Williams 2011 Car Launched

clv101 · 24 Feb 2011 at 12:00

Looking good. I would love to see Williams really competitive again. If Rubens could pick up a win or two this season, every fan of F1 would be happy.

After 8th in the constructors championship in 2008 to 7th in 2009 and 6th in 2010, wouldn't it be nice to see them 5th this year?

Anyone know anything about their KERS?

wolvers · 24 Feb 2011 at 12:10

clv101 said:
Anyone know anything about their KERS?

It's our own, in house developed, battery powered system.

clv101 · 24 Feb 2011 at 12:18

wolvers69 said:
It's our own...

Is it any good then?

Well... I guess, are there any indications as to its relative performance and reliability compared to the others?

wolvers · 24 Feb 2011 at 12:27

Well, It works! Which is no mean feat considering Honda spent stupid money on their system and never got it to work on the car (although it apparently worked OK on the dyno).

How it performs against the other systems, nobody really knows. Theoretically it should be the same except it's measured electrically by the FIA in watts so if it's more efficient then maybe one system could produce more power than another.

sunama · 24 Feb 2011 at 12:57

The shape of the Williams car (with black livery) was brilliant. I can't quite make out anything in that dark picture. Surely, if they are going to "show off" the new livery, they would've organised decent lighting for the event?

Dup · 24 Feb 2011 at 13:02

sunama said:
The shape of the Williams car (with black livery) was brilliant. I can't quite make out anything in that dark picture. Surely, if they are going to "show off" the new livery, they would've organised decent lighting for the event?

This is what happens when marketing people get involved with things they don't understand, which is everything it seems.

Flibster · 24 Feb 2011 at 13:21

Hmm, not a bad paintjob. Will need to see it in proper lighting first.

Dup said:
This is what happens when marketing people get involved with things they don't understand, which is everything it seems.

To quote the late, great Bill Hicks

By the way if anyone here is in advertising or marketing... kill yourself.

No, no, no it's just a little thought. I'm just trying to plant seeds. Maybe one day, they'll take root - I don't know. You try, you do what you can. Kill yourself.

Seriously though, if you are, do. Aaah, no really, there's no rationalisation for what you do and you are Satan's little helpers.

pingwing · 24 Feb 2011 at 17:26

The colours are pretty cool there, the testing livery is better overall but a 90's style take on the more current colour scheme is pretty nice

gumpy321 · 24 Feb 2011 at 20:48

Sorry about this but I need some clarification. Is wolvers69 an employee of Williams then?

wolvers · 24 Feb 2011 at 21:28

poosemon · 24 Feb 2011 at 21:44

just got back from the livery launch! what a day at the williams hq

Was there as part of the Gidleigh Park team helping the staff on site. after the launch we were shown around the factory where we got a really good look around the new car at very close quarters before been shipped to next test/oz. and were then shown around the rest of the factory, what an amazing facility where they make 90% of the car, individually made components etc.

Then we were given a tour around the museum part with an example of nearly all the williams f1 cars built and the trophy/helmet room.

Service went really well and all seemed happy, was a buzzing atmosphere around. Was a shame frank williams was stuck in qatar otherwise he would have been there too.....

pingwing · 26 Feb 2011 at 18:42

wolvers69 said:
yes

Lucky!

Baz · 27 Feb 2011 at 10:48

I am amazed at the angle of the drive shafts, they are almost at 45'! :eek:

Good looking car, one of the best this season.

wolvers · 1 Mar 2011 at 22:15

LOL, it's not that much. More like 15'.

Shimmy · 24 Mar 2011 at 12:31

Picture of the tightly packaged Williams gearbox:

Kerming · 24 Mar 2011 at 16:25

Spunkey said:
Reverse angle this time.

You can see why there's a big space now - the diff and gearbox are both attached directly to the floor, which then has the rear wing pylon attached to that, which then has the upper rear wishbones attached to that!

That is crazy, that rear box is just incredable, so small god knows how they passed the crash tests.

i love this car, for me im supporting this car in the midfield. Love it.

EddScott · 24 Mar 2011 at 20:52

poosemon said:
Then we were given a tour around the museum part with an example of nearly all the williams f1 cars built and the trophy/helmet room.

Went there today for an investment conference organised by Allianz. Awesome day. Managed to sneak my old man too

poosemon · 25 Mar 2011 at 01:32

EddScott said:
Went there today for an investment conference organised by Allianz. Awesome day. Managed to sneak my old man too

tis an amazing place walking through the doors to see the two cars in front of you sets the tone! the museum is amazing, could spend hours in there looking at all the cars....facinating to track the trends and the rule changes as the years went on!

did you get a chance to walk around the factory? amazing facility, all dedicated to the cause of racing too!

pingwing · 26 Mar 2011 at 18:36

Thought id run in and say the colour scheme for this year looks really nice still (saw somewhere some badmouthing of it) as it looks really good with the darker blue