So here I am in my little corner of Hawkes Bay NZ, with my 'learner Jag', a 3.2 X300 Daimler I bought 5 months ago. I have had it brought back up to scratch by my a local Jag mechanic, who worked on Jags in UK in late 80s early 90s, and has told me he loves working on the V12s...

Then today I meet another guy, who runs his garage about 2 miles from my work. He is Ian 'Blue' Dorward and worked for TWR and built the V12 race engines - it says somewhere on the net that he masterminded the whole Bathurst TWR campaign when Jaguar won there in 85, the TWR;'s last win... He owns 4 XJSes, one of which he bought new from Jag when he was with TWR, stripped it down and rebuilt it to 6.4 litres. It apparently has about 400bhp and 400lb/ft

So all I need now is a V12, either with 2 or 4 doors...

lucky me to have such great talent nearby

 

Great stuff. Please ask him to tell us what he did to achieve that output.

Greg

 

Greg, I'll do that..
You may have to wait a wee while

 

why do so many TWR guys live in NZ? seems odd!

 

A bit of history for you Ron. Since the 1960s loads of Oz and NZ guys have come to the UK to work in motor racing. Still do. The great Bruce McLaren was a NZ. Jack Brabham: Oz, Alan Jones: Oz. Quite a few went back later on, and quite a few Brits went there too, Barry Sheen (motorcycle WC) retired there. Tom Walkinshaw ended his days in Oz, I seem to remember.

Greg

 

Good wine, good climate, lotsa old Jags... not so much rust!

 

and good women,i have heard!

is it true gravity spins water counter clockwise, south of the equator?

if so, then we humans are made of 80%water, and the blood flow may spin another way, making the brain come up with a different approach to a problem, that is approached differently north of the equator!

just random thinking,guys.

 

Yes it does

Never thought of that before. Maybe that is why so many inventions came from downunder

 

Blue Dorward was telling me it is absolutely critical to use the right coolant in our Jags.
My car has the coolant pictured below. It looks orange, but diluted 50/50 with water, it goes a fluorescent green colour.
I asked about Prestone - was told firmly NO

I have never looked into the different coolant types, but this is the one for us (I am told).
Blue gives his customers a 50/50 premix bottle to carry in the trunk for emergency top-ups.