Guys,

I've made a new acquaintance from New Zealand, who is actually a rather prominent & knowledgeable figure in Jaguar racing history, and a good bit of that history is directly linked to the XJS. Now, I'm not talking about just any old XJS. This guy's name is Allan Scott, and he managed the Racing Engine Division of Tom Walkinshaw Racing.
That's right, TWR!

I would say that if anyone knows how to wring every last drop of performance out of our V12, it's Allan. What's cool, is that he has put much of that knowledge into a book he had published late last year. It's title is
TWR and Jaguar's XJS - Inside Tom Walkinshaw's Group A Racing Team.

I also know a guy from Minnesota who races his XJS (he is basically making a TWR clone with his own personal touches added here and there). I asked him about Allan's book, and he told me that the book is more than worth the price, and the wait for it to arrive on a slow boat from New Zealand. He also said that much of the improvements/modifications he has made/is making to his car for this year's racing season, came from Allan's book. Knowing this man's character, and all the money, time, work & fabrication he has put into his car, this is quite a strong endorsement.

So I contacted Allan to ask where I could buy his book in The States. He told me that this is the 1st of 4 books he will publish about the TWR cars and team, from an insider's perspective. Allan also said that he has no distribution network in the US, and that I would need to order directly from him. That's a shame, since The US accounts for most of the worldwide sales of the XJS, and I'm sure interest among XJS enthusiasts here would be great. I told him that I would tell people about it on this forum, so that those interested could buy one, or maybe we could even do a group buy, and get some sort of price break

Anyhow, here's a shot of the dust cover, and the info Allan gave me, to pass along about the book:





"TWR and Jaguar's XJS" - Inside Tom Walkinshaw's Group a racing team.

This book is a high quality coloured production
with over 250 photographs and tells the inside
story of how Tom Walkinshaw Racing carried
out this sometimes controversial motor racing
programme for Jaguar Cars UK, from 1982–1987.
New Zealander Allan Scott who instigated and
managed TWR’s Race Engine Division over
15 years takes an in-depth view of how TWR
operated, as well as documenting its many
successes on the race tracks of Europe, Australia,
New Zealand, Japan and Macau.
Told from an engine perspective, this book reveals
for the first time the magic and myth surrounding
this period in TWR’s history.
Title:
TWR and Jaguar’s XJS
inside tom walkinshaws group a racing team
Author: Allan Scott
Publication Date: October 2012
RRP: $85.00
Size: 200mm x 260mm
Extent: 320 Pages
Binding: Cased Bound and
Dust Jacketed
ISBN: 978-0-9876665-5-0

Allan also has a FaceBook page for his book, with more info, and some photos. It can be found here:

https://www.facebook.com/TwrAndJagua...ref=ts&fref=ts

The above mentioned $85 includes shipping to the US, if I remember correctly.

If anyone is interested in a GROUP BUY, respond here, and I'll see if he can cut a deal on a given quantity of books.

I hope I don't sound like an advertizement or anything. I'm just really impressed with Allan, and excited about buying this book. I'm pretty sure that some of you must share that enthusiasm, or you wouldn't be members here to begin with. Regardless of whether we can arrange a GROUP BUY or not, I'll be buying this book for my own library...unless my well-placed hints at home have already secured it for me for Father's Day. LOL.

 

Yep, I'd be in for that.

(By the way I have he trunk spoiler mounted and wired.... just waiting for a few little finishing pieces then I'll pic and post here)

 

I bet it looks sharp. I can't wait to see it :-)

 

I believe I'd take one of the books also, if someone can mail it up to Canada for me.
BTW, I also now have the Lister Spoiler painted and mounted on my freshly re-painted '89 XJS Convertible, it really seems to fill out the rear nicely.
I'll post photos after this weekend -I'm bringing her back home on Saturday.

 

I can assure you all that Allan Scott's book is a great read for all XJ-S fans. I bought it in early 2013 & it was my holiday reading during a trip to Florida in February.

The book is priced at Ł45 + Ł3 postage & packaging - it can be found listed on EBay.

A.

 

I am interested in purchasing, Group buy or not. Thanks for giving us the review.

 

a meeting with Tom W. at the 1989 Daytona 24hr race; not thinking i did not take pix of him, but i did buy tee shirt from the Jaguar vendor tent.

still got it, and wear it to any jag related events.

 

Just pass along the price...I'm in...

