On Friday, 22nd January I attended a signing of a limited-edition print of this original painting by the artist Nicholas Watts:
Nicholas' superb painting of the XJ13 at speed on the banking has been reproduced as a limited-edition of 150 high-quality, giclee prints. They will soon be available for retail sale (contact Trevor Wilson of TWR Replicas for details).
Following a rendezvous around the XJ13 on display at the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust's museum at Coventry, the signing took place in the JDHT boardroom.
The event was organised by Trevor Wilson of TWR Replicas - suppliers of the XJ13 replica in the UK. Each print was signed by Norman Dewis (Jaguar test-driver), Mike Kimberley (current CEO of Lotus and a member of the XJ13 design team), Peter Wilson (author of "Cat out of the Bag" and also a design team member) and Peter Jones (design team member).
Left to right .... Peter Wilson, Peter Jones, Mike Kimberley, Norman Dewis
Norman Dewis
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In a career spanning 33 years at Jaguar, Norman Dewis tested and developed a remarkable series of cars including:C-type, D-type, XK 140/150, 2.4/3.4 and Mk 2 saloons, Mk VII/Mk VIIM, E-type, XJ13, XJ/XJ-S and XJ40. Plus, he rode with Stirling Moss in a C-type in the 1952 Mille Miglia, drove a 190mph works D-type in the highly dramatic 1955 Le Mans, raced in the Goodwood 9 Hours, and set an amazing 173mph production car record at Jabbeke in Belgium with an XK 120. Completing over a million test miles at 100mph-plus average, Norman also played a crucial role developing the revolutionary Dunlop disc brake, and survived high-speed crashes and rollovers in the days before seat-belts – and without ever breaking a single bone.
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Mike Kimberley
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Michael J. Kimberley (“Mike”) C.Eng., F.I. Mech. E., F.R.S.A., F.I.E.D, F.I.M.I has had a remarkable career in the motor industry over the last 56 years, working with some of the great engineers, innovators and leaders of the worlds motor companies.
Mike started as an apprentice with Jaguar in 1953 before rapidly progressing to becoming in Section Leader, Special Projects at Jaguar in 1965 where he lead the team developing the Jaguar XJ13 Le Mans car, under such famous names as Jaguar founder Sir William Lyons and Jaguar race director Frank (Lofty) England.
In 1969, he joined Lotus as Manager of Continuous Engineering, with the Lotus Europa Twin Cam being one of his most notable projects. Mike rose steadily but rapidly through the Lotus ranks, joining the Board of Lotus aged 37, and becoming Managing Director of Lotus Cars in 1976 and Managing Director of Lotus Engineering by 1980, being responsible for such Lotus icons as the Esprit, Eclat and Elite.
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During the 1970s and 80s, Mike had the unique experience of having worked closely with the company’s founder Colin Chapman, with whom Mike set up the world class Lotus Engineering consultancy to enable Lotus to work for many other cars companies around the world. Lotus Engineering is now a globally recognised high technology engineering consultancy and serves many of the world’s car companies.
After Colin Chapman’s tragic and untimely death in 1982, Mike became C.E.O of Group Lotus plc, as well as holding board positions with a number of Lotus associated companies such as Chairman of Millbrook Proving Ground and President of Moog Systems Inc. With Lotus under General Motors ownership, Mike became Chairman of Group Lotus plc before leaving Lotus in 1992 to become Executive Vice President (General Motors Overseas Corporation) based in South East Asia. Two years later, Mike became director of the Vector Aeromotive Corporation, and in 1994, he became President & Managing Director of Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A, being responsible for the rebuilding of Lamborghini after Chrysler’s ownership and prior to its sale to Audi AG, as part of the VW Group.
In the mid 1990s, Mike left Lamborghini and worked directly for Tommy Suharto as a board member of Timor Putra Nasional (owners of Lamborghini) until retiring with an undiagnosed tropical fever.
Returning to the automotive industry a few months later, Mike worked in a consultancy role for a number of organisations including Tata Motors Ltd.
In August 2005 Mike was appointed to the Lotus Group International Limited and Group Lotus plc Boards as well as other Boards of Proton. He was appointed acting Chief Executive Officer of Group Lotus plc in May 2006, confirmed as Chief Executive Officer of Group Lotus plc in September 2006.
During his second tenure at Lotus, Mike has been responsible for the creation and execution of a new 5 year strategic business plan, and the new, already award-winning Lotus Evora is the first of the range of new Lotus cars to be designed, developed, manufactured and sold by Britain’s most iconic and innovative sportscar company. Lotus Engineering has expanded to become a world-class consultancy employing over 500 highly qualified engineers in five technical centres around the globe. It is revered for innovation, outstanding driving dynamics, exciting niche vehicles and efficient performance engineering.
Mike (70) is married with 3 children and 3 grand children and lives in Norwich.
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Peter Wilson
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Peter Wilson began his career at a small Carlisle garage but in 1961 embarked on an engineering apprenticeship at Jaguar. Within two years he had progressed to the company’s competition department where for over five years he was involved in a multitude of exciting projects - E2A, the new works competition car * The Mk 2 GT saloon * the four-seater E-type * the E-type goes racing * the Mk X convention * building the lightweight E-type * E2A and Maxaret brakes * the 2+2 E-type * the Cunningham Le Mans E-type * Bob Blake and the S-type * * the Coombs power boat * racing 4 WPD * E-type works tuning booklet * XJ13.
Peter knew many of the Jaguar ‘giants’ including Bill Heynes, Malcolm Sayer, Bob Blake and Harry Mundy.
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