Tom Walkinshaw

Scottish founder of Tom Walkinshaw Racing who won the 1984 European Touring Car Championship in a Jaguar XJ-S and was Jaguar's production partner on the XJ220.

Walkinshaw was born on 14 August 1946 at Mauldslie Farm, near Penicuik in Midlothian, the son of a market gardener. He began racing in 1968 in an MG Midget and won the 1969 Scottish Formula Ford championship. Ford signed him to a works-entered Capri in 1973. In 1976 he founded Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) at Kidlington, near Oxford, turning paid development work for privateers into a business.

In 1982 Walkinshaw proposed the V12 XJ-S for the European Touring Car Championship. John Egan supported the effort and Jaguar gave it full works backing in 1983. Walkinshaw won the drivers' title in 1984; Jaguar finished second in the constructors' table. At Spa-Francorchamps he shared the 24-hour victory with Hans Heyer and Win Percy, Jaguar's first 24-hour-race win since the 1957 Le Mans.

After the European title, Jaguar gave TWR the task of designing a sports-racing car to win Le Mans. Jaguar became World Sportscar Championship manufacturers' champion in 1987, 1988 and 1991. The XJR-9 won Le Mans in 1988 with Jan Lammers, Johnny Dumfries and Andy Wallace; the XJR-12 won in 1990 with John Nielsen, Price Cobb and Martin Brundle.

The XJ220 was signed off for production in December 1989 with TWR selected as Jaguar's partner. Jaguar Sport, the joint venture between Jaguar and Tom Walkinshaw, built the cars by hand at a new factory in Bloxham. The production car used a 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 and rear-wheel drive; Jaguar later said its chassis was 25 centimetres shorter than the concept's. The first customer car was completed in June 1992 and production ceased in 1994.