Through the generosity of my employer, I was fortunate enough to visit the Williams Grand Prix Engineering Centre at Grove
(near Oxford, England) on the 4th and 5th March 1998. With only hours to go before the start of final
practice for the first Grand Prix of this season in Melbourne, Australia, we had an excellent and informative presentation
in the Ayrton Senna theatre, prior to a guided tour of the Williams Museum, where there is a unique and priceless collection
of Williams Formula 1 cars - in fact, one of every type ever produced by Williams Grand Prix Engineering, including a
four-wheel drive (at the rear, plus two wheels at the front) and a CVT (constantly-variable-transmission) test car.
For anyone that was interested, the evening was rounded off by an excellent meal.
I found it a little surprising that the impression left was that Frank Williams had only been involved in F1 motor racing
since the formation of Williams Grand Prix Engineering in 1978, and no mention was made of his previous ventures or
achievements (I remember seeing the stunning black Hesketh 308C Wolf-Williams car in 1976). However, these are well
described in a new book by Maurice Hamilton 'Frank Williams, The Inside Story of the Man Behind Williams-Renault'
(ISBN 0-333-71716-3).
In the foyer is this small car - presumably a wind-tunnel scale model - and a small shop selling Williams souvenirs.
This is the first Williams Grand Prix Engineering F1 car made (FW06), driven by Alan Jones in 1978, and using a
Williams-Ford engine.
This is Clay Regazzoni's car of 1979 - the first Williams Grand Prix Engineering car to win a F1 Grand Prix, at
Silverstone.
I have no recollection of seeing a four-wheel-drive Williams, but here it is. It was never raced in F1 - based on
Keke Rosberg's successful 1982 FW08, this car set the outright Goodwood Festival of Speed course record in 1995,
driven by Jonathan Palmer.
Another view of the four-wheel-drive Williams, with a painting of the Williams champion drivers in the
background.
I have no recollection of seeing a CVT (constant-variable-transmission) Williams either !
Having moved from modified Ford-Cosworth V8 engines through the unreliable Honda V6 units (FW09),
Williams used Judd V8 engines and introduced active suspension during 1987 (FW12), before switching
to Renault V10 engines in 1989 (FW13).
Now that is an engine! It takes 120 hours to build the exhaust manifold alone on this Williams-Renault V10
engine.
Williams' as far as the eye can see, with Nigel Mansell's (FW14) in the foreground! Camel sponsored Williams
from 1991 until 1994.
Yet more Williams' as far as the eye can see !
Yet more Williams', these all post-1994 (when Rothmans took over as main sponsor from Camel, on FW16)
My colleague, a Mercedes fan from Stuttgart, was horrified to see wire holding the car together - but if it wins
races ... (this seems to be only supporting a piece of carbon-fibre ducting around the front brakes and suspension)
Yours truly, stroking a dream car. This is FW19, the first car to be designed in Williams Grand Prix Engineering
new premises at Grove, and enabled Heinz Harald Frentzen to win his first Grand Prix race at Imola in 1997.
In addition to winning the coveted F1 Constructors Title a record nine times, and ensuring that Renault won the Engine
Manufacturers Title for a record six consecutive times, Williams Grand Prix Engineering also constructed one of the
fastest rally cars ever made (the Group B MG Metro 6R4), and later had considerable success in preparing the Renault
Laguna cars for the British Saloon Car Championship series.
I wish you all at Grove more luck and success for 1999; Ralf Schumacher is a very capable driver, who with a bit
more experience could avoid the cat-lit to finish a few more races and gain valuable championship points;
Alessandro Zanardi has proven that he is a fast driver in CART racing, so maybe you can remind McLaren and
Ferrari what Williams Renault exhaust pipes look like. But watch out for the revamped Tyrrell team, B.A.R. - with
Supertec (Renault) engines, a Reynard chassis, and Jacques Villeneuve (plus Ricardo Zonta?) at the wheels, they
should be very competitive.
Update in January 2000 - OK, so B.A.R. was the only team not to win a single point in the 1999
manufacturers' championships. Luckily, I didn't put any money on them (actually, I did try to buy shares in B.A.R.,
but they never replied to any of my repeated faxes or e-mails asking how I could invest in their team!)
At least Frank Williams was bestowed a knighthood in the Queen's New Years Honours list on 01.01.2000.
Congratulations, Sir Frank!
Williams Grand Prix Engineering Visit, March 1998 
