until 1994, in collaboration with the specialist automotive and race engineering company Tom Walkinshaw Racing. The XJ220 recorded a top sp ...
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 (initially outside of Jaguar's knowledge) to put a modified version of the XJR-9 into production, initially designated R-9R but ultimately designated
Jaguar XJR-15
The Jaguar Sport XJR-15 is a two-seater sports car produced by JaguarSport, a subsidiary of Jaguar and Tom Walkinshaw Racing between 1990 and 1992. Only 50 were planned (although 53 chassis were eventually made), each selling for GB£500,000.
...
, 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
The Aston Martin DB7 is a grand tourer which was produced by British luxury automobile manufacturer Aston Martin from September 1994 to December 2004. The car was available either as a coupé or a convertible. The prototype was complete by Novem ...
. This car was designed by Ian Callum and built at the former Jaguar Sport facility at Bloxham.
In 1996 TWR designed, engineered and built the Volvo C70 Coupe, launched with the 2.3 T5 engine used in the touring cars.
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, (derived from the XJ220C racing car) 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
The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
' Australian division
Holden
Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. It was an Australian automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter which sold cars under its own marque in Australia. In its last thre ...
, 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, and the
Saab 9-3 Viggen. TWR were also involved in
MG Rover
MG Rover Group was the last domestically owned mass-production car manufacturer in the British motor industry. The company was formed when BMW sold the car-making and engine manufacturing assets of the original Rover Group to the Phoenix Consor ...
's attempt to develop a replacement for the elderly
Rover 45
The Rover 400 Series, and later the Rover 45, are a series of small family cars that were produced by the British manufacturer Rover from 1990 to 2005. The cars were co-developed as part of Rover's collaboration with Honda. The first-generation ...
/
MG ZS The MG ZS is an automobile nameplate of MG used for two different vehicles:
* MG ZS (2001), a small family car manufactured between 2001 and 2005 by MG Rover
* MG ZS (crossover), a subcompact crossover manufactured since 2017 by MG Motor, a subsid ...
; they were contracted to re-engineer the
Rover 75/
MG ZT
The MG ZT is a car which was produced by MG Rover from 2001 to 2005. It was offered in saloon and estate versions, the latter designated as the MG ZT-T. Styling is similar to the Rover 75, upon which it was based, although various modifications, ...
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
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
, former motorcycle world champion
Kenny Roberts
Kenneth Leroy Roberts (born December 31, 1951, in Modesto, California) is an American former professional motorcycle racer and racing team owner. In 1978, he became the first American to win a Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championship. He ...
formed his own racing team and manufactured a motorcycle. Basing his company in England to take advantage of the
Formula 1
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
industry, Roberts enlisted Tom Walkinshaw Racing to help develop a three-cylinder
two-stroke
A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a Thermodynamic power cycle, power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being comple ...
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
Jeremy McWilliams (born 4 April 1964 in Belfast) is a former motorcycle road racer from Northern Ireland. McWilliams became ineligible for mainstream racing after the 2014 season due to his age exceeding the 50-year-old cutoff point, but has c ...
taking the top qualifying position at the
2002 Australian Grand Prix
The 2002 Australian Grand Prix (formally the 2002 Foster's Australian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 3 March 2002 at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Albert Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. With 127,000 people in attend ...
.
Return to British Touring Car Championship
![Rickard Rydell 1996 BTCC](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Rickard_Rydell_1996_BTCC.jpg)
In 1994, TWR returned to the BTCC, allied with
Volvo
The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...
. 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.
Inventory of TWR-developed cars
Motorsports results
Gallery
References
{{reflist
British auto racing teams
British Touring Car Championship teams
24 Hours of Le Mans teams
International Formula 3000 teams
British Formula Three teams
World Sportscar Championship teams
British racecar constructors
Jaguar in motorsport
Porsche in motorsport
Auto racing teams established in 1976
Auto racing teams disestablished in 2002