Dateline: for September 2003 issue. Compiled by Paul Skilleter

Jaguar factory to build Land Rovers

In the most far-reaching move yet towards greater co-operation between Jaguar and Land Rover, it was announced on 18 July that Jaguar's Halewood factory would build Land Rover's Freelander alongside the X-TYPE saloon. The move will take place mid-decade with the next generation Freelander model and coincides with a £200 million investment programme at Land Rover's Solihull site.

This will result in an extra 1,000 jobs at Jaguar's Merseyside plant, although this will be matched by a similar loss at Land Rover's Solihull, West Midlands factory - which will continue to build the current and next generation Discovery, plus the Range Rovers and future 'premium and specialist' 4x4 Land Rovers.

"This is the most logical way forward for both plants and is designed to drive greater efficiency in both the Jaguar and Land Rover businesses" said Mark Fields, Premier Automotive group chairman Mark Fields. Stated Bob Dover, chairman and chief executive of Jaguar and Land Rover, "Given the close collaboration between the two companies, this is a rational business decision… Halewood has an excellent reputation for building higher volume models and the Solihull plant has over 50 years experience of building larger premium and specialist 4x4 vehicles. The reduction in production complexity will certainly benefit Solihull…and will allow the plant to focus on improving competitiveness."

Since it exchanged building Escort vans for producing the new Jaguar X-TYPE in 2001, the Halewood plant has achieved some of the highest quality and efficiency ratings among Ford plants worldwide. This, plus advanced working practice agreements, have won the plant the extra long-term security which building the Freelander, Land Rover's volume model, will bring. As Bob Dover infers, the move will also provide the conditions for much-needed quality improvements at Solihull, which compared to all the Jaguar plants has proven less competitive in this respect.

This is a bold move which, although it may not be without its critics, will also be seen by many as a sensible economic decision designed to bring genuine benefits to both brands. It is certainly a ringing endorsement of all the hard work invested at Jaguar Halewood.

Halewood Factfile
First opened in 1963
Covers 3,000 acres of manufacturing space, consisting a press shop, body and white assembly, paint shop plus trim and final assembly
Currently employs around 3,000 employees
A Jaguar plant since 2001 - home of the X-TYPE

Solihull Factfile
First opened in 1948
Covers 679,133 square feet of manufacturing space
Currently employs around 7,500 employees
Produces all Land Rover models: Defender, Freelander, Discovery and Range Rover

Rising star Wilson joins Jaguar Racing

Following a string of disappointing results, young Brazilian F1 rookie Antonio Pizzonia has been dumped by Jaguar Racing. His replacement, as from the German Grand Prix, is British star Justin Wilson.

Hopping straight out of the Minardi seat which he has filled since the start of the 2003 season, the Northamptonshire-born driver will be keen to continue the strong form he has demonstrated so far this year. Often out qualifying Minardi team mate Jos Verstappen, Wilson has shown impressive pace in a car recognised as a backfield player.

The talented 24-year-old funded his way into F1 by floating his career on the stock exchange, which raised the £1.2 million required to buy his Minardi seat. Currently managed by Jonathan Palmer (who recently unveiled the Jaguar V6-engined JP1 racers at his Bedfordshire track), Wilson has, though, a lot to prove at Jaguar Racing, not least in trying to match the incredible performances from Mark Webber, also ex-Minardi. Hired only to the end of this season, it seems likely, however, that Wilson will be retained for the 2004 season.

Jaguar Racing managing director David Pitchforth commented at the announcement on 21 July, "We are delighted to have Justin join us for the remainder of the 2003 season in what is a richly deserved opportunity… With five races left on the calendar, it is critical that we are maximising our potential with two race cars

Jaguar gives seal of approval to new race series

An exciting new V8-engined race series is set to explode on to British race tracks in 2004 with X-TYPE bodied racers making up some of the grids.

The all-new SCV8 Supercar Championship is in the final stages of preparation for a debut next year. Established by former BTCC champion Andy Rouse, Pete Hall - a prominent motorsport businessman - and Roger Etcell - a leading motorsport consultant, the new series takes inspiration from the Australian V8 series, NASCAR in the States and DTM in Germany.

In a similar way to the Trans-Am series, each car will have the same basic race-prepared chassis with 550bhp V8 engines but there will be five franchises open to manufacturers. Jaguar has expressed an interest in seeing the X-TYPE compete, although no official money will be put forward at this stage. "This has the makings of an exciting new saloon car series and we wish it every success," said Martin Runnacles, global marketing director of Jaguar Cars. "Although of course Jaguar's motorsport focus is directed at F1… we would be very happy to the see the X-TYPE featuring in the series, providing that it did not take any resources away from our F1 programme".

With many new initiatives in place such as encouragement for young drivers to progress and measures to ensure commercial stability, SCV8 has the makings of a highly entertaining formula.

Enquiries about the championship can be made to Roger Etcell at Supercar Promotions Ltd on tel: 01280 841062, or e-mail: info@scv8.net.

TWR auction, Brands Hatch 5th July

The air was heavy with anticipation, writes Jim Patten, as items from the TWR collection came under the hammer at the Brands Hatch HSCC meeting. With memorabilia starting the sale, collections of slides and race reports reached prices ranging from £200 to £1,600. The tension was mounting as bidding soared to £48,000 for a Ford Capri RS3100, but it was the Cortinas which were the cars to make world record prices. The one driven by Jim Clark, Mike Spence, (Sir) John Whitmore, David Hobs and Jackie Stewart soared to an incredible £83,000. That set the scene nicely for the Group A XJ-S, chassis number 007, the car which gave Tom Walkinshaw the 1984 Driver's Championship with four first places, a second and two thirds, including an outright win in the Spa 24 hours, a drive Tom shared with Win Percy and Hans Heyer.

Although bidding stumbled around £48,000, it came back with a vengeance and rocketed to see the hammer fall at £90,000. We are happy to report that the car now has its future assured with the JDHT.

Briggs Cunningham

We regret to record the death on Wednesday, 2 July of Briggs Cunningham; he was 96.

During the 1950s, Briggs Cunningham was probably America's greatest sports car racing exponent, and was certainly the leading American entrant of Jaguar cars. He first entered Le Mans in 1950, and in 1953 a Cunningham C5R driven by Walters and Fitch came third to two works C-types. Then in 1955 Briggs adopted the Jaguar D-type, and there began an increasingly close relationship with the Coventry company which lasted well into the 1960s with the E-type. All this was aside from his remarkable career in yachting, which included winning the America's Cup in 1958.

He is survived by his second wife of 40 years, Laura. A full review of Briggs Cunningham's remarkable life will follow in the October (out September UK) issue of JWM.