Obituary

R. R. (Robin) Jackson, BACantab. — The ace tuner of the Brooklands days died recently as he approached 76 years of age, having been in failing health these last few years. Robin Jackson was a fully qualified engineer when he left Cambridge and set up his own tuning establishment within the Brooklands Track, just outside the paddock. Engine development was his prime interest, though his firm also built racing specials for clients, and he was closely involved with many of Thomson and Taylor’s projects.

His tuning wizadry was applied to everything from V-twin Morgans and 750 c.c. MGs to 6 1/2-litre Bentleys and he was a fair driver himself. The famous R. R. Jackson establishment soon became known as the “Robinery” and was a centre of high performance activity up to the war in 1939. During the war years he worked on engine development at the Bristol Aeroplane Company and was tempted to accept an offer to stay on with the Bristol Engines when the war finished. However, the lure and excitement of racing engines was still strong and though Brooklands did not re-open Robin Jackson re-established himself in Weybridge and developed the two-stage supercharged V-twin engine for the successful Freikaiserwagen hill-climb car, as well as tuning Alfa Romeo and Maserati engines. He did a lot of work for the old 500 c.c. Formula Three, especially with Double-knocker Norton engines, and even after he retired he was still an active consultant engineer for all manner of projects. Meticulous was his watch-word, right up to the time of his death. — D. S. J.