Category: Business News
External influences occasionally are motivation for new product development. Whilst our primary drivers are improving car performance sometimes at Swallows Racing, we also have the dual influences of solving limited part supply or offering more cost-effective solutions to parts that have become overly expensive for one reason or another. These reasons can include world events that disrupt the normal supply chains such as Covid, the Ukraine war and high prices of global traded commodities. Catalytic converts are a prime example of a car component that is both affected by limited supply…
You have fitted a lovey shiny new set of coilovers to your car to improve the ride and handling. So how do you know how to set up them up to get the most from them? You have the benefits of height adjustment, simply lowering the ride height might have some benefits, but to achieve the best balance with the car ideally you need to corner weight it. Corner weighting is for race cars I hear you cry, and it is, but hear me out because there are benefits to corner…
Typically, we first see a car in the Swallows workshop when the manufacturers warranties have expired. Many owners wrongly believe that they must get their new car serviced at a main dealer to preserve their warranty. Whilst this may have been true many years ago it isn’t the case now and hasn’t been for some time. The main dealer monopoly was ended by EC Block Exemption Regulation when it was introduced in October 2003 and allowed motorists more flexibility in selecting where they can get their cars serviced or repaired. Thanks to this…
I thought this month it would be interesting to take a case study where we have put all we have talked about so far into one car and see the difference it has made. Jaguar launched the new XK (X150) in 2006 replacing the highly successful X100 that had enjoyed a ten-year run. The X150 was a big departure from what had gone previously with its all-new aluminium body and very different chassis dynamics. Ex-F1 and Le Mans driver Jonathan Palmer was big fan of the new Jaguar and ordered a…
We were recently honoured to be invited to give a talk to Warwickshire – Coventry & Hinckley, JEC Region at the Jaguar Sports & Social Club at Browns Lane. Going to the ‘home’ of Jaguar adds a degree of pressure, then in addition members of the region are past Jaguar employees adds another level. Brian Reid who for over thirty has been a leading committee member of the region gives his report on Tom’s talk. The last meeting hosted Swallows Racing. Tom our speaker, started racing an XJR Supercharged X300 model…
Swallows Racing director Tom Robinson has been added to the technical panel of the Jaguar Enthusiasts’ Club who’s headquarters are in near-by Bristol. Tom’s superb knowledge of modern Jaguars has been recognised by the JEC and he will be regularly answering members questions in the club magazine, online and on the JEC Podcast where he has been a regular over the past 12 months. In addition Tom will be involved in a series of ‘Tech Talks’ on Zoom through the JEC the first on being as part of panel with Ken…
Thousands of viewers have followed the progress of the Meguiar’s S-Type R build on the TOM v’s DALE show on YouTube. The plan was for the finished car to be launched at the Players Show at Goodwood in 2020. Due to Covid restrictions this unfortunately didn’t happen and a new plan had to be agreed for the car to be launched. Fast Car magazine had followed the builds of both Tom and Dale’s cars from the outset, so it was felt that this was the place it should be seen first.…
Swallows would like to wish all our clients a happy New Year. Let us hope that the current Covid situation will improve by the spring and we will be able to get out and enjoy our cars again. In the meantime, we must once again live within the most recent lockdown rules that have now come into force. We wanted to assure our clients, that as with the previous lockdowns last spring and in the autumn, Swallows will remain open and able to fully function whilst adhering to the Covid Safe…
We have seen some rapid growth for Swallows Independent Jaguar, Land Rover and Swallows Racing over the last couple years and despite the challenges of 2020. To tackle the increase demand, we have grown our team here, in the workshop, office, and car sales and we have continued plans to grow our team further in 2021. To ensure that we continue to keep pace with our growth we have invested in the very latest Garage Management software system. Known as Garage Hive it has built by people who run and understand…
After warming up the XJR6 at our track day on 20th October it was back to the serious matter of racing with the Jaguar Enthusiasts Club Saloon & GT Championship on 24th October at Castle Combe. With second place overall in the Championship in the bag this was essential a free round with no championship points at stake. Qualifying was on damp but drying circuit and by lap seven Tom had the X300 singing and took pole from the naturally aspirated X300 of Michael Holt but with a healthy three second…
