Jones Racing Group

Jones Racing Group, frequently known as just Jones Racing, is a motor racing and manufacturing business managed and owned by Sammy Jones and based in Banbury, England. Established in the latter half of 2010, the Group is comprised of two separate entities, with all motorsport competition activities under the Jones Racing International name and all manufacturing operations under Jones Engineering. The Atlas Cars company is one of the activities making up Jones Engineering, alongside racing chassis manufacture.

In the aftermath of the inaugural F1RWRS season in 2010, Sammy Jones was one of the first drivers to establish his own team in the series, the Jones Racing F1RWRS Team, following a frustrating year driving for West Cliff Racing. In order to generate the capital necessary to found and then operate his own team though, Jones entered into a partnership with his close friend Tex Pearson, a rubber manufacturing magnate, who would bankroll the team through a three-year title sponsorship deal, using his RubberTex brand. A brand new facility was built on the Thorpe Way Industrial Estate in Banbury specifically for use by Jones' team. It was an ideal location, close to where Jones had been born and grown up and was famous for the other motorsport outfits that had been based there, including the Marussia and Simtek F1 teams, Dave Richards' Prodrive operation, and Kenny Roberts Snr's MotoGP team.

Although initially running just the F1RWRS team, Jones quickly realised that in order to secure the future of his fledgling organisation, he needed to branch out into other championships, and by 2014, the Jones name was gracing four separate single-seater categories. It was at this point, facing the prospect of having to manufacture additional chassis for the F3RWRS series that Sammy created the modern-day Jones Racing Group, and separating the chassis manufacture and motorsport competition arms of his company. As the chassis manufacturing business grew following great success in F3RWRS and the expansion into new categories such as sportscars, and on-track success increased across the board, further restructuring was required. This resulted in the birth of the two distinct entities known today - Jones Racing International and Jones Engineering.

Jones Racing International

Jones Racing International handles the motorsport side of Jones' business and is best known for its F1RWRS team, National Jones Ford Team, one of the first ever driver-run outfits in the series which began competition in 2011. Since then, teams have been established in numerous other series - the F2RWRS and F3RWRS junior categories and the RoLFS series and it's successors, the IFRC and AR3.5. In 2017, the Jones name will also make its debut in the prototype endurance sportscar arena with its own LMP2 design.

The Jones Racing Group organisational structure.

Jones Racing is one of the most successful cross-championship racing teams and has won races in every category that it has competed in. Amongst their accolades are the F1RWRS Drivers' Championship, won in 2016 with Rhys Davies, three times F1RWRS Constructors' Championship runners up in 2012, 2015 and 2016, the IFRC Drivers' Championship, won with Terry Hawkin in 2016, and the F3RWRS Drivers' (with Nick Nurmester), Teams' and Manufacturers' Championships, also all won in 2016.

In addition to the operation of numerous racing teams, Jones Racing International also supports a number of drivers via their young driver training scheme. Notable members of the scheme include Gauthier F1RWRS driver Danny van Rijkens, Terry Hawkin, and Stan Frankham. The majority of the drivers in the scheme are hand picked by Sammy Jones himself and all drive, or have driven, for Jones teams in their careers.

Jones Engineering

Jones Engineering is mainly made up of the chassis manufacture for Jones Racing International teams, as well as customers, primarily within the F3RWRS championship where Jones chassis have enjoyed considerable success. In addition to the chassis manufacture however, the Engineering side also covers the Atlas Cars project, a road car company established by Sammy Jones and David Marshall.

Atlas Cars

After failing to revive the Triumph brand from BMW in 2015, David Marshall sought out a partnership with Sammy Jones to establish a brand new British car manufacturer and revitalise the country's failed domestic car industry. The Atlas Cars project was the result of this partnership, and saw Ford lend a considerable amount of resources to help set up the new venture. The company's first two cars, the Compact - a small hatchback, and the Vixen - a sports coupe, were based heavily on existing Ford platforms for the Fiesta and Mustang respectively. Initial concepts for the two cars were revealed in late 2016 and production is expected to begin in 2018, with both models to be manufactured initially for a seven year period.

Atlas Cars was combined with Jones' chassis manufacturing operations to form Jones Engineering during the parent Group's restructuring during 2016, and operates out of a separate facility in Coventry, with Marshall as Managing Director and Jones as CEO and Chairman.

Cars built to date

Jones Racing Group has designed and manufactured a range of cars since it's creation. Primarily specialising in open-wheeled single seaters, they have also diversified into other areas such as sportscars, whilst the road car programme under Atlas Cars also utilises the Group's chassis-numbering system.

Model	Category	Series	Period used	Notes
100	Open-wheel formula	F1RWRS	2011	First car designed and built. Won with Chris Dagnall.
101	Open-wheel formula	F1RWRS	2012	Runner up in drivers' championship with Dagnall and also second in constructors' title.
102	Open-wheel formula	F1RWRS	2013 (planned)	Car originally designed for 2013 F1RWRS season. Scrapped after rule changes.
102B	Open-wheel formula	F1RWRS	2013	Heavily modified 102 built to meet new rules. Won on debut with Kay Lon.
103	Open-wheel formula	F1RWRS	2014	Beginning of greater partnership with Ford in latter half of the season.
104	Open-wheel formula	F3RWRS	2014	First car built outside of F1RWRS regulations. Terry Hawkin second overall.
105	Open-wheel formula	F1RWRS	2015	Second in constructors' title, Rhys Davies and Rosco Vantini 2nd and 3rd respectively.
106	Open-wheel formula	F3RWRS	2015	First Jones car sold to customers.
107	Open-wheel formula	F1RWRS	2016	Rhys Davies champion, Jones team runners up overall for third time.
108	Open-wheel formula	F3RWRS	2016	Five teams use 108 chassis. Nick Nurmester champion, Jones win team and manufacturers' titles
109	Open-wheel formula	F1RWRS	2017	Car currently in development for 2017.
110	Open-wheel formula	F3RWRS	2017	Car currently in development for 2017.
111	Closed-cockpit LMP2	ACO Le Mans Cup	2017	First Jones sportscar.
112	Road-going hatchback	N/A (road model)	Est. 2018-2025	The Atlas Compact - one of the first two Atlas Cars vehicles.
113	Road-going sports coupe	N/A (road model)	Est. 2018-2025	The Atlas Vixen - one of the first two Atlas Cars vehicles.