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The
roots of the company reach back to 1973, when its founder, Tony
James, first supplied wiring harnesses for the late Colin Chapman's
famous Team Lotus racing cars. The car (pictured below at the
Lotus test track with Emerson
Fittipaldi at the wheel) was a Formula 2 Texaco Star.
This
part-time venture flourished through the seventies and on into
the eighties, focussing mainly on rally cars. This was partly
because Tony competed on a regular basis and partly because
rally cars (even in those days) needed quite a lot of electrical
work. The picture below shows the founder (extreme right) servicing
the ex-works Triumph TR8.
With
a return of the Team Lotus contract (this time to wire the Formula
One cars) at the beginning of the 80's, work increased steadily,
until, in February 1986, the business was put on a full-time
basis; although still based at Tony's home. The picture below
shows the garage being converted into a workshop that finally
housed five people before the company moved into its first factory
unit in 1989.
On
a technical note, the use of irradiated heat-shrinkable materials,
from the Raychem company and known as System 25, was pioneered
by Tony in 1982. These materials, and derivatives of them, are
now standard throughout the motorsport industry.
This
philosophy of finding a better way also extended to connectors,
with the use of the circular military type. The company was
the first to specify the high density MIL-C-38999 Series 2 which
ultimately spawned the Deutsch AutoSport connector. In fact,
the company has been at the forefront of almost every new method
and product used in the motorsport industry today.
The
two pictures below show the first full-time 'employees' - wife
Jane and son Lee - working at the Leyton House F1 workshops
in 1987.
The
first non-family employee joined the company at the beginning
of 1988 as sales continued to increase. By the end of the eighties,
the business had become a limited company and had moved from
the house to a purpose built factory.
In
Formula One, SIX World Championships and over ONE
HUNDRED Race Wins have been achieved using TJCW wiring harnesses.
In
America's CART World Series and IRL Series, over TWO HUNDRED
AND FIFTY Race Wins and ELEVEN Championships have
been won by our customers.
Indianapolis
500 and Le Mans 24 hrs wins add to the successes, including
Championship wins in Sports GT, Touring Car, World Rallying,
Moto GP, World Superbikes and more.
Thank
you for reading this section, we hope you have found it interesting.
As you can see, we have been involved in all of the innovation
that has taken place over the years and we will continue that
philosophy into the future.
As
you reach your decision regarding your future electrical system
project, we ask you to remember that no other company can offer
you such a past.
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