Garry Willmington's XJS

[@markcrockford9679]

Gary was a Good Bloke ! used to put himself out a lot for His customers , knew His way around a motor and was a very professional Driver !

[@gregatkinson5929]

Fantastic story, The XJS's racing in Aus inspired me to buy an 82 XJS HE as a street cruiser, nice cruising car not too bad on fuel, had some jobs to do, strip the dash and do the heater core. The Horrid rear crank wick seal was a good leaker, computor had a fault managed to repair that. Body was mint. They weare a car that held a low value, if you spent money it was hard to recover. Never forget the experience, had it up to 145mph and was still gaining speed. They sound so good when souped up. Often go to you tube to watch and listen to Tom Walkinshaws qualifyng lap at Bathhurst.The XJS still lives strong in my memories. Garys story is great, that real backyard can do attitude along with driving skill. I was not very aware of Garys car so I will search out what photo's and stuff there is to see. NZ

[@garryau9890]

What a great story and video. Garry was the true Ozi battler and contributed a lot to the local touring car seen. If only he had the same backing as the pro teams.

[@liamhollin8265]

i cant beleive that in 7 years, no one has commented on the wonderful car. i love stories like this. this just proofs thatz cars ars fixable, and needn't be scrapped through convenience . stories like this inspirr me. 👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@CuriousJag]

Well said!

[@1240enzo]

Given how successful Tom Willkenshaw was with the XJS including a one/two finish at Bathurst I think its pretty fair to say that Gary was onto something with his XJS and he didn’t have the sort of funding and support that Tom would have had.

[@AJ73]

Walkinshaw was racing the XJS when Group A started in Europe in 1982 though so it was already a very successful and proven package before we adapted the Group A regulations in 1985 Kudos though to Garry for his car choices during the Group A era as not only did he race the Jag but also the pretty much unloved Toyota Supra (at least in Australia) as well This was part of the great era of touring cars where unlike nowadays privateers running on shoestring budgets that wouldn't meet catering budgets of the factory or well off teams could get decent results against those better equipped teams

[@mikevanblommestein5726]

Great interview , thanks. Peter Janson was a legend on the race track and off it :)

[@tonypallas9216]

@mikevanblommestein5726 Peter Janson is a legend of the Sport as well as Garry Willmington. His cars still race and is fantastic when we have 2 or 3 of his cars on the grid.

[@mikevanblommestein5726]

@@tonypallas9216 you have done amazing work with the restoration, thanks for keeping this beautiful machine alive, Garry is amazing , I had to smile when he was talking about re-machining the oil pump like it was the sort of thing you do between smokos . Amazing can do attitude, He looks like he could just jump in and go racing again tomorrow if he wanted to

[@CuriousJag]

We are looking to do a follow up interview with Tony in the new year and discuss how the XJS is performing these days.

[@svenomick5857]

Good to see the Story on the Jag good on Gary job well done beautiful Car

[@ynot5105]

What a lovely gentleman, Mr Willmington! Why aren't there more of his calibre, in this world, instead of Walkenshaws etc... Pardon possible spelling errors...

[@graemestevenson9956]

I recall that Garry initially performed very well on track in the 1985 Pepsi 250 at Oran Park, being Rd 2 of the Australian Endurance Championship in August 1985 ... his pitstops may not have been particularly efficient, but the car completed 98 laps to a fifth place finish.

[@tonypallas9216]

Very well raced consistently considering he did it with one set of Tyres

[@garryau9890]

I was there too. Just got my P's and drove to my first race meeting. Looking back, they were the good old days!

[@johntomich4379]

Liked 1 pics with his xd falcon in the back ground With xjs in the front very cool

[@tonypallas9216]

@@johntomich4379 Great shot.

[@rjblue1119]

Garry and all his cars are unsong legends of Aussie touring cars history.

[@stevestone4346]

Good engines indeed, but Gary obviously knew how to build em!

