By Matt Bird \/ Monday, 13 November 2023 \/ Loading comments<\/p>\n
Though a separate company to Tom Walkinshaw Racing, the new TWR was always going to riff off the legacy of the original entity – not least with Tom\u2019s son Fergus heading up the operation. The stated aim is to \u2018draw on the same spirit, drive and innovation that helped make the original TWR a global automotive icon\u2019, after all. So it should come as no surprise at all to learn this TWR will kick off by resurrecting an old TWR favourite – the Jaguar XJS. <\/p>\n
It was Walkinshaw Senior\u2019s exploits with the V12 in the European Touring Car Championship that kicked off the Jaguar-TWR partnership that would be so successful. He saw a winner in the XJS, built a Group A spec racer from it, got his best tin-top racing chums to drive it, and romped to victories on a wave of V12 thunder: wins at Spa and Bathurst, European championships\u2026 you name it, the XJS won it. There was only one car the new TWR could work with. <\/p>\n
Things are a bit different this time around, however, as Magnus Walker will be involved with the design. Ashis Khyzyl Saleem, founder of Live To Offend and with a background in SEMA builds and gaming. Anyone hoping for a delicately reimagined XJS touring car might want to alter their expectations, because it sounds like the new TWR Jag is going to be pretty extreme. <\/p>\n
Walker is never short of something to say, and he reckons his role as Design Consultant will see the XJS take on an outlaw theme similar to that of Nico McBrain\u2019s XJ6. Which, it should be said, was pretty cool. \u201cI\u2019ve been looking to do something very, very similar myself. I\u2019ve owned Jaguars before, but the car I had never owned was an XJS\u2026 The XJS is a car that\u2019s sort of misunderstood. I wanted to make my mark on it.\u201d TWR has also spoken about making a statement around its \u2018level of ambition\u2019 with this build, so make of that what you will. It\u2019s unlikely to blend into the background. <\/p>\n
Saleem added of his first complete car (his previous work has been in bodykits): \u201cI\u2019m designing something pretty badass and helping to create a truly relevant TWR for the 21st century. The XJS has been seen as sort of unloved, a difficult second album to the E-Type. There\u2019s an obvious history with it and TWR, and to have the chance to give it a new life is special. Just wait until you see what we\u2019re doing with it. You\u2019ll love it.\u201d Again, probably not one for the purists, though likely to guarantee an impact – and the purists never liked the XJS anyway\u2026<\/p>\n
Beyond it being a V12 (a straight six just wouldn\u2019t have seemed right), there hasn\u2019t been much released about TWR\u2019s reimagination for the moment. We do know that Walker is also having a say on how the car drives as well as looks – and he wants it \u201cdrivable in real world situations\u201d – but not a great deal more. If it was good enough to make an all conquering touring car from, there\u2019s gotta be something worthwhile in the XJS engineering. Further details are expected early in the new year – it seems unlikely that the TWR XJS will be easily missed.<\/p>\n