Tom Walkinshaw dead

[tintin40]

http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArtic ... rs/254531/

Motor sport will miss

 

[Andy B]

RIP TW

 

[Dr S]

Crikey. Didn't even know he was ill.

RIP Tom.

 

[ringo]

Crikey. Didn't even know he was ill.

Me neither... Really ballbreaker of a team manager by all accounts... Shame - so many of the charismatic figures in Motorsport are no longer with us...

We just have the shadowy Helmut Marko/Willi Weber types...

 

[daj]

hmmm i was pretty shocked to hear this news :cry:

 

[biggs682]

will remember watching him drive or wrestle many a touring car round uk circuits . rip

 

[old_coyote_pedaller]

Enjoyed watching him drive Jaguar XJS's in the Bathurst 1000.
Can't believe that was 25 years ago.
Anybody remember TWR racing Volvo estates in the British Touring car championship? The reason, I think, was that the longer roof was more aerodynamic. Brilliant. Am I correct in remembering that the rear half of roof used to dent in due to downforce?
A great motorsport engineer.

 

[Andy B]

I believe that they used the estate version as there were not enough saloon bodyshells available to race with & the aero tests showed minimal difference between the saloon & estate, or so a fella who worked for Volvo for 20odd years told me....

 

[old_coyote_pedaller]

I'm basing what I said on it being more aerodynamic on dimly remembered articles in Triple C. Can't check as I dumped them all when I moved house.
Wish I'd kept them but SWMBO wouldn't have been happy. :shock:

 

[Dr S]

The decision to use the estate was a marketing idea... It got a huge amount of publicity. There was no aero advantage and they had to do a load of work to get the shell stiff enough as an estate shell is weaker than a saloon. You can see how bad that shape is for a body by taking a weetabix box and lay it on its side. Now try and twist it. Now open the lid and try the same test. It loses all its torsional strength.
Getting that estate to be competetive was a great engineering triumph on the budget they had.