Interview with Win Percy

[dhdove]

At Weston Park weekend Libby and I were lucky enough to stay in the same hotel with Wyn Percy, legendary Jaguar XJS racer, so I asked if he would mind answering a few questions for XJS Bulletin Board members and he gracefully agreed.....

What set the XJS apart from other touring cars of the time?

We were racing in Europe and the world, Jaguar wanted a world beating car and it happened to be the XJS. It was heaven, a fantastic car amazingly fast, wonderfully sounding, that lit up the touring car scene. With its style and looks nobody from the other teams begrudged it winning the championship. the problem was fuel consumption....500k races needed lots of fuel so we relied on speed to make up the difference.
Of course Tom was built like a boxer, so he wouldn't have power steering or brakes. This made the car exciting to drive but you couldn't pussyfoot about., you had to get in and drive it hard, otherwise it bit you - as many still find out today.


What was your best/ worst moment in an XJS?

Best was winning Spa 24 hr, no one thought we could do it. Hans Stuck said "the jag will be fast but we will win"...........but he was the first to congratulate us when we won.
My most embarrassing moment was in Italy at Mugello when John Egan came to watch us, I had suspension failure, Tom had transmission failure and the other car crashed.
John said perhaps he shouldn't come again.

What were the best worst features of the car ?

Best engine.
Worst fragile brakes due to the weight of the car........
Tom was very hard on cars always very aggressive but I always tried to treat it gently and treat the brakes with care.


How do you regard the XJS race car in retrospect?

One of the best years of my career, 84 was one of the years that turned my life around, my first full year of racing saw circuits that I'd never heard of. Tom said do three laps, if you don't know the circuit you're no good to me!

At Bathurst in 84
Just under 200 mph if you don't slightly lift off you're in with the kangaroos, I didn't first lap but I got away with it but I didn't do it again. In The dipper Tom was concerned we would punch a strut through a wing so take it gently.......
After we won, in fact the local Ford and Holden fans congratulated us, we came first and third and conquered the mountain .
On Monday in the dealership people were queuing up to buy XJS's!

After I I was disabled the factory held a benefit for me and the guys on the shop floor said that in difficult times when they
were in fear of their jobs you were out there winning races and it kept us in jobs! I really appreciated that.

Do you have a message for current XJS owners?

" Appreciate what beautiful cars they are in the knowledge that they will become very collectible because they don't make them like that anymore........."

Good night from Weston Park
TonyS

[J44EAG]

Definitely material for the magazine, Tony.

Nice one.

Mike

[robv12]

superb, well done for getting these snippets Tony

[drb100]

Excellent Tony, well done for taking that opportunity.
I agree that this would be good in the magazine.

Regards.

David

[dhdove]

Thanks for the kind comments, it was a bit of an impromptu thing and I just tapped the interview straight into the Bulletin Board on my iPad (and subsequently edited all the spelling etc!).
There is no extra material I'm afraid so I don't believe it would be enough for a magazine article in all honesty.

Win was a great sport and it was a real pleasure and an honour to meet him.

With apologies for reposting the links, if you want to relive "Conquering the Mountain" look here:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if2j6yqZg0Q

I never tire of this one, what a sound! :-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhXLysNl-wE

There are several other great vids on youtube to its worth a hunt around

Best
TonyS

[drb100]

Tony, you could supplement what material you have with pictures. The August magazine should also be available in digital format so those and any other relevant videos could be viewed on line as part of your article.

Just a thought.

David.

[dhdove]

David

pm sent

TonyS

[drb100]

Thanks Tony comments noted.

Regards.