Thruxton 50th Anniversary Six-wheeled Williams takes to the UK’S fastest circuit

Williams F1 greats star as hampshire circuit celebrates its 50th anniversary

Although Thruxton has never hosted a Formula One race, its reputation as the fastest circuit in the UK meant the Williams Heritage cars looked entirely at home on its sweeping bends at Thruxton’s 50th Anniversary celebration. But it was the historic touring cars which stole the show.

Williams FW08B

This radical six-wheeled 1982 Formula One car took to the track in public for the first time, in the hands of former F1 driver Karun Chandhock. ‘To be honest, you don’t think about the fact it has six wheels once you’re in it – you can only see the front pair anyway,’ said Chandhock. ‘The four-wheel-drive traction from the rear is immense, it just launches out of corners, and its downforce is incredible too – unlike other F1 designs of the era, the venturi tunnels extend right to the end of the chassis, and are wider than usual.

‘It’s underdeveloped though, and it’s a shame FISA banned it before it could run because although it’s quite heavy, Patrick Head had already designed a new version that was 60-70kg lighter, with the saving made at the rear by using single dampers either side. That’s significant because it needs more downforce at the front – the nose gets light at speed. The smaller wheels mean there’s less drag from the rear though.

‘Renault designer Gerard Ducarouge led the charge to ban four-wheel drive in F1, and Patrick Head was quite upset that he succeeded, not least because it was his way of countering the advantage other teams, especially Renault, had with turbochargers. At the time Williams was still using the Cosworth DFV, although by the end of 1983 Patrick had a deal with Honda. He knew turbos were the future.

‘F1 misses design like this nowadays. When you think about things like blown rear diffusers, active ride and individual-wheel braking, they were revolutions. Nowadays it’s just evolution.’

Alfa Romeo GTV6

It’s the first time this Spa class-winner has seen action for more than 30 years, contesting the Historic Touring Car race. ‘It’s the Luigi team Alfa Romeo GTV6 that was driven in the 1985 Spa 24 Hours by Giorgio Francia, Georges Cremer and Guy Perenne,’ said restorer and race engineer Chris Snowdon. ‘It contested the 1984 and 1985 24 Hour races, and had a clubracing career after that, but we found it in a Belgian scrapyard, abandoned, partially stripped and very rotten.

‘It’s now back to exactly how it was at Spa-francorchamps in 1985, apart from some little white logos on its wheels. But I think I can be forgiven for missing that!’

In 1985, Francia, Cremer and Perenne brought the Alfa home ninth overall and first in Division 2.

Rover SD1

This Rover SD1 was also making its UK race debut after a lifetime in South Africa. ‘It was originally built by David Price Racing in the UK before being shipped out to the Sullivan Brothers, who prepared it for Kyalami,’ said Dan Power, race technician at Blakeney Motorsport. ‘It’s the only Rover ever built to Group 2 specifications, so it wears wider wings covering slick tyres, the engine runs Weber carburettors, and the headlights have been replaced with vents – it gets very hot in the engine bay! We’ve restored it in its last livery, as raced at Kyalami in 1981, but it was originally white, and we’ve seen photos of it racing finished in black too. Paddy Sullivan was a wellknown race tuner in South Africa, hence the “Powered by Paddy” sticker on the tail panel – everyone would’ve known whose car it was.’

Ford Capri 3.0S

Touring car star Patrick Watts was using the Thruxton meeting to shake down his latest acquisition – a genuine Ford Capri touring car with period history from Denmark.

‘It didn’t do very well in period, to be honest,’ said Watts. ‘It was a privateer entry driven by George Houthuzen; he raced it in both the Danish and European Touring Car Championships in the early Eighties.

‘While it wasn’t a front-runner, the crucial thing is that it’s very original, and was built in the UK by Cook & Clark Racing. They built Capris for Gordon Spice, and this car was finished with the same specification, including a Hewland gearbox. I hope to evolve it for historic racing – it’s got a lot of potential.’