F1 Technique: The day Williams ran a car without suspensions (+video)

By René Fagnan,

Thursday, January 12, 2012

This video is unique. It shows the sort of experimentation the Formula 1 teams used to perform back in the early '80s. The Williams tried something really radical at the end of the 1980 season : running their car without suspensions!

For the 1981 season, the FIA had banned the side skirts that sealed the sidepods that generated close to two tons of downforce at top speed.

In December 1980 at the Paul Ricard circuit in Southern France, Williams and driver Alan Jones tested a Cosworth DFV-powered FW07B without suspensions to seek maximum ground effect under the new no-skirt rule. The video was taken from 1981 BBC Horizon show "Gentlemen, Lift Your Skirts."

Topics: formula 1, frank williams, paul ricard httt, racing