Williams FW08C-10: The F1 car that only raced in F3000

By Marcel Hundscheid / Speed-O-Graphica

Let’s take a look back at the Williams FW08, featuring car FW08-10. Frank Dernie designed the Williams FW08 for the 1982 Formula 1 World Championship, debuting in the Belgian Grand Prix held at Zolder.

The FW08 was an evolution of the earlier FW07, using a shorter wheelbase and a stiffer chassis. New regulations with a change to the minimum ride height were introduced in 1981 and resulted in a higher g-loading that required a stiffer chassis to compensate.

Where constructors like McLaren had started to use carbon fibre chassis, Williams and Patrick Head continued to use aluminium honeycomb for the new FW08.

In 1983 Williams introduced the modified FW08C, a car that complied with the amended regulations as ground effect was banned by the FIA. The new regulations required F1 cars to use a flat bottom, and the big sidepods were replaced by remarkably smaller ones.

Initially the FW08C was powered by a three litre Ford Cosworth DFY V8 generating 530 bhp. Although the Cosworth engine lacked power compared to turbocharged cars used by Ferrari, BMW, Hart, Porsche and Renault, the naturally aspirated power source was a lot more reliable.

Short and twisty tracks suited the Cosworth powered FW08C much better than the fast tracks. This resulted in a single victory for Keke Rosberg in Monaco.

Pictured in this story is chassis FW08-10, a car that never raced in the Formula 1 World Championship. Instead, this chassis appeared at the start of two races of the 1985 F3000 Championship in Silverstone and Thruxton, driven by Thierry Tassin.

After its active racing career, this chassis was thoroughly restored and returned to the configuration as used by the Williams F1 team in 1983. Nowadays the car is entered regularly in the Masters Racing Legends for F1 cars.

Pictured at the top and here above is chassis FW08-10 seen at a race of the Masters F1 Championship at the Spa Six Hours in 2019.