Hulme picks Jaguar coupes

Press, 24 December 1986, Page 21

Hulme picks Jaguar coupes

Denny Hulme believes that the pair of Tom Walkinshaw Racing Jaguar XJS-HE coupes that will make their last racing appearance in next month’s Nissan Mobil 500 series will surprise people with their agility on the tight Wellington waterfront street circuit. Hulme, 50, a former Formula One world cham-

pion, will share one of the Big Cats with Armin Hahne in the two Nissan Mobil races. He says his first outing in a Jaguar at the Mt Fuji touring car race in Japan convinced him that it is a very nice car to race. He believes the Jaguars should be pre-race

favourites for both races. In spite of the widely held opinion that the 1600 kg coupe will be a handful in the tight corners of the Wellington waterfront circuit and that their brakes will be unable to cope, Hulme reckons they will be well suited to the circuit. With the exception of

the BMW 325 i he has driven in the just concluded three-round Simpson Group A touring car series, he reckons the Jaguar’s steering is the lightest of any car he has raced.

The brakes are also impressive and they were not a problem at the end of Mt Fuji’s 290 km/h straight.

Walkinshaw does not reveal to his mechanics, much less his drivers, just how much power his Jaguar engines develop, but it is probably in excess of 300 kW — scarcely noticeable, says Hulme, because it comes on so smoothly. He says that the gearbox was an absolute delight.

The two cars have already reached Auckland where they will be prepared for the January

opening to the Nissan Mobil series at the premises of Archibald and Shorter, the exclusive Jaguar franchise holder, by some of a team of 20 TWR mechanics that Walkinshaw is bringing for the races.

About 300 racing tyres for the two cars have already arrived in Auckland as well as a comprehensive range of spare parts and about half a dozen spare engines in hermetically-sealed plastic bags. These Jaguars were raced at Bathurst in the 1985 James Hardie 1000 Kilometres and one of them, driven by the TWR regular, Armin Hahne, .and John Goss, of Sydney, won the race. This time an Australian, Ron Dickson, will support Tom Walkinshaw, Win Percy, Hahne and Hulme in the team.