R. I. P. Sir Frank Williams 79

A racer to the end. One of the few in the sporting world who deserve the accolade of 'icon'.

May he rest in peace ... And burn some rubber!
 
He was known as W****r Williams because he was still a travelling salesman when he started out in racing with an Old Brabham (forget the drivers name, it was before my time) because he never had the money, that nickname stuck till the end, it started out as a bit of a light hearted insult but actually became a sign of peoples love and respect of the man, he was so direct and so well meaning, lovely bloke, well unless you scrathed his new truck, his face said it all that day.

In 94 at San Marino a part of him died, seldom saw a genuine smile from him after that, but that was the same for a number of people.
 
Nice short interview about Frank with D.C. on the news yesterday morning. When asked why he was giving David the seat vacated by Ayrton Senna he told the assembled press it was because David had a very pretty girlfriend. D.C. was expecting to hear that Ayrton had given his backing to the move, which he knew was the case. Seven world champions and developing Adrian Newey early on in his career shows how good a judge of talent the man was.

Cheers

H
 
I had a hand in nearly killing him at Brands Hatch British Grand Prix. the company I worked for, asked me to construct a body on a 40 ft trailer with sides and a handrail all around. It looked the part and following the race the entire team got on board and went for a victory lap around the circuit. Off it went behind a new LEP M.B truck. all was going fine until went down Paddock Bend and started to accelerate up towards the hairpin. That hill is 'king steep and with truck pulling hard his wheelchair flipped on its back and proceeded to make its way down the 40 foot towards the back, luckily my welding held for the impact with a multitude of bodies and the chair and it stopped him carrying off the back and continuing down the hill headfirst on the chair. Nobody had thought about making sure the boss was secured.
 

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