Tag: jaguar tuning
The future is here.. The use of the ZF8HP gearbox is frankly the biggest technological jump in the Jaguar world for the last 20 years, a gearbox that didn’t just take a technological leap forward but had taken a space rocket and meant it wasn’t on this planet anymore in comparison to the earlier iterations. The ZF5, ZF6 or even earlier boxes of the 80’s and early 90’s were such a slow and awkward affaire that they could almost be the poster child for why the auto box was such a…
2025 Race Season Round Up Having put in a lot of time and effort into pre-season testing with various trips to Donington Park, Castle Combe and Llandow, we felt we had thoroughly prepared for the 2025 season. Top of the agenda was resolving cooling issues with Jack’s XK8 that caused some issues last season. The OEM cooling clearly had its limitations, so working closely with PWR Advanced Cooling Technology whose products are used in F1, we came up with a new cooling package for the XK8. We are working with PWR…
Swallows Racing Suspension Solutions Driven by Demand, Built for Quality We’ve always believed that many of the best ideas are born in the workshop when it comes to making our Jaguars better. Whether it’s through conversations with our customers, our technicians, recurring patterns in vehicle repairs, or requests from passionate Jaguar owners, our product development has and always will be shaped by real-world demand. Being an end user of parts with our large workshop facility as well as a parts manufacturer and supplier drives our ethos to ensures every product we…
Modifying and upgrading race cars as well as road cars takes you into some interesting territory, often with great benefits, even when you revisit a car you think you know well. This month we are going to take a further look at my X300 XJR6 that took me to the 2022 Jaguar Championship. After securing the championship, I put the car away and it’s hardly turned a wheel since. After several people told us that we were ‘barking up the wrong tree’ or just ‘barking’ and that a XJR6 would never…
There’s a distinct character to Jaguar vehicles, it’s a fusion of effortless power, elegance, and that unmistakable rear-drive rhythm. Yet even the most carefully engineered performance saloon or grand tourer has its compromises, especially when built to serve a mass-market audience. Beneath all the beauty and brawn lies a structural compromise many owners never notice, until they fix it. Apologies to any accountants reading this but they are the ones who often design cars, not the engineers and hence to the compromise. “ The Swallows Racing X100 Lower Chassis Braces Bring…
Twenty-one years have passed since legendary British Touring Car Champion and race car builder Andy Rouse proudly unveiled his bold plan for the future of touring car racing in the UK. It was 2004, when Rouse took the wraps off the Jaguar X Type SCV8 at the Autosport International show with fellow series planner and business partner Pete Hall. Sadly the ‘Brave New World’ of SCV8 racing never came to fruition. The only legacy of the plan was the car itself which Rouse and Hall had ploughed a small fortune into.…
Back in May 2024 we took a brief look at how upgrading to silicone hoses can future proof your car and cut down on long term maintenance costs. Now more specifically we are going to look at some very common replacements on supercharged models. A big driver for Swallows Racing performance parts is to find alternative solutions for the components that regularly fail. As we have our own garage for maintenance of Jaguars, we are perfectly placed to know what components regularly break on cars, and those that have become discontinued.…
Swallows Racing performance high flow stainless cats open up the most restrictive part of the exhaust system meaning that you get a significant boost in performance and a more raw engine note. When coupled with a remap will see a 25bhp increase in performance.
We often get asked the same questions by 4.0 V8 owners.. “Why do I need to change my chains?” or “But my car has not done that much mileage yet so why should I get it done?” There are many articles pertaining to the recommended change of the chains, guides and water pump on these engines and the results when not attended to can be fatal. This week we have had a few timing chain jobs that really do show why these are a high priority for owners with no history…
This weeks spotlight focuses on the black art of vehicle alignment and hopefully will put a few myths to bed about its need and effects. In the UK we have grown far to used to pot holes and kerbs becoming a daily occurrence and while over the years cars have gotten stronger the wheels and suspension are still susceptible to knocks and bumps along the way, if you have hit a bump and have noticed the car then pulls slightly in one direction your wheels may not be aligned correctly this…