This visit, on 11 February 2016, was well attended by the Beaulieu One Hundred members and a number of their guests enjoying a beautiful spring-like morning drive to this wonderful facility set in rural Oxfordshire. The site and the buildings are impressive even before their content is revealed – the first example of which is the Jaguar C-X75 which plays the villain’s car in the latest James Bond film Spectre. It has a family resemblance to the XJ220 but is better proportioned and is arguably a

The site and the buildings are impressive even before their content is revealed – the first example of which is the Jaguar C-X75 which plays the villain’s car in the latest James Bond film Spectre. It has a family resemblance to the XJ220 but is better proportioned and is arguably a challenger to Bonds DB10 in the appearance stakes. It is an excellent illustration that Williams advanced technology goes beyond their F1 flagship.

We were treated to a tour of the magnificent Heritage Museum which exhibits step by step the extraordinary achievements produced from the enterprising partnership of Frank Williams, Patrick Head, Adrian Newey et al. For those who didn’t make the visit, there is an excellent website and an article about Williams in the April edition of Octane magazine.

The tour of the museum ended with a visit to the heritage workshops. Once again the influence of Williams engineering was demonstrated with the Metro 6R4 which had originally been developed with Williams and the early example in the workshops was back for some ‘recommissioning’ by its creators.

The tour of the manufacturing facility was no less impressive and we were guided by Frank’s son, Jonathan Williams. The pride and passion for the brand which his father and Patrick Head created is understandable.

The statistic I will remember is that Williams’ employs 600 people and produces two cars a year! That is not the conventional business model for a successful motor car business!

Mike Timmins