Andy Holding

Review of Williams Advanced Engineering

The Williams F1 heritage collection tour is absolu...

The Williams F1 heritage collection tour is absolutely fantastic!

On arrival I was directed by the very friendly Williams F1 security to the conference centre and visitors car park, where I came across the F1 car with mechanics made out of a hedge! I ve seen pictures of it in National newspapers, but seeing it close up & taking it in, it really is an amazing work of art.

The F1 hedge car is just outside the conference centre entrance, where there is a Williams F1 car hanging from the ceiling with a 2016 F1 car underneath.

Once my tickets were checked by a friendly member of staff (Simon)I was given my lanyard, and I was told that I could just sit back and relax or go through to Piers Courage & Alan Jones drivers suites where there were teas, pastries, biscuits, lemon flavoured water, water, orange juice & coffee.

In here I connected to the free WiFi as it s included in the package & I didn t have a single problem with my connection or the speed of it throughout the tour.

After a coffee & biscuit our group of 18 individuals was greeted by our tour guide (Matt), who took us through to the Williams F1 museum and gave us an impressive speech & insight into the history & technology involved in Williams formula one. I was amazed by the technology & working hours that have gone into building a F1 car & how they are made safer now compared to the 70 s, 80 s & 90 s.

The main entrance to the museum had pictures & helmets of the Williams F1 drivers who had won the world championship.

After this area we went through to a cinema room where we watched a short film about Williams F1, once this film had finished part of the cinema screen opened up like something from a James Bond movie to the Williams F1 classic car collection. It was an awesome sight & one which I ll never forget!

Matt our tour guide gave us details of every iconic car in the museum & there was a lot to go through, which started from the 1978 Williams FW06 to the 2016 FW38.

Not all of the cars in the museum are F1 cars, there is a WRC Metro 6R4, Renault Laguna touring car & BMW race winning Le Mans car. All of which are in immaculate condition as you would expect.

I also liked the way they had lit up the cars within the museum with soft spot lights on the cars & blue lights around the display plinths. It looked very professional & precise.

Once we had been around the museum we then went upstairs to a trophy room where there was a F1 car for visitors to sit in, two F1 cars, mock pit wall & telemetry display screens, F1 parts, giant scalextric race track & four Williams Esports simulators which come with or without virtual reality.

After all of this it was time for lunch, which was lovely. I went for the chicken rogan Josh & rice with a small side of vegetable curry, poppadoms & chutney.

Other options were Shepherds pie & I think Beef lasagne or Vegetable curry.

There was also a wide range of lovely desserts. I had to have two because they were so nice.

In addition to the food on offer, there were various drinks available too.

When lunch was over we could take further photos of the cars in the entrance hall, pop into the small but well stocked shop onsite or just sit back & relax in the bar area.

Overall the tour was around 3.5 to 4 hours long.

I really enjoyed it and I would highly recommend a visit to Williams F1 for a historical tour, team building event for employees, race day hospitality or conference for delegates.

I noticed that several of Williams conference centre suites to be accessible for wheelchair users & the heritage museum is accessible for wheelchairs too. I m not sure if there s a lift to the trophy room & games room though.

The Williams F1 conference centre is approximately 14 miles from Oxford City & it has ample free onsite parking.