Messrs Williams, Williams and Roper

Inside the Williams museum

Menu

More info

To keep up to date see the Latest News section.

Last updated 26/11/11

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.

Reception with the entrance to Champions Row at the back

But before the actual race we got to wander round the Factory which started with Champions Row.

Chamipons Row with Mansell and Prost

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.

Some cars from the early days

Some more recent cars

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.

Impressive line up

What was impressive was just how close you could get to the cars, certainly close enough to touch them which neither of us expected.

One of the famous Red 5 cars driven by Nigel Mansell

The cars driven by four World Champions.  Senna, Hill, Prost and Mansell

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.

Helmets and Trophies

The tour of the factory also included an exhibition of Trophies won and Driver Helmet designs plus a go in their F1 Simulator.

Kev concentrating very hard

Lap times

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.

Watching the German Grand 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.

Very good