July 25th 2010, Williams F1 Factory, Grove
No, not a top a firm of Solicitors but a neat way of repeating Number 19 on Kevs 101 Things To Do Before I die list for today we (Kev and Chris) would be watching the German Grand Prix as guests of the Williams Formula 1 team at their factory in Grove.
But before the actual race we got to wander round the Factory which started with Champions Row.
Champions Row is a display of photos of all the World Champion winning drivers that drove for Williams since it was formed back in the 70s. This included such greats as Senna, Prost, Rosberg (Senior) and of course the mustachioed one himself Nigel Mansell.
The Row lead us into the self proclaimed "Greatest collection of Williams F1 cars in the World" containing at least one car for each year that Williams have been a team.
Not really knowing what to expect we both thought it would be lots of cars in a warehouse. We were wrong, it was an amazing place to look round.
What was impressive was just how close you could get to the cars, certainly close enough to touch them which neither of us expected.
Highlights included seeing all three of Nigel Mansells famous Red 5 cars as well as seeing the car Senna drove before his death in 94.
The tour of the factory also included an exhibition of Trophies won and Driver Helmet designs plus a go in their F1 Simulator.
Driving round Silverstone with a lap or two to practice, our lap times were recorded Top Gear style. Modesty prevents Kev from bragging about who was fastest on the day (It also prevents him from confirming that his time was beaten by at least 4 people by the end of the day)
Though of course we hadn't just come to look at the cars and drive the Simulator, so we settled down in the swanky Conference Room to watch the German Rand Prix.
As part of the build up to the race we got to put questions to Sam Michaels, Williams Technical Director who was actually in the Pits in Germany. Whilst watching the BBC race coverage on a huge screen (and eating an excellent dinner) they also showed the BBC Driver Tracker on one screen and the F1 Official Sector times on another. Very cool! Mental note made that all future Races should be watched using three screens.