[@terryirvine7090]

Great interesting story! It’s not all about the ones in the spotlight! The back story’s like this are interesting! Garry sounds pretty clued up with all his engineering know how! I always remember Bathurst 85 when Moffat guest drove the main contenders cars for the comparison story! But he wasn’t allowed to drive the sacred TWR cars. But drove Garry’s car! Wouldn’t expect any help from Walkinshaw would we? Like no disrespect to Garry, wasn’t going to be any opposition to Mr.T on the world stage! I loved this story! I’m going to watch it again !

[@bernardwarr4187]

Great video, thanks for recording the information. Personally I would like to know more about the components and specs.

[@ethanearl]

Pity the story of Bathurst 1986 wasn’t touched on. Janson was sacked mid week and reinstated after willmingtons crew backed janson. The crew were immediately sacked after the race according to the James Hardie 1000 book by bill tuckey. Great interview none the less.

[@raymondsmart6204]

Great car and Great video

[@CuriousJag]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@merlin51h84]

Is that right about the new Group A rules for 1987? Seems a bizarre rule using a measurement from the steering column to the rear parcel shelf. Must of been more than that surely.

[@robossuperchannel9434]

It would be good to hear about the Supra too.

[@tonypallas9216]

The Subra is under restoration hopefully we see it on the track soon.

[@DerringtonLatour]

Sweeeeeeeeet!!!

[@Steveaustin007]

Did you use high lifting valves , hi-tech at the time……. Power ?

[@tonypallas9216]

The valves are standard size but the cams were relatively free so yes the valve duration and lift was improved.

[@Steveaustin007]

@ high lift valves were homologated by TWR via Cosworth who had used them in formula 1 engines

[@tonypallas9216]

Not for Group A ​@@Steveaustin007

[@malcolmirving9485]

How about HP numbers?

[@ldnwholesale8552]

Australian Touring Car Championship. And Garry never won a race in that car. Trenowth ex Mc Cormack Jag. I have raced against that car several times and got a windscreen full of oil. Best to get past it, and then go racing

[@lionelwalker2009]

Wrong! Gary did win a race in the XJS. Never leaked oil, other than a power steering failure! Well engineered and was game to venture away from the also rand cars.

[@robossuperchannel9434]

While Garry never won an ATCC race in the Jag, he did win one AMSCAR race.

[@tonypallas9216]

@ldnwholesale8552 That is an unfair and inaccurate comment. I don't know what you raced but I raced this car for nearly 15 years and is a proven clean and reliable car without oil leaks.

[@stevedriver1476]

that car was a complicated waste of time.. he would have been better off running a commodore or falcon that would not brake down or be lapped. to run a Jag V12 up front you needed factory support or BOTTOMLESS pockets. I had a 1989 V12 it was 190kw from new and to get 450,500hp it needed buckets of money and a big tool box. a 308 holden can get 450 easy, and you can see what your working on.

[@amraceway]

What you say is correct but hats off to those who want to build a different mousetrap. If you were sensible about what to race you would not race at all and put your money in real estate. Motor racing is insanity. Very pleasant insanity but insanity all the same.You do it despite everything else.

[@truthseeker5911]

Peter Brocks Commodore broke down in Bathurst 85 and Dick Johnsons Mustang ran like a bag of shit when the Jag won.

[@tonypallas9216]

I don't think you know anything about Jaguars particularly V12s. Very reliable and strong.I race it at present and never had a DNF from engine failure for more than 10 years and around 40.000 race km

[@timx3680]

@@truthseeker5911 truth seeker, eh? True enthusiasts who followed (and/or attended) the 1985 Bathurst race know your claims are a complete misinterpretation of the truth. Brock in one of his best ever drives came awfully close to winning that event, despite Holden being obliged to field what was effectively a homologated basic-spec Highway Patrol-spec BT1 Commodore, vs Jaguar's exotic V12 wondercar. It's telling to note two facts: TWR wisely chose to not defend their '85 victory. And when you compare their Jaguar lap and race times of 1985, against those of Holden's full-strength VK Group A evolution in 1986, you realise why!

[@sidrutty5080]

You could not run a Falcon under Group A regs.