Williams FW08B

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The six-wheeled FW08B in the museum of the Williams Factory
Front view of the FW08B

The Williams F08B was a concept car from the British Formula 1 team Williams from 1982, which had three axles and six wheels. The vehicle, which is technically based on the Williams FW08 , was tested several times in 1982, but was never used in any Formula 1 world championship run.

Six-wheel car in Formula 1

The Williams FW08B was not the first six-wheel racing car in Formula 1 history. The British racing team Tyrrell had developed such a car as early as 1976 with the P34 and launched it. Ferrari took up the six-wheel concept as early as 1977 and equipped a 312T with four rear wheels that were on a common rear axle. A little later, March Engineering in Bicester designed the 2-4-0 , which in turn had a different layout: the car had only one front axle, but two rear axles. Unlike the Tyrrell P34, the Ferrari and the March were purely research vehicles that were not intended for use on the racetrack.

Six-wheeler at Williams

Williams began working on his own six-wheel car in 1980. The team followed March's concept from the start, as Tyrrell's idea of ​​using two steered front axles had proven too cumbersome. In addition, the Tyrrell needed four particularly small front tires, which had to be developed exclusively for the P34. This drove up the operating costs significantly.

The reason for the work on a six-wheel car was the effort to reduce the aerodynamic drag of the racing car. The rear tires, which were much larger than the front tires in the 1980s, severely affected the car's aerodynamics , according to Patrick Head , the team's technical director. Reducing the size of the tires would have reduced aerodynamic drag, but at the same time severely impaired grip on the drive axle. Head pursued the idea of ​​installing four tires on the rear of the car, the dimensions of which corresponded to the front wheels, i.e. were lower overall than the usual rear tires.

The first tests with a three-axle car began in the summer of 1980. Williams' designer Frank Dernie converted a 1979 Williams FW07B accordingly. Alan Jones undertook brief test drives with him on the Donington circuit in late 1981 ; However, they only served to gain basic information about the operation of six-wheel vehicles.

Based on this knowledge, the three-axis FW08B was created in 1981, which was based on the technical components of the current FW08. A Cosworth DFV eight-cylinder engine served as the drive . All four rear wheels were driven.

In the fall of 1982, Williams undertook long test drives with the car on a small motorcycle racing track in Croix-en-Ternois in northern France . Test drivers were Jacques Laffite and Jonathan Palmer . Palmer confirmed that the car had excellent traction on both dry and wet roads; the cornering behavior was described as outstanding.

A disadvantage of the FW08B, however, was the significantly higher weight - Patrick Head later spoke of 100 kg more weight than the regular FW08 - which took away the advantage of traction. In view of the weight problem and the associated high construction effort, Williams stopped further work on the six-wheel car in the course of 1982. A little later, the Formula 1 regulations were changed so that racing cars were not allowed to have more than four wheels.

literature

  • David Hodges: A – Z of Grand Prix Cars 1906–2001 , 2001 (Crowood Press), ISBN 1-86126-339-2 (English)
  • David Hodges: Racing Cars from A – Z after 1945 , Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-613-01477-7

Web links

Commons : Williams FW08B  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In some sources the vehicle is also referred to as FW08D.
  2. ^ Hodges: AZ of Grand Prix Cars 1906-2001, p. 242.