Tom Walkinshaw Racing
Tom Walkinshaw Racing, also known simply as TWR, was a
racing team founded in 1976 by
touring car racer Tom Walkinshaw.
TWR started by modifying
BMW 3.0 CSLs, but soon was contracted to head
Mazda's works program in the
British Touring Car Championship, which the team won in 1980 and 1981 with a
RX-7. The car also took a win in the
Spa 24 Hours.
After preparing the
Dakar winning
Range Rover for
René Metge in 1982, TWR began an association with
British Leyland, preparing the
Jaguar XJS and
Rover 3500 Vitesse for both the BTCC and
European Touring Car Championship.
Success in the latter series (as well as the French championship) with both cars lead to an invitation to develop a Jaguar prototype for
Group C racing, for use in both the
World Endurance Championship and the
IMSA GTP Championship. Jaguar cars won the
24 Hours of Le Mans and
Daytona 24 Hours in 1987 and 1988. The company also began a short but successful business venture with Jaguar, known as Jaguar Sports
TWR also started producing road cars, designing and engineering the ill-fated
Jaguar XJ220 and building the
Aston Martin DB7, as well as establishing a partnership with
General Motors' Australian division
Holden, creating its performance and tuning division,
Holden Special Vehicles.
In 1994, TWR returned to the BTCC, allied with
Volvo. This partnership was responsible for the controversial
850 Estate racing car, which was only rendered uncompetitive when the FIA allowed the use of aerodynamic aids in 1995. TWR then built and ran the works 850 Saloon, six wins in 1995 and five wins in 1996, and
S40, one wins in 1997 in the BTCC. In 1998, TWR Volvo won the British Touring Car Championship with Rickard Rydell driving the S40R. TWR also designed and built the road-going
Volvo C70. TWR were involved in
MG Rover's attempt to build a replacement for the elderly
Rover 45/
MG ZS; they were re-engineering the
Rover 75/
MG ZT into a smaller car. The demise of Arrows and TWR and MG Rover's inability to pay its bills meant that
RDX60 as this product was known never reached production.
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1996 Joest Racing TWR Porsche |
TWR also modified its old Jaguar Group C tubs (which had been used by Mazda in the final years of the World Endurance Championship) for their new owner,
Joest Racing, turning them into open top prototypes. The
Porsche-powered cars won Le Mans in 1996 and 1997.
Tom Walkinshaw has recently returned to Holden's motorsports division, although purely in a managerial role rather than an ownership role, which was the case earlier.
Tom Walkinshaw Racing was involved in
Formula 1 from 1992 to 2002. At first, Walkinshaw became
Benetton's engineering director, and was instrumental in developing the car that took
Michael Schumacher to its first World Championship title in 1994. A falling out with Benetton boss
Flavio Briatore had Walkinshaw move to a position as team manager at
Ligier, which had been acquired by Briatore.
After a failed attempt at purchasing Ligier, Walkinshaw instead bought a majority stake in
Arrows, in 1996. The following year, Arrows surprised the world by signing World Champion
Damon Hill and introducing
Bridgestone tyres to F1. Although the team nearly won the
Hungarian Grand Prix, Arrows continued to have trouble attracting sponsorship, and following the liquidation of Arrows, TWR being the major shareholder of the outfit, followed suit, closing its doors in 2002. TWR Australia was quickly acquired by Holden. The TWR technical centre at
Leafield was sold and is now the headquarters of the
Super Aguri F1 team.
