Patrick Head's first Williams, the FW06 in full detail ...
Although it was already announced earlier, this weekend Williams Grand Prix Engineering confirmed it would start its Formula 1 season without Patrick Head directly involved. The seasoned engineer was one of the team's two founding members along with Frank Williams and has since been a part of all of Williams' successes. He will continue at Williams in the quickly growing hybrid arm that produces the flywheel system used for example in Porsche's hybrid 911 racer.
To honour one of the most successful engineers in Formula 1, we have today taken a closer look at his very first design for Williams; the FW06. Built for the 1978 season, this was a conventional design and while moderately successful struggled to keep up with the more advanced 'ground effect' machines fielded by the competition. Driver Alan Jones did manage to clinch the team's first podium and went on to score 16 points in Williams' debut season as a manufacturer. The cars were used at the start of 1979 as well as a stop gap while Head developed the team's first ground effect racer. This FW07 proved a winner straight out of the box and in 1980 Jones and Williams became world champions with it. Our detailed feature is illustrated by a 24-shot gallery of four different examples.
Enjoy the links:
1978 Williams FW06 Cosworth - Images, Specifications and Information
Last edited by Wouter Melissen; 01-03-2012 at 02:14 AM.
If you should see a man walking down a crowded street talking aloud to himself, don't run in the opposite direction, but run towards him, because he's a poet. You have nothing to fear from the poet - but the truth.
(Ted Joans)
Reply With Quote