Page 29 - On the Prowl: The Definitive History of the Walkinshaw Jaguar Sports Car Team

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1991:
Two New Cars for TWR
Chapter 15
√ The arrival of Ross Brawn’s revolutionary XJR-14 would take the Sportscar World Championship by storm, at
least until Tom Walkinshaw saw the writing on the wall and realized that Jaguar was likely to pull the plug on its
sports car program. From that point on, it made no sense for TWR to invest any more money, and the amazing new
car was allowed to stagnate. (McKlein)
For now, Ford had decided to continue funding the Jaguar program in the Sportscar World
Championship, and TWR was continuing with its American program too.
In the US, the cars would look quite different, following the end of Castrol’s title sponsorship agreement.
Gone were the iconic green and red flashes of the famous motor oil brand, now replaced with another key
lubricant in the American market, Bud Light beer. Castrol remained as a secondary name on the cars, which
were now primarily white, with blue and red trim that reflected the beer’s branding.
As the year began, it was expected that the new paint scheme would be seen on the V12 cars at Daytona
and Sebring, and on XJR-10s for the rest of the year. In reality, TWR Inc. was hard at work behind the scenes on
its own new car. Tony Dowe and Ian Reed had come to realize that the existing turbo cars, derived from the XJR-
11s that were optimized for the quite different European style of circuit, just didn’t work so well in the US. They
needed something that could handle the rougher tracks, and that hadn’t been designed around fuel economy.
They wanted downforce, and downforce usually means more drag, which requires more fuel.
The American team’s budget was still coming from Jaguar Inc., the US arm of the parent company, so
interference from Ford was less likely in the next couple of years, but Tom Walkinshaw still wanted to make sure
the Valparaiso team wasn’t spending too much. Fully aware of how stingy the boss could be, Dowe decided to
have his team work on the new car in secret, vowing to seek forgiveness when he submitted the expenses,
rather than get permission first.
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©2024 David Bull Publishing
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©2024 David Bull Publishing
©2024 David Bull Publishing
©2024 David Bull Publishing
©2024 David Bull Publishing
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