Here’s the second in a series by Tony Matthews featuring his incredible cutaway art. In this episode, Tony recalls his first encounter with the Williams FW07, the car that gave Frank Williams his first F1 victory in 1979—and his fascinating encounter with the often impenetrable Frank Williams himself.
Williams FW07
by Tony Matthews
The first Williams FW07 appeared in 1979, and I first saw one during practice for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone that summer. I was standing on the outside of Becketts Corner, and Alan Jones appeared heading straight for me, then instantly turned to his right. The manoeuvre was so startling that I and several hundred other spectators let out a simultaneous “Oooh!”
During the race his FW07 expired, leaving his teammate Clay Regazzoni to win Williams’ first Grand Prix.
This cutaway is of the last four-wheeled FW07 iteration, the C, the D being a mule for the six-wheel layout. I saw it on June 29, 1981, at the team base in Didcot, Oxfordshire, UK, an establishment that at the time was more or less state-of-the-art, but compared to the glorious headquarters that were soon to become the norm throughout Formula 1, it was fairly basic.
The chassis was on trestles, not the best height for taking detail photos of the car, and it was almost impossible to reach into the front of the tub with a camera. As I was struggling to gather information, Frank Williams walked into the workshop, stood opposite me on the other side of the car and gazed intently at some feature.
Nothing was said, and eventually I decided that it might be easier to say something to him if I was alongside, so I slowly made my way round the front of the chassis, only to see him slowly make his way round the rear of the chassis, until we ended up opposite each other again, and he found something else to gaze at. Eventually he left, and I carried on in complete silence.
When I went to Didcot to photograph the FW08 I managed to have a run-in with Patrick Head, but that’s another story.
Text and images copyright Tony Matthews, all rights reserved. Used by permission. If you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to check out Tony’s Maserati 250F story.
(click to open high-resolution image; click again to enlarge further)
If you look at the front of the tub, on the facet where a black-painted strut is mounted, you will notice a strip, riveted to the tub at an angle. When Patrick Head saw that he burst out laughing. “What?” I asked. “Well, it’s not part of a regular chassis, it’s a repair, we had a slight accident and crumpled that part of the tub!”
Tony, that’s quite a compliment to your meticulous approach
. Mr. Head was obviously most impressed and amused. mcg
Too bad I only have two thumbs or I’d give it more thumbs up.
Tex