The chief product engineer for the XF Sportbrake talks about his career, including overseeing the current XJ and his youthful exuberance in an XJ-S
FEW PEOPLE devote their entire career to one company any more, but Alan Hill has done just that. The chief product engineer for the XF Sport brake joined Jaguar as a 16-year-old apprentice in 1984. “I’ve worked for Jaguar man and boy,” he laughs. “It’s been quite a journey.”
Alan’s career began with the XJ-S, as the engineer responsible for the car’s brakes. “I still remember my first drive in one,” he says wistfully. “I’d just passed my driving test and was handed the keys to a V12. Within minutes, I’d spun it through 180 degrees and was facing oncoming traffic.” He also has vivid memories of brake-fade tests, which involved 20 successive stops from 100mph. “Nowadays, you could replicate that on a rolling road, but back then everything was done manually. I ended up feeling pretty unwell.”
This story is from the December 2017 edition of Jaguar World Monthly.
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This story is from the December 2017 edition of Jaguar World Monthly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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MOT exemption
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