3 replies to this topic

[Nev]

I was privileged to be invited to a small gathering at Jaguar Heritage last Friday. The occasion was to mark the launch of Peter Wilson's new XJ13 book. I posted some pics/video here:

http://tinyurl.com/c2bq2lu

Highlight of the day for me was being able to speak to some of the surviving original team who were involved in the project - Norman Dewis, George Buck, Frank Philpott, Jim Eastick, Ron Greves, Mike Kimberley, Roger Shelbourne,
Robert Berry, Peter Taylor and Peter Wilson.

I must emphasise that I have absolutely no commercial interest in the book.

[kayemod]

http://tinyurl.com/c2bq2lu

Mike Kimberley

Interesting stuff, and I'd forgotten how tall Mike Kimberley is, he isn't standing on anything in that group pic. I'm about 6'2", or at least I was back then, and I had to look up to him, and not just because he was my immediate boss at Lotus. There's a minor error in one caption, during the Chapman era, Mike's title when I was there was was something like Engineering Manager, I think he only became Lotus (acting) CEO after rejoining the company in 2006, which was about 24 years after ACBC's sad death. One beneficial effect of Mike's physique as far as I was concerned, was that the cars began to have adequate legroom for the first time, previously they'd all been built around Chapman, who was around 5'9".

[Nev]

Interesting stuff, and I'd forgotten how tall Mike Kimberley is, he isn't standing on anything in that group pic. I'm about 6'2", or at least I was back then, and I had to look up to him, and not just because he was my immediate boss at Lotus. There's a minor error in one caption, during the Chapman era, Mike's title when I was there was was something like Engineering Manager, I think he only became Lotus (acting) CEO after rejoining the company in 2006, which was about 24 years after ACBC's sad death. One beneficial effect of Mike's physique as far as I was concerned, was that the cars began to have adequate legroom for the first time, previously they'd all been built around Chapman, who was around 5'9".

He is not just tall in stature, his whole manner exudes confidence and competence - an impressive individual. Speaking to and listening to Mike brought home to me just how politically astute and socially-competent he is - no doubt part of the reason for his past successes through difficult and politically-charged times. As small example, we had only met once before at Jaguar and he not only remembered my face but recalled my name and made the effort to say hello - this was repeated a lot of times last Friday with others as far as I could see. He also immediately recognised the sensitivity of Norman Dewis to revelations in Peter's comprehensively-researched book. Peter is not prone to hyperbole and sticks rigidly to the facts which he reports in a straightforward no-nonsense manner (as befits his Cumbrian heritage!). The facts of the XJ13's story are sometimes at odds with "embellishments" added during numerous interviews/statements made by Norman and others over the years. The fact is that Jaguar Heritage (before the archive was managed by the current professional archivist) jealously guarded XJ13 documents in the archive and, in the absence of facts, a whole mythology grew up around the car and its engine. Peter's long-overdue book can now set the record straight.

After Mike Kimberley took over the project from Bill Heynes, he decided that "proper" race-experienced test drivers were needed and so he enlisted the help of former Jaguar Apprentices David Hobbs and Richard Attwood. This apparently didn't go down too well with Norman at the time and this fact is hinted at in Peter's book. In fact, although Norman carried out much "routine" testing of the XJ13 - it seems Attwood and Hobbs carried out the lion's share particularly when it came to high-speed race conditions. Indeed it was Hobbs who claimed the 161mph closed circuit record at MIRA in 1967 and not Norman (despite Norman's claims in recent video interviews). Luckily for us, the documented facts survive in Jaguar's archive. During Mike Kimberley's off-the-cuff talk recorded last Friday, he implied that he chose Hobbs and Attwood because Norman "had hurt his arm" - glossing over the fact that Hobbs and Attwood continued testing for the best part of 1967 and not just a single test! Another example of Mike's political astuteness and awareness of individual sensitivities. I am not surprised he excelled at what he did and is held in such high regard.

[kayemod]

He is not just tall in stature, his whole manner exudes confidence and competence - an impressive individual.

I've met a lot of men heading major companies over the years, and almost all of them have been like that, in many respects operating on a different level to ordinary mortals, but it's that ability to remember names that I envy most. The number of conversations I've begun with "I remember your face, but..."