My former colleague Norman Dewis, who has died aged 98, was for most of his working life the highly respected chief test driver for Jaguar, and was one of the last survivors from Jaguar’s heyday of the 1950s and 60s.
He was born in Coventry, the son of Florence (nee Wilday) and Cyril Dewis. His education was cut short when his father, a coal merchant and carter, died in 1934, and Norman had to find work. After a false start with Humber, he became an apprentice at the Armstrong Siddeley car company. At the outbreak of the second world war in 1939, Norman joined the RAF and became a rear gunner on Blenheims, until he was invalided out with a kidney infection. He then became an Air Ministry inspector.
In 1945, he moved to Lea-Francis, where he became chief tester, but in 1952 he joined Jaguar as a test driver and development engineer, remaining there until his retirement in 1985. He soon became involved in disc brake tests, as Jaguar, together with the Dunlop company, was instrumental in developing this new form of brake.
Norman had raced his own 500cc single-seater and took part in a number of races for Jaguar, starting with the 1952 Mille Miglia in which he co-drove with Stirling Moss in a Jaguar C-type. Although they did not finish, this was the first time that a car fitted with disc brakes had raced. In 1953, Norman set a speed record in an XK 120 at Jabbeke in Belgium, at 172.4mph.
He was one of the Jaguar D-type drivers in the 1955 Le Mans. This race saw motor racing’s worst accident when a Mercedes-Benz hit a group of spectators, resulting in more than 70 deaths, witnessed by Norman from the pit opposite. After he had completed his spell of driving, his co-driver went off course, leaving the D-type of Mike Hawthorn and Ivor Bueb to win.
Norman worked on the development of the world-beating E-type. For its launch at the 1961 Geneva motor show, he had to make a last-minute dash across Europe in one of the demonstrators. He undertook testing of the prototype XJ13 racing car, which never saw action. Unfortunately he crashed it at MIRA (the Motor Industry Reseach Association) in 1971 and was lucky to walk away with only minor bruises.
In retirement Norman became an ambassador for Jaguar worldwide, making numerous trips to the US, often driving one of the classic racers. He wrote his autobiography, assisted by Paul Skilleter, and in 2015 was appointed OBE.
Norman married Nan (Nancy Miles) in 1947; she died in 1993. He is survived by their son, Graeme, and daughter, Linda, and four grandchildren.
