Sidepodcast - All for F1 and F1 for all

Sidepodtour heads north to Grove - A visit to the Williams factory in Oxfordshire

Published by Mr. C

We've been out and about again. This afternoon, thanks to the lovely people at Williams Grand Prix Engineering, we got to spend some time in Grove, Oxfordshire poking our noses around the gorgeous RBS Conference Centre.

Collection of BMW Williams Cars

As mentioned a couple of shows back the team's fan club is on a temporary hiatus while they develop it into something more modern. As a final farewell they invited a bunch of us for a tour of the F1 Grand Prix Collection.

Learning from previous mistakes, Christine managed to squeeze this visit into her hectic schedule, and she was mighty glad she did when Sir Frank Williams arrived for a surprise Q&A session.

As to be expected from a team that's been in Formula One for 31 years, the collection was a sight to behold. We were treated to a lesson in ground effects, saw the six-wheeled FW08B up close and decided that the more modern BMW powered machines were by far the best looking of the lot.

Michelin Man and Senna Logo

In addition we got to chat with Claire, the host of the AT&T Williams Podcast. She was very lovely, despite not having much of a clue who we were, and I found myself more star struck after meeting her than I was Frank.

As ever, we'll talk more about our adventures on this weekend's show.