Awesome Thread... [Automotive Edition]

Ah yes, back from the time when Australian touring car racing was actually interesting. Exciting, even.

Also proving that with sufficient power, tire, brake and a properly designed suspension, weight is irrelevant. The TWR XJS was, IIRC, at or around as much as a thousand pounds heavier than any other car in touring car competition in the years it ran, yet it flat out dominated. I've posted this before, but it bears posting again - here's Tom Walkinshaw in the same car on the same track in the race he was qualifying for in the video above.


"Just look at the speed difference between Tom's Jaguar and some of the slower cars - and you can't really call them slow." Especially at the end, where it just blazes past the same-class BMW 6-series.
 
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That and the fact that Tom Walkinshaw was a brilliant man. He even made FWD cars competitive and actual winners.

I'm not going to say which one those were just this time.
 
That and the fact that Tom Walkinshaw was a brilliant man. He even made FWD cars competitive and actual winners.

I'm not going to say which one those were just this time.

The Jaguars were significantly stock when he ran them - for example, IIRC all he did to the suspension was change springs and shocks and change the alignment slightly. The cars you are referring to didn't have much of the stock vehicle left when he got done with them. :evil:
 
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Nevertheless, he still made FWD platforms into winners.
 
Wasn't much left of the 855 when TWR got done with it and it didn't actually have a turbo.
 
I was actually going to say the S40, which was a even further away from the production car. It carried the magnificent five cylinder.
 
I was actually going to say the S40, which was a even further away from the production car. It carried the magnificent five cylinder.

There was a great article on Racecar Engineering a couple of years ago on how TWR managed to squeeze competitive power from the engine by some quite genius rule interpretation regarding the cylinder head...I'll see if I have the digital copy of the magazine still on my HD.

EDIT: Well, found a scan of the article through google:

CCF02092009_00000.jpg


CCF02092009_00001.jpg


CCF02092009_00002.jpg
 
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There was a great article on Racecar Engineering a couple of years ago on how TWR managed to squeeze competitive power from the engine by some quite genius rule interpretation regarding the cylinder head...I'll see if I have the digital copy of the magazine still on my HD.

EDIT: Well, found a scan of the article through google:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/AustenW/CCF02092009_00000.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/AustenW/CCF02092009_00001.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/AustenW/CCF02092009_00002.jpg


That reminds me a lot of Smokey Yunick.
 
Hmmm...can I fit this head to my car? :p
 
If you could it would not make any difference without all the other mods that engine received.
 






 
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