Quick and collect
Williams F1’s Heritage collection is a treasure trove, but, as Karun Chandhok explains, keeping the cars running is as important as protecting their legacy
WORDS SIMON HUCKNALL PHOTOGRAPHY MAX EDLESTON/JAMES BEARNE
Karun Chandhok perches on Nigel Mansell’s FW14B, a technological tour de force of high-revving V10 and active suspension that reshaped F1
Pastor Maldonado’s FW34 took the most recent Williams F1 win, in 2012;
cockpit stars signify poles and podium places;
FW11Bs of Nelson Piquet (on left) and Mansell
Deep inside the Williams F1 headquarters in Grove, Oxfordshire, lies an inner sanctum that should be avoided if you have any pressing engagements to keep elsewhere. Williams Heritage houses one of the world’s most important collections of Formula One cars, with around 100 on display, and it is a reminder of the late Frank Williams’ immense contribution to the sport over the past five decades, along with legendary engineer and co-founder Patrick Head. It also has the capability to run some of Williams’ best-loved cars at motorsport events around the globe.
Our host today, F1 driver turned broadcaster Karun Chandhok, is the perfect ambassador for the collection. “About 10 years ago Jonathan Williams, Frank’s son, wanted to create a Williams Heritage brand and structure the whole thing so he could run cars for clients,” Karun explains. “He also wanted to choose certain halo cars to show off and do demos in.”
Karun’s passion for motorsport is palpable from the off, but his path to becoming only the second Indian driver to compete in F1, when he joined HRT (Hispania Racing Team) in 2010, was far from conventional. “I never did a go-kart race in my life,” Karun laughs. “In India we had no karting – we didn’t even have F1 on TV until the 1993 Spanish Grand Prix; I had to get VHS tapes of the races sent to me by a friend of my dad’s. But I grew up in a motorsport family. Dad [Vicky Chandhok] won rallies, and my grandfather was part of a group that built India’s first race track. I started racing in 2000 in a local single-seater series. I did Formula Asia in 2001, then I did two years in F3 and three years in GP2, before starting in F1.”