EDITION 198 JAGUAR MAGAZINE 15Jim Percival was one of nature's true gentlemen, and was a Jaguar man to
the very core. He was trained at Jaguar's Browns Lane home and worked
for Henlys, Jaguar's major dealer, during a working holiday in the UK in
- When he returned home to Perth in 1965 he founded Roadbend
Motors with his wife Betty, and the business is still operated by his three
very talented sons.
We will publish a major tribute to Jim in our next edition, but we know
personally how well respected he was by former Jaguar CEO and friend
Lofty England and his wife Doris. That included his devotion and
knowledge of all things Jaguar, plus his unruffled temperament.
Jim was part of our 1993 Jaguar Magazine World Tour, so we spent six very
enjoyable weeks with him, watching him indulge his passion but without
telling other members of the party the things and people he knew from his
own experience in all those years.
We will always remember walking and talking with Jim, and his fellow Perth
Jaguar friend and devotee Don Stevens over the challenging hilly streets
of San Francisco. Jim retired from business and left his sons in charge of
Roadbend Motors, but he didn't retire from life and turned his skills to the
spectacular and beautiful gardens of his acreage property. Distance meant
we had not seen Jim for a while, but just knowing he is not around and part
of the Jaguar scene leaves us with a hollow feeling. To Betty and the entire
Percival family we pass on our deepest sympathies.
Jim Percival - Life Member, Patron JCCWA
Niki Lauda 1949 - 2019
Niki Lauda was a man of many parts, and some may forget
that he was the head of the Jaguar Formula 1 team in 2003.
Almost certainly the most courageous Formula 1 World
Champion Driver of all time, especially after his appalling
crash and subsequent burns at the Nurburgring in 1976, he
died as a result of that crash on May 20, 2019.
On August 1, 1976, one year after winning his first title,
he suffered third-degree burns to his head and face, and
inhaled toxic gases that damaged his lungs after his Ferrari
crashed and burst into flames.
He was given the last rites in hospital, but made an almost
miraculous recovery and returned to racing, still bandaged,
just forty days later.
After his career as a racing driver and three Driver World Championships, he became an
airline entrepreneur (Lauda Air) and, most recently, Non-Executive Chairman of the Formula 1
Mercedes team, instrumental in bringing in British driver Lewis Hamilton who has won five World
Championships. "His unique achievements as an athlete and entrepreneur are, and will remain,
unforgettable. His tireless zest for action, his straightforwardness and his courage remain a role-
model and benchmark for all of us," his family's statement said.
Ill health followed him into his later years, and he underwent a lung transplant in August 2018. In
January 2019, Niki spent ten days in hospital while suffering from influenza.
He previously had two kidney transplants, the second donated in 2005 by his then-girlfriend Birgit
Wetzinger, a former flight attendant for his airline, and whom he married in 2008.
Lauda leaves behind his wife, their twins born in 2009, and three sons from previous relationships.
In person he was humble, practical, matter-of-fact and straightforward. There was no arrogance
about him. He was warm, friendly, direct and wickedly funny, his humour often directed at himself,
or at puncturing some of the pomposity that can sometimes infect Formula 1.