Iconic Australian motorsport name being revived as sports car manufacturer

An important brand in the Australian motorsport landscape, Tom Walkinshaw Racing, is being revived by the founder’s son, Fergus Walkinshaw.

The marque, best known for its motorsport endeavours and collaboration with major manufacturers such as Jaguar, is now being brought back as a dedicated performance vehicle manufacturer.

The company has released a single, shadowy teaser image to announce its upcoming venture into “bespoke high-performance automobile” manufacturing.

While the teaser doesn’t give away much, we can see a sculpted rear fender, raked roofline, and a short rear overhang – all pointing towards a coupe model.

No further details have been revealed, but Mr Walkinshaw says more information will come soon and that he has already assembled “an incredibly talented technical team” made up of engineers from across automotive and motorsports, including from the previous iteration of the TWR company.

Fergus Walkinshaw plans to make the most of his connection in the automotive world to work with world-class brands to create a unique product while still being “unconstrained by the rulebooks and styling demands of OEMs.”

The file name of the teaser image is labelled as ‘TWR JAG T6’, potentially hinting at one of the production partners that will bring the brand to life.

Mr Walkinshaw is clear that this revival of the brand will differ from the original as it will be “first and foremost an engineering company that will make cars, rather than a car maker doing engineering”.

New TWR products will aim to make a statement by “preserving and protecting the analogue driving experience in a world where modern performance cars are governed by electronic systems”.

“It gives me a great amount of pride that the TWR name will live on for a new generation,” said Mr Walkinshaw.

“High-performance engineering runs in the blood of the Walkinshaw family, and ever since the original TWR closed its doors I have longed to find a way to continue the family legacy.”

While TWR went out of business in the early 2000s, Tom Walkinshaw’s son Fergus Walkinshaw brought the brand back in 2020.

The Walkinshaw brand, name, and businesses are all originally associated with Scottish motor racing entrepreneur Tom Walkinshaw.

The elder Walkinshaw began his career racing in various entry-level competitions such as Formula Ford in the late 1960s and formed Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) in 1976 in Oxford.

TWR was initially born as a business that would prepare and convert ordinary cars to a level suitable for racing.

The brand went on to build a successful partnership with Jaguar, notably winning the historic Le Mans in the modified Jaguar XJR-9LM.

A joint venture between TWR and Jaguar, JaguarSport, birthed the Jaguar XJR-15 and the XJ220.

The Australian connection began in 1988 in a similar vein to the JaguarSport venture, except with Holden.

HSV (Holden Special Vehicles) was founded as a joint venture between Holden and TWR, with the latter initially contracted to be Holden’s factory-backed motorsport operation, participating in the Australian Touring Car Championship.