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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.