Today marks the 40th anniversary of the death of Jim Clark in a Formula 2 race in Hockenheim, Germany.  Amidst the controversy that is overshadowing Formula One, it’s worth taking a moment to fondly look back on the last of the gentleman grand prix drivers.

In my opinion, Clark was the most gifted driver to ever sit in a race car - fast, smooth and incredibly sympathetic towards the car.  But for the fragility of the Lotuses he drove, he might have completely dominated the 60’s.  I am not alone in my opinion. He was also held in the highest regard by his peers and his death shocked them all to a man.  It was Ferrari driver Chris Amon who remarked of Jim’s death, “If it can happen to (Jimmy) what chance do the rest of us have.”

Like many drivers of his day, Clark drove several different types of cars and his skill in multiple disciplines rivals even that of Mario Andretti.  Clark, in addition to his 25 grand prix wins and 2 Formula 1 World Championships (1963 and 1965), also won the Indianapolis 500 (1965) and the British Touring Car Championship (1964).  Other remarkable performances came driving a Ford Galaxy in NASCAR and the Lotus 30 and Aston Martin DBR1 at Le Mans.

It’s unlikely Jim could have existed as a Formula 1 driver today.  The farmer from the Scottish Borders was too sensitive of character for the harsh realities of racing today.  He raced in an era when it was still possible to live a normal life as a racing driver and not be burdened by the weight of money, politics and gamesmanship and the world is richer for having seen his talent displayed in perfect conditions.

The race following Clark’s death brought with it commercial advertising on the cars (Lotus) that would usher in a new chapter in racing.  With Jim’s passing, so too did the era of the gentleman racer.

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Every success WilliamsF1 achieve is a testament to the spirit of the garagistas. WilliamsF1 is a racing team amongst corporate giants. Sportsmen fighting against businessmen. David versus Goliath. They are you and me. They are the heart and soul of what F1 should be.

A decade ago WilliamsF1 peaked with a string of nearly uninterrupted championships. Since then, success has been fleeting but with a quiet dignity, the team has soldiered on. Today, surrounded on the grid by the world’s largest automotive manufacturers, WilliamsF1 is the last of their breed - garagistas. Pure racers. Simply, WilliamsF1 exists, not to sell more Honda Civics or BMW M3’s but to win races and championships. Period.

Where a team like Honda or Toyota can simply quit F1 if they become disenchanted with not winning, WilliamsF1’s existence remains tied to sustainable success on the track. That ethos demands a level of commitment that few in the paddock demonstrate.

How much commitment does Renault’s Flavio Briatore have to ‘his’ team’s survival? Some, but it’s not his team - he’s an employee with a salary and benefits. Frank Williams is a team owner. To demonstrate the difference, consider this: Frank Williams sold his private jet last year to fund a second, state of the art wind tunnel. As a quadriplegic, Frank benefited more than most would from the use of a private jet to get back and forth to races. It was more than a luxury but it was also a means to an end.

How many ‘employees’ would do that for an employer? For that matter, how many owners would do that for their teams? Eddie Jordan, owner of Jordan Racing, sold his team when they were in financial trouble. Selling the private yacht and other toys was not an option for Eddie.

That new wind tunnel was built to make the race cars go faster, end of story. Was it worth it? Well, the team have put what might be their best designed car in years on the track. Certainly in winter testing, it has been consistently fast during every test. The question is, can Frank’s team humble the corporate juggernauts like Ferrari, McLaren-Mercedes and arch rival BMW?

I think they already have - just by continuing to exist and thrive as racers.

The heart of F1 is no longer Italian red, it is blue - the midnight blue of the new WilliamsF1 team colors. Incidentally, the team launched their new livery today - see below.

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With every new car launch in 2008 comes another explanation from Team ‘X’ of the intricacies of their ‘revolutionary’ aerodynamic developments. Press releases and technical analysis from trade journalists are the stuff that only a PhD in physics could truly understand or appreciate. To the casual observer or even a long time follower of the sport, the placement of tiny winglets and computer designed aero-foils is about as interesting as Grade 9 calculus.

“Does it have an extra wing? -No…”

“Is it turbo-charged with an afterburner? - No…”

“Does it have an engine for each wheel? - No…”

“Then what makes it different?”

