F1 fans of a certain age will always remember where they were when Damon Hill finally won his F1 World Championship and now we can think back to Murray Walker’s famous commentary as Race Retro are putting on a show that will celebrate the career of Damon Hill to mark the 20thanniversary of his World Championship win and his time with Williams, when it returns to Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire, from Friday 26th to Sunday 28th February 2016.
MotorMartin has been informed that a variety of guests from Williams have been invited to appear throughout the weekend, which will culminate with a confirmed appearance by Damon Hill, making his Race Retro debut, on Sunday 28th February.
Exciting times I’m sure you’ll agree yet as part of the celebration, four of Damon’s most famous cars from the Williams Heritage Collection will be on display – the championship winning FW18, the 1995 FW17 race winning car, the 1993 FW15C with which Damon won his first Grand Prix, and a 1990-91 FW13B which Damon drove to make his debut as a Williams test driver in 1991. In 1993 Damon was promoted to the Williams race team and took the first of his 22 victories at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
I’m sure that the majority of F1 fans will remember that titanic battles that took place during the mid-1990s when Hill was Michael Schumacher’s main rival for the Formula One Drivers’ Championship. The two protagonists clashed on and off the track. Their infamous collision at the 1994 Australian Grand Prix gave Schumacher his first title by a single point. Hill went on to became World Champion at the 1996 Japanese Grand Prix, memorably captured by an emotional Murray Walker who proclaimed ‘I’ve got to stop because I have a lump in my throat”. Hill won eight Grand Prix on his way to the 1996 title and started all of the 16 races from the front row of the grid, completing a dominant year for Williams securing the Constructors Championship some 105 points ahead of Ferrari.
Williams Grand Prix Engineering was founded in 1977 by Sir Frank Williams and engineer Sir Patrick Head, the cars on show at Race Retro form part of Williams Heritage whose mission is to preserve, showcase, run and service cars from the teams past. It is overseen by Jonathan Williams and former Williams team manager Dickie Stanford. Both Jonathan and Dickie will be available for Q&A’s on the live stage during Race Retro.
Tom Siddall, Race Retro Event Director commented “We are thrilled to celebrate Damon Hill’s World Championship win at Race Retro, which I know will bring back great memories for our visitors. We are delighted to be working with Williams Heritage to enable F1 fans to see these iconic cars on display”
Jonathan Williams of Williams Heritage added; “Williams Heritage was established in 2014 to showcase Williams’ historic racing cars to a new generation of fans and we are delighted to be taking part in Race Retro this year. This will be one of a number of events in 2016 where Williams Heritage will be celebrating 20 years since Damon Hill’s Championship win – an iconic moment in Williams and Formula One history.”
Race Retro, the international historic motorsport show, will be held from 26th to 28thFebruary 2016 at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire with tickets now on sale. For more information, as well as all the ticket prices and booking details, visit www.raceretro.com
More information on Williams Heritage can be found at www.williamsf1.com/heritage
Hopefully MotorMartin will see you there.
Where will you go?