Jaguar World Magazine Modified X100 XKR May 2010 Back Issue

XJ perspective
On the subject of diffi cult jobs, that of Rob Atkin,
X351 vehicle engineering manager at Jaguar, is one
that undoubtedly falls into that category. Rob was
present at the launch of the new XJ and explained
that it’s he who was responsible for co-ordinating
the XJ’s engineering programme and target
setting, through to engineering sign off and then
management of the development fl eet right to the
point where the cars are driven by Mike Cross and
his team. Only then, when the XJ was delivering all
of the attributes it needed to, was it declared good
to go. And I thought my daily ‘to do’ list was tricky.
Of all the jobs that he’s had to do as part of
seeing the XJ through to production, the one he’s
most proud of, as it was hard to achieve, was
making sure that there was minimal dynamic
compromise between the long- and shortwheelbase
versions of the XJ. “There’s no visual
compromise between the two,” explained Rob, “So
we wanted to make sure there was no dynamic
compromise either.”
“This was very diffi cult for Ian to achieve, and it
was a similar challenge for us in delivering software
choices and a CVD (continuously variable damper)
tune to make sure we could make the LWB handle
as eff ectively as the SWB.” Having tested both
wheelbases, albeit with diff erent engines (you
can read the road test of the SWB Supersport XJ
on page 34 of this issue), it’s safe to say that his
team has achieved that goal. Quite clearly, the
engineers at Jaguar know what they are doing,
and it’s a good job.