DESCRIPTION
This important new series, narrated by Sir Stirling Moss, recalls the real personalities of an amazing era, the men whose antics on and off the track made them heroes to millions – and not always just to race fans.
Created by Brunswick Films, which was behind the 1970-79 Grand Prix Collection, each DVD profiles a racing great, with action footage and period interviews from the Brunswick archive which reveal why these names still cause excitement today. They are not detailed life stories, but celebrations of the driving skills and colourful characters which defined a motor racing era.
This DVD focuses on Frank Williams.
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| Humble beginnings, Williams first F1 |
After a brief career as a driver and mechanic, funded by his work as a travelling grocery salesman, Williams founded Frank Williams Racing Cars in 1966. He ran drivers including Piers Courage and Tony Trimmer for several years in Formula Two and Formula Three.
Williams purchased a Brabham Formula One chassis, which Courage drove throughout the 1969 Formula One season, twice finishing in second place.
1972 saw the first F1 car built by the Williams works, the Politoys FX3 designed by Len Bailey, but Pescarolo crashed and destroyed it at its first race.
Williams, short on cash (he conducted team business from a telephone box at one point after being disconnected for unpaid bills), looked to Marlboro and Iso Rivolta, an Italian car company, for sponsorship. Though they pledged their support, they did not come through in time and in 1976 Williams desperately took on a partner in oil magnate Walter Wolf. Though the team continued functioning, it no longer belonged to Frank Williams and he left in 1977 along with one of his old employees, engineer Patrick Head. The two acquired an empty carpet warehouse in Didcot, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom and announced the formation of Williams Grand Prix Engineering.
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| Patrick Head and Frank Williams |
This same team and partnership still competes in Formula One and is known as WilliamsF1. They are currently based just outside the South Oxfordshire village of Grove, near Wantage.
The team's first win came in 1979 when Clay Regazzoni drove the Cosworth powered Williams FW07 to victory at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Their first Drivers' and Constructors' championships both came in 1980 with Australian Alan Jones winning the drivers' championship and the team winning the constructors title by 54 points. Between 1981 and 1997, the team won six more drivers' championships and eight more constructors' championships.
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| The Patrick Head designed Leyland Williams FW07 |
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TITLE:
GRAND PRIX HEROES: Frank Williams |
RELEASED
Dec 05 2011
Pre-Order Now |
RUNNING TIME
60 minutes |
FORMAT
PAL DVD |
Our guarantee
If you are not 100% satisfied we will replace or refund within 30 days of purchase. |
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| BUY IT NOW £17.95 + SHIPPING |
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ABOUT BRUNSWICK FILMS
Brunswick Films were pioneers in the embryonic days of Formula One production, when sponsors controlled the demand for footage, and before the era of global TV coverage began. They have skilfully combined film from their famous archive - including some previously unseen material - to create a review that captures the essence of a very special era in Grand Prix racing.
Brunswick Films was founded in the late 60s by director/cameraman John Tully to provide coverage of the Formula One Grand Prix circuit. From his vibrant film footage of this seminal era through to the 1990s, the Brunswick Films Formula One Film and Video Archive has been compiled. It is one of the most comprehensive collections of the 1970s Formula One material available.
The library features eleven years of the most exciting period in Formula One history, from the great Tyrrell vs. Lotus battles of the early years including two Jackie Stewart championships, Niki Lauda's fiery exit on the Nordschleife in 1976 and James Hunt's title of the same year, the Tyrrell six wheeler and Ferrari's last pre-Schumacher world title, to Alan Jones claiming his and Frank Williams' first title at the end of 1980. |
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