Probably nothing as far as anyone outside of F1 is concerned.

It’s often been said that if the paint schemes on modern F1 cars were stripped off, most fans would not be able to tell the difference between a Ferrari and a BMW. New ideas are quickly copied (or stolen) by the other teams’ designers and eventually car design becomes a very homogeneous genetic soup. Nowadays, its more evolution through cloning than by innovation.

It wasn’t always so stale. In the 60’s and 70’s there was an explosion of new ideas and ‘outside the box’ thinking. Lotus designer Colin Chapman introduced both the monocoque chassis and ground effects to grand prix racing. The designs proved so successful that they are de rigueur to F1 design more than a quarter century later. However, equally creative ideas like four-wheel drive, and dual chassis’ proved to be evolutionary dead-ends and were abandoned. Darwin would be proud.

Standing out as the ultimate in new thinking was a car so wildly different from what had come before that it is, even today, an instantly recognizable icon of 70’s racing - the Tyrrell P34. Designed by Derrick Gardiner, the idea of four small front wheels instead of the normal sized two was envisioned as a way to reduce the drag on the car (smaller tires created a smaller frontal area) while maintaining the same amount of rubber making contact with the track.

The car’s unveiling in 1976 was greeted with gasps of astonishment by the press and it is still regarded as one of the most radical cars ever produced in the history of Formula 1. More astonishing is that this apparent albatross in design was competitive and successful straight away.

Building on a string of points scoring finishes and podiums, the Tyrrell Team quickly achieved the perfect race result when teammates Jody Scheckter and Patrick Depallier finished 1-2 in the 1976 Swiss Grand Prix. Sadly, this early glory was the high water mark for the car and it never won another race. Tire development on the car’s tiny 10-inch wheels proved too costly for the Goodyear Tire Company and the entire concept eventually had to be abandoned in 1977. The FIA killed the 6-wheel concept for good in 1983 when it mandated that race cars could only have four wheels.

Still, the P34 has remained an icon to F1 enthusiasts. It’s a testament to the adventurous thinking F1 used to embrace. Sadly, it also a reminder that as the rules have become more comprehensive and restrictive, innovation has slowly been squeezed out of the sport.

The P34 is not the last word on radical experimentation however. Before the door was shut on 6-wheel race cars, two other notable attempts were made to harness the power of six; the March 2-4-0 and the Williams FW07B/08B.

Stay tuned for Success on 6 Wheels Pt II

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WilliamsF1 announced today a new partnership with Dutch clothing design company MacGregor.  The clothier will be responsible for the design of an all new team uniform as well as as a custom clothing line for the 500+ factory staff.

One of the first projects announced for the three year partnership is the introduction of a retro collection to commemorate the team’s 30 years in F1. The retro line will highlight the WilliamsF1 team’s colors, logos and designs from some of the most famous and successful WilliamsF1 cars of the past 30 years.   WilliamsF1 have had several distinctive liveries over the years including the Saudia, Camel and Rothmans eras that all produced championships for the team.

The WilliamsF1 partnership is not the first foray into Formula one for the Dutch company. MacGregor was responsible for the design of the now defunct Spyker F1 team’s race wear.  If the previous designs for Spyker are any indication of where the new partnership will go,  WilliamsF1 fans may soon be amongst the most stylish in the paddock.

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2008 will see several important milestones reached for the Williams F1 racing team.  Incorporated in 1977 by Frank Williams and Patrick Head, the team will contest their 500th race at the Turkish GP this year.  Williams himself will celebrate his 600th Grand Prix when the F1 circus arrives at Monaco in May.  The added races are because Frank ran a number of customer cars for nearly as decade before establishing the current marque.

The team will also celebrate the 30th anniversary of their first design, the FW06, and with a reasonable amount of reliability, they will complete their 50,000th race lap at some stage of the Spanish Grand Prix.

To commemorate these milestones, the team will debut six different themed liveries during the two month winter testing campaign in Spain. Despite Williams opting not to have an official launch this season, fans will have even more reason to keep an eye on the ever changing FW29B. No official date was available online for the FW30 model that the team will use for the opening race in Melbourne, Australia on March 16, 2008

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