Thanks,

John
1987 XJ-S V12, 62,000 miles

 

OK, it looks like we have

1. Sarc
2. gregh
3. 86jag
4. J_C_R
5 JagZilla (me)

@ ronbros,
That's a cool TWR shirt. I'd love to have one like it. I have unbuilt 1:24 scale plastic models of the #1 TWR XJS, #4 XJR-8LM, and #60 XJR-9.
Are you also in for the book, if we can get a discount?

We'll give this until the end of JUNE, to make sure everyone who wants one gets a shot at one. The more of us there are, the better the discount is likely to be. I'll just keep bumping this post up to the top of the list each day.

If any of you are involved with JCNA, I know Allan would appreciate it if you spread the word around your chapter, and even at the national level if possible. It would be a real shame for such an important XJS book to go unnoticed by such a large group of enthusiasts.

 

YES JagZilla, count me in,for the book. hope the discount is good?

i'll bet some of these pix will be in his book, i have some assorted hard cover Jag XJS books also, had for over 20yrs.

check out the bare block assembly line, i think i counted 21 bare blocks, all new , thats worth couple bucks!

also the nice long runner large diameter inlet manifolds, with BIG plenums, TBs located at the front, K&N filters, nice i like that setup.

a rob beere dyno test,kool.

 

Great!
That makes 6 of us so far:

1. Sarc
2. gregh
3. 86jag
4. J_C_R
5 JagZilla (me)
6. Ronbros

I like that long runner intake. I bet it's great for low and mid range torque. However, according to Roger Bywater, those throttle bodies being on the end of the plenums have the potential to starve the middle and rear cylinders of air, because, all other things being equal, the cylinders closest to the TBs will get the lion's share of the incoming charge, while the ones furthest from the TB's will only get whatever is left over. That is one reason he doesn't like quad throttle body intakes on the otherwise stock V12 manifolds...because the runners directly in front of the TBs get most of the air. I'm not sure how much of that is true, and how much is his personal opinion, but, I know that he has built and tested some quad setups personally, and he has a Hell of a lot more hands-on experience than I could ever dream of having. He has forgotten more about Jags than 99% of people will ever learn.

Ya gotta wonder what hardware is inside that Rob Beere motor, and what kind of numbers it turned on that dyno.

The guy I mentioned in my original post, who races his XJS, recently milled his own individual intake manifolds, out of 6 billet aluminum blanks, for the Weber setup on his car. He's the kind of guy that you look at the quality of his work, and you end up picking your jaw off the ground. His name is Robert Knodt. If you have a FaceBook account look at his albums regarding his cars.

 

I will also take one of these books as well.

 

thanks Jagz, about the type of manifold with TB on one end, there are many of that style runnin round.

theory says , that as long as the plenum internal volume is equal or larger than the engine displacement, cylinder pulsing is much less important. because each runner is drawing air from a more than adequate equal volume of air. and they draw close to one at a time,not all at once.

one of 1st one i saw was a 1954 Mercedes benz Gullwing coupe,inlet manifold TB on the end and long runners,(check out some pix of them).

like jag v12 is like two 6cyl. engines, 2.7L each side, so volume of plenum should be around that size, not counting runners or any other area. , a plus would be runner air horns inside to increase length even more,and help to organise the air flow into runner.

 

about the 6 weber carbs, for my eye they look great, but for a street vehicle they dont perform untill rpms reach very high #s.

almost no ram tuning length, very short, tests have proven many times that fuel injection is far superior for just abut any engine.

NOW if someone with money, would use some NEW age technology,cast a much improved head(WITH DIRECT CHAMBER INJECTION SYSTEM),along with better port shapes, insulated inlet and exhaust both. we just might make a serious contender out of that rugged bottom end.

 

OK, now we are seven. I would like to see this number grow to at least 10-12 by the end of the month.

1. Sarc
2. gregh
3. 86jag
4. J_C_R
5 JagZilla (me)
6. Ronbros
7. ukester

 

Ta-da!





Big thanks again to JagZilla for going through the hassle of selling the wing to me.

We're pretty sure this is a legit facelift low profile wing, as fitted to the xjr-s and the very last 96 cars

 

Man, that thing looks so much better black than it ever did silver. Makes me think that maybe I should have kept it, and seen how it looks painted BRG on the tail of JagZilla. LOL

 

Bump

 

I think Roger is incorrect in his reasoning. As long as the TB is large enough to fill the plenum all cylinders will be able to suck the same air volume. The Supra guys use this type of manifold to make huge power. Ferrari and Lamborghini use a similar front TB setup.

2JZ Intake Manifold!! | DOC Race

This I agree with.

 

To avoid miss-quoting someone as knowledgeable as Roger, let me preface this statement with: "IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY".