Williams FW05

Williams FW05

Williams FW05 at the 2010 Goodwood Festival of Speed
Constructor:	wolf
Designer:	Harvey Postlethwaite Patrick Head
Predecessor:	Williams FW04
Successor:	Wolf WR1
Technical specifications
Engine:	Cosworth
Weight:	595 kg
Tires:	Goodyear
Petrol:	BP
statistics
Driver:	20. Jackie Ickx Arturo Merzario    21. Michel Leclère Chris Amon Warwick Brown Hans Binder Mario Andretti
First start:	1976 Brazilian Grand Prix
Last start:	1976 Japanese Grand Prix
Starts Victories Poles SR 16 - - -
World Cup points:	-
Podiums:	-
Leadership laps:	-

The Williams FW05 (sometimes - incorrectly - also called Wolf-Williams FW05 ) was a Formula 1 racing car that was used by the British racing team Walter Wolf Racing in the 1976 season . The model was created by Hesketh Racing in 1975 and was called the Hesketh 308C there .

background

Hesketh 308C

The origin of the Williams FW05 lies in the British team Hesketh Racing. The racing team founded by Alexander Hesketh first started as a customer team in Formula 1 in 1973 and had its own type 308 cars from 1974 . The designer was Harvey Postlethwaite . After the team had started the 1975 season with revised versions of the 308, it presented a new design in August 1975 with the 308C. The car followed the lines of the 1974 308, but was more compact, had modified aerodynamics and a separate suspension. Hesketh fielded the 308C in two races in the fall of 1975 for James Hunt , who finished in the points on both attempts. At the end of the year Hesketh Racing got into economic difficulties, whereupon the founder withdrew from the racing team. The previous team manager Anthony "Bubbles" Horsley continued to run the team on his own responsibility. In order to receive money for the coming season, he sold all copies of the 308C to the rival team Frank Williams Racing Cars .

Frank Williams ' racing team - the predecessor of today's Formula 1 team, Williams F1 - had been involved in Formula 1 since 1969 . In a few years the racing team worked as a customer team, but from 1973 it produced its own racing cars, which were initially called Iso-Marlboro in view of the main sponsors - the Italian car manufacturer Iso Rivolta and the Marlboro cigarette brand . After Williams separated from Iso in the spring of 1975, the cars were subsequently referred to as FW 01 to 04 (FW for Frank Williams). At that time, Williams was known as the “starving Formula 1”. His racing team was unsuccessful. The cars were of a poor technical standard and were poorly maintained due to poor finances.

The situation changed at the end of 1975. Frank Williams entered into a relationship with the Austrian-Canadian entrepreneur Walter Wolf , who took over shares in the team and provided the funds for a new start to the team. With Wolf's money, Williams bought all three copies of the Hesketh 308C, which he launched in 1976 under the name Williams FW05 with only minor technical changes.

After the first races of the 1976 season, the Frank Williams Racing Cars (Williams for short) racing team was renamed Walter Wolf Racing; however, the vehicles retained the name Williams.

technology

The car designer was Harvey Postlethwaite. The car had a flat monocoque made of aluminum, which in the first version was too weak and tended to twist. After the first test drives, reinforcements had to be installed later. The front end tapered towards the front axle like a bottle neck. The coolers were housed in the rear of the side pods. The first copy of the car had a very narrow track. It was supposed to improve the aerodynamics, but made the handling worse. After the test drives, the track was widened. The second copy of the car was built with a wider track from the start. The front suspension consisted of wishbones with extremely short upper rocker arms; compared to Ferrari, the suspension was extremely small. The rear brake discs were inside, right next to the gearbox.

A special element of the car was the so-called Aeron rubber suspension on the front axle. Postlethwaite had designed the chassis - originally on a suspension made of titanium coil springs - also for a rubber suspension / shock absorber unit on the front wheel. The rubber suspension should save weight and be easier to use. Williams adopted this design unchanged for 1976.

A Cosworth DFV eight-cylinder served as the drive ; the power was transmitted via an FGA-400 five-speed transmission from Hewland . The curb weight of the FW05 was given in early 1976 as 595 kg, 15 kg more than the Hesketh 308C had when it was first introduced. The tank capacity of the three tanks - two next to, one behind the driver's seat - was given as 182 liters.

Frank Williams' longtime partner Patrick Head reworked some details of Postlethwaite's construction in the winter of 1975/76. He thought the car was unsuitable and later explained that he had learned how not to design racing cars using the 308C or FW05 .

production

Hesketh produced three chassis for the 308C in the fall of 1975:

• The chassis no. 308C / 1 was built in the 1975 season. It was the only example of the 308C that was completed at Hesketh. James Hunt drove this car in two Formula 1 races in 1975.
• In 1975, only individual parts were made from chassis No. 308C / 2. It was not completed until the spring of 1976 at Williams.
• The third chassis (No. FW05 / 3) was only completed by the Williams mechanics from spare parts in the early summer of 1976.

Races

The Williams FW05 were used in the Formula 1 World Championship and in the Aurora AFX Formula 1 series .

formula 1

Jackie Ickx in the Williams FW05

The Walter Wolf Racing team, which emerged from Frank Williams Racing Cars at the turn of the year 1975/76, temporarily launched two copies of the FW05 in 1976. The regular driver was initially Jackie Ickx . He mainly drove the 308C / 1 chassis that Hunt had already used last year. Ickx finished four times. His best result was seventh place in the Spanish Grand Prix . This was also the team's best result this year. The race result contrasted with four missed qualifications by the Belgian. After the French Grand Prix he was then replaced by Arturo Merzario , who regularly qualified with the newly built FW05 / 3. However, Merzario never finished. He failed prematurely on all six attempts; in two cases this was due to Merzario's driving errors.

Wolf reported the second vehicle (chassis 308C / 2) seven times for Michel Leclère . Leclère crossed the finish line five times; his best result was 10th place in the Spanish Grand Prix. Before his home race , the team broke the contract with Leclère. As the season progressed, the chassis was left to several drivers, who mostly had to pay for the ride:

• At the Canadian Grand Prix , Chris Amon took over the second FW05. Unlike the pilots who later moved the vehicle, Amon was not a paydriver . It was used at the request of Walter Wolf, who wanted to check the quality of the FW05 with the help of the established and experienced Amon. In qualification training, Amon collided with Harald Ertl , who competed in the factory Hesketh, after a spin . The FW05 was so badly damaged by the collision that Amon was unable to take part in the race. The 308/2 was not rebuilt afterwards.

• For the Grand Prix of the USA East , the team reactivated the 308C / 1, which was shut down in the summer of 1976. The car was registered for Warwick Brown from New Zealand , who contested his only Formula 1 race here. Brown qualified for 23rd place on the grid and crossed the finish line five laps back in 14th and last.

• For the Japanese Grand Prix , the team finally signed the Japanese racing driver Masami Kuwashima . Kuwashima took part in free practice with the 308C / 1 on the Friday before the race. He achieved a training time that was five seconds longer than that of the future pole driver Mario Andretti . After Friday training, Kuwashima's sponsor surprisingly withdrew. Williams then immediately replaced Kuwashima with Hans Binder , who qualified for 25th place on the grid, but failed in the race with a technical defect.

There was a special commitment at the BRDC International Trophy in April 1976: In this race, which is not part of the Formula 1 World Championship, the established American racing driver Mario Andretti started for Wolf in the FW05. Andretti had initially been under contract with the Lotus factory team in 1976 , but had left the team to compete for the American racing team Vel's Parnelli Jones . Parnelli unexpectedly stopped racing after two grand prizes in March 1976. In order to get in contact with Formula 1 again, Andretti took the opportunity to compete in the International Trophy for Williams two weeks later. He finished seventh in this race. In the following years Lotus renewed the contract with Andretti.

Aurora series

In 1977 and 1978 two FW05s were used in the British Aurora FX series . Drivers were Derek Cook and John Cooper .

literature

• Adriano Cimarosti: The Century of Racing. Cars, tracks and pilots . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-613-01848-9 .
• Eddie Guba: racing car. Function and technology in Formula 1 . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-87943-487-5 .
• Maurice Hamilton: Frank Williams. The inside story of the man behind the Williams-Renault. Macmillan, London 1998, ISBN 0-333-71716-3 (English).
• David Hodges: Racing Cars from A – Z after 1945 . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-613-01477-7 .
• Pierre Ménard: La Grande Encyclopédie de la Formule 1 . 2nd Edition. Chronosports, St. Sulpice 2000, ISBN 2-940125-45-7 (French).

Web links

Commons : Williams FW05  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

1. ^ David Hodges: Racing Cars from A – Z after 1945. 1994, p. 266.
2. ↑ In some races, broken plastic pieces were taped together; Williams often used tires from the Ferrari team in 1974 and 1975. See Maurice Hamilton: Frank Williams. The inside story of the man behind Williams-Renault. 1998, pp. 50 and 68 f.
3. ^ David Hodges: Rennwagen von A – Z after 1945. 1994, p. 268.
4. ^ David Hodges: AZ of Grand Prix Cars. 2001, p. 108.
5. ^ Eddie Guba: Racing car function and technology in Formula 1. 1977, p. 96.
6. ↑ David Hodges: Racing cars from AZ after 1945 , p. 115 f.
7. ↑ Eddie Guba: Racing cars function and technology in Formula 1. 1977, p. 97.
8. ↑ Adriano Cimarosti: The century of racing. 1997, pp. 266, 274.
9. ^ Eddie Guba: Racing car function and technology in Formula 1. 1977, p. 95.
10. ↑ Maurice Hamilton: Frank Williams. The inside story of the man behind Williams-Renault. 1998, p. 59.
11. ^ History of the Williams FW05 (308C / 1 and 308 / C2) on the website www.oldracingcars.com
12. ^ History of the Williams FW05 (308C / 3) on the website www.oldracingcars.com
13. ^ Biography of Kuwashima on the website www.f1rejects.com