Tom Walkinshaw has signed a contract to be a manager of Australia's Holden Motorsport in 2005. The former Arrows F1 team boss is well-known to the people at Holden, being a former owner of the Holden Racing Team and is still involved as a partner in Holden Special Vehicles. His new role will include being responsible for supplying technology, service, research and development for V8 Holden Supercar teams including Holden Racing Team, Kmart Racing, PWR Racing and Tasman Motorsport.
Holden Motorsport will continue to be 100% owned by Holden.
Until mid-way through 2002, when things began to seriously sour for the Arrows Formula 1 team, it would have been difficult to believe that Tom Walkinshaw, one of Jaguar's great heroes and a truly big wheel in international motorsport, would be escorted from his own headquarters with the doors being locked behind him. It is a sad fact that the determined Scott, who founded an international empire by driving in and orchestrating Jaguar's rise back to the top of saloon and sportscar racing, has lost the lot. Not unnaturally, he was reported to be 'gutted' when the collapse occurred, but many of the people who were closest to him in reaching the heights TWR achieved, are not so upset. Remarkably, as if touched by the hand of fate, this entire tragic 'play' had already been run in an eerily similar fashion under David Murray and Ecurie Ecosse. In many ways Walkinshaw is the modern equivalent of Murray. Both men were from Edinburgh, and came from well-established families with their own successful businesses. Both created internationally famous race teams which ran production-based Jaguars, they personally raced them in the earliest days and later formed a very strong association with Jaguar Cars. Even more importantly, both teams won Le Mans twice for Jaguar. Walkinshaw's earliest foray into racing was even given the blessing of Murray when he enlisted the help of Ecurie Ecosse mechanic Stan Sproat to prepare his Formula Ford. Walkinshaw would race for Ecurie Ecosse! The catastrophic fall was seemingly brought on by the founder's blind ambition to be successful in racing's pinnacle - Formula 1. Not content with having captured four factory Le Mans crowns for Jaguar and Porsche in eight years, and running works outfits around the world for Volvo, Nissan, Holden and others, he was determined to play with the biggest boys in Formula 1. According to one of his closest racing allies who we spoke with after the fall: "Tom was a bloody fool. He had it all, but it still wasn't enough." For all of his strengths, it seems the Scott also had severe weaknesses which were his undoing. Many who worked with him agree that after Jaguar won Le Mans in 1988, he changed. One told us: "I would have done anything for him, and we had some wonderful times. I trusted him completely, and didn't even have formal contracts with him because I took him at his word. We all worked with him to achieve his goals, but he let me down seriously. It was a big mistake on my part." Suddenly, TWR lost the loyal dedication which had been so essential to its success. Later big manufacturers were also let down by TWR and they would did not forgive nor forget.
Tom Walkinshaw has been out of the spotlight for three years now, but the man behind so many motorsport success stories: Jaguar’s meteoric successes in sportscar racing, Volvo’s all-conquering British Touring Car campaign victories in the Le Mans 24 Hours, the TWR-conceived Aston Martin DB7, Formula One Championship success with Benetton and countless wins with Holden in Australian saloon car racing, is back in business.
With a formidable reputation in the world of motorsport engineering, Walkinshaw is returning to the arena in which he excelled for so many years. The newly-formed Tom Walkinshaw Group (TWG) will announce two projects - one in motorsport and one in the road-going automotive sector.