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One of the most powerful F1 cars of the time, the Williams FW11 was a dominant force on the race track, featuring a 1.5 Honda Turbo V6 producing over 800HP in race form and superior aerodynamics to the McLaren MP4/2 and Lotus 97T. That and it's excellence pairing of Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell made it a real force to be reckoned with, and the car became an insantly recognisable of the Turbo era of Formula 1.
The car won on it's first time out at Brazil but were soon demoralised by the near fatal road crash of team manager Frank Williams. Patrick Head then stepped up and managed the team until Williams returned late in the season. This may have caused the in-fighting between Piquet and Mansell, with Alain Prost picking up their lost points. That and Mansell's blowout at Australia, where he just needed to finish 3rd to win the championship, caused Prost to take the Drivers Championship, although Williams still took the constructors.
Reportedly, both Nelson Piquet and Honda left Australia angry with Head and Williams Management. Both believed that the World Champion had been signed by Frank Williams as the undisputed number 1 driver and that the team hadn't honoured their contract, with Frank Williams' comment when he announced the signing of Piquet that he had just signed "The best driver in the world" seeming to support their view. Both Piquet and Honda believed that Williams should have reined in Mansell during races and forced him to give best to Piquet for race wins or higher points finishes, and thus an easier passage to the World Championship, something that both Piquet and Honda coveted.
The FW11 was updated to the FW11B for 1987 and the team made no mistakes to wrap up both championships. Lotus were also supplied with Honda Turbo engines, but were given the 1986 "RA166-E" while Williams got the newer "RA167-E", which helped Ayrton Senna challenge consistently but the FW11B was still the superior car.
The FW11 was not a technical showcase by any means, but solid engineering, the engine's outright power and superior fuel economy (even better than the TAG-Porsche engines used by McLaren), and Piquet and Mansell helped the car take 18 wins, 16 pole positions and 278 points over two seasons of racing.
The FW11B was the last Williams to race with a Honda engine, the Japanese company announcing during the season that they were moving to McLaren from 1988, despite a year left to run in the contract with Williams. It was believed there were two main reasons for this.
Honda were unhappy with Williams management for allegedly not honoring the number 1 status contract of 'their' driver Nelson Piquet. Honda (and Piquet) believed that Williams should have ordered Nigel Mansell to give way to Piquet during races, and that their failure to do so cost Piquet the 1986 Drivers' Championship, and almost cost him the 1987 championship (though had Piquet not won in 1987, Mansell still would have given the Japanese company its first Drivers' Championship).
While Mansell would stay with Williams for 1988, Piquet had announced during practice for the Hungarian that he would be moving to Lotus in 1988 as their undisputed number 1 driver, thus also staying with Honda.
The Williams FW11 has already been featured in the Gran Turismo series, although under an unofficial name. In the NTSC and Japanese versions of Gran Turismo, Mansell's 1986 FW11 can be earned in GT Mode, under the "F686/M" name.
Specifications:
Body: Open Wheel Formula Racing Car
Engine: Honda "RA167-E" 1.5 V6
Gearbox: 5 Speed Manual
Power: 800 BHP (1000 BHP in Qualifying)
Torque: N/A
Aspiration: Twin Turbocharged
Weight: 540 KG
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