Last night the WilliamsF1 club ran one of it’s occasional trips to the Williams museum, a £50 million collection of cars spanning right across the 30 year history of the team. I always enjoy my visits even though I have been half a dozen times before but last night was special as Sir Frank Williams came along to speak to the group. He give a short talk thanking the members of the club for their support and then took the time to answer questions.
What I found interesting was the difference between the answers that Williams gave to that on the motorsport websites. For example a question was asked about the proposed standard engine and its place in F1. In the press it has been suggested that Williams have expressed interest in the engine but last night a number of things became clear. The engine is the same power unit that Williams used in 2006. There has been little or no development of it since then and the engineers that worked on it have all since lest Cosworth. So not such an appetising prospect to try and race with the manufacturer teams with what would be a three year old engine even if it is cheaper.
Following the questions Sir Frank stayed around for us to have pictures taken with him and there we are above. A great evening. Now all we need is a return to form in 2009. Fingers crossed!