Williams are 40
Discussion
And to celebrate they had some cars on track last Friday at Silverstone.OK one or two aren't technically F1.
There were plenty of other drivers around including both Rosbergs, Massa (who is driving one of the cars, as is) Brundle, Hill And Williams. I'm just rubbish at celeb spotting and out of practice at car photography. Turns out the newer stuff was harder to get right....I'll claim it was going faster. The FW14 seemed to be spinning up in the wet, the FW36 didn't.
There were plenty of other drivers around including both Rosbergs, Massa (who is driving one of the cars, as is) Brundle, Hill And Williams. I'm just rubbish at celeb spotting and out of practice at car photography. Turns out the newer stuff was harder to get right....I'll claim it was going faster. The FW14 seemed to be spinning up in the wet, the FW36 didn't.
Edited by mcdjl on Wednesday 7th June 00:07
Thundersports said:
No they're not 40 it's PR bulls
t from when it suited them to be 40. On the same subject Clay Regazzoni wasn't the first driver to win a F1 race in a Williams.
I guess one could debate whether Williams GP (Engineering) was the start of what we know as Williams GP nowadays. Whatever the facts, it was great to see some of the iconic Williams cars run again, especailly the FW14B. Even Mansell wasn't sure why he wasn't asked to drive it last Friday (one does wonder whether he'd still fit into it though!)t from when it suited them to be 40. On the same subject Clay Regazzoni wasn't the first driver to win a F1 race in a Williams.TBH it was a good day out, the BMW LMR V12 sounded immense. The previous years V6 less so...
Chandock was having a blast piloting the FW14b, and despite its electrical wizardry it was still stepping out when he put his foot down. The rain might have had a little to do with this though ;-)
Chandock was having a blast piloting the FW14b, and despite its electrical wizardry it was still stepping out when he put his foot down. The rain might have had a little to do with this though ;-)
Thundersports said:
No they're not 40 it's PR bullst from when it suited them to be 40. On the same subject Clay Regazzoni wasn't the first driver to win a F1 race in a Williams.
Frank entered F1 as early as '69 but it the entries were part time in basically cobbled together old cars.t from when it suited them to be 40. On the same subject Clay Regazzoni wasn't the first driver to win a F1 race in a Williams.After he joined forces with Walter Wolf (because he was skint) and didn't find it to his liking he left and set up Williams Grand Prix Engineering, by this time he'd met Patrick Head who was also skint and needed some money to finish his boat.
WGPE first entered F1 in 1977 with a modified March. 40 years ago.
I'm curious to your statement regarding the first win though, can you elaborate ?
My pics here: http://imgur.com/a/NS9vL
olliethehut said:
TBH it was a good day out, the BMW LMR V12 sounded immense. The previous years V6 less so...
Chandock was having a blast piloting the FW14b, and despite its electrical wizardry it was still stepping out when he put his foot down. The rain might have had a little to do with this though ;-)
Yep, I've been following Karun's adventures on Instagram. Looked like a fun day out and he's been posting some great pictures and footage.Chandock was having a blast piloting the FW14b, and despite its electrical wizardry it was still stepping out when he put his foot down. The rain might have had a little to do with this though ;-)
Crafty_ said:
Frank entered F1 as early as '69 but it the entries were part time in basically cobbled together old cars.
After he joined forces with Walter Wolf (because he was skint) and didn't find it to his liking he left and set up Williams Grand Prix Engineering, by this time he'd met Patrick Head who was also skint and needed some money to finish his boat.
WGPE first entered F1 in 1977 with a modified March. 40 years ago.
I'm curious to your statement regarding the first win though, can you elaborate ?
My pics here: http://imgur.com/a/NS9vL
Brian McGuire won a Shellsport race at Thruxton in 1976 driving a Williams FW04 (a proper Williams built car of 1975 vintage not a Wolf etc etc).After he joined forces with Walter Wolf (because he was skint) and didn't find it to his liking he left and set up Williams Grand Prix Engineering, by this time he'd met Patrick Head who was also skint and needed some money to finish his boat.
WGPE first entered F1 in 1977 with a modified March. 40 years ago.
I'm curious to your statement regarding the first win though, can you elaborate ?
My pics here: http://imgur.com/a/NS9vL
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_McGuire
FourWheelDrift said:
That wasn't a Formula One race though, it was a Formula Libre motor racing competition held only in the UK.
Depends how you interpret the series; it was a championship with a fair few F1 cars competing. On your interpretation Desire Wilson never won a F1 race either?I applied for tickets and then they never sent any! Apparently we should have received a pdf with the ticket, but nothing came.
I went up anyway with my daughter to see if we could blag in, but no banana.
So we cleared off home.
Today I get an email from Williams with a load of spiel about how great they are and thanking me for celebrating their 40th anniversary! Cheers v much guys!!
I went up anyway with my daughter to see if we could blag in, but no banana.
So we cleared off home.
Today I get an email from Williams with a load of spiel about how great they are and thanking me for celebrating their 40th anniversary! Cheers v much guys!!
poo at Paul's said:
I applied for tickets and then they never sent any! Apparently we should have received a pdf with the ticket, but nothing came.
I went up anyway with my daughter to see if we could blag in, but no banana.
So we cleared off home.
Today I get an email from Williams with a load of spiel about how great they are and thanking me for celebrating their 40th anniversary! Cheers v much guys!!
I can't remember showing them anything. I didn't get anything more than an email saying it was my ticket and i don't think they even asked to see that!I went up anyway with my daughter to see if we could blag in, but no banana.
So we cleared off home.
Today I get an email from Williams with a load of spiel about how great they are and thanking me for celebrating their 40th anniversary! Cheers v much guys!!
Leggy said:
Was a good day out. The sound of Mansells car was epic and worth the trip on its own.
When you applied for the tickets it did say they would let you know if you had been successful in getting tickets.
Can only assume you weren't.
Follow up email was probably admin error.
I got another one today from them about Stroll in Canada. Sounds like it was just a marketing scam. When you applied for the tickets it did say they would let you know if you had been successful in getting tickets.
Can only assume you weren't.
Follow up email was probably admin error.
After I applied the webpage said I would received a pdf file by email "about a week" before the event. Clearly we were not successful but I still get their marketing emails now.
Miserable t
ts, we will start rooting for Force India instead now! lol amgmcqueen said:
A 40th anniversary without their greatest ever driver...?!
Stroll was there 
They even let him drive a car !
Seriously, the Sky team were there filming - both the Williams thing but Martin was having a go in the FW08D 6 wheeler for a feature on banned cars. So he (yes he did do a race for Williams) and Damon were there. Di Resta was on hand as he is Williams test driver. Channel 4 where there filming too, so Webber and DC were there. Also present were Rosbergs (both of them), Patese, Mansell, Massa, Wurz also in attendance.
Chandhok did most of the driving (as official heritage driver apparently). He was the only person allowed to drive the FW 40 (this year's car) and even then they had to get permission from every team. Di Resta didn't get permission.
Steve Soper was having a whale of a time in the BMW LMR car.
Notable absences ? Alan Jones (too far to travel I guess?) Prost (dunno, being French?), Piquet (everyone else threatened not to turn up..)
I remember them being at the back of the grid in the seventies and being a bit of a joke but they came through and dominated F1. I know someone who was at the same Jesuit School as Frank and marked him out as a very determined character who had potential to succeed at the highest level.
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