In a clip from Motorsport.tv's weekly programme The Flying Lap, Nigel Mansell talks to Peter Windsor about the 1987 Williams FW11B, which he ranks as the most impressive F1 car he raced in his career. See more at motorsport.tv/
Guy was a legend. Met him at a corporate event when he was a guest speaker. The car he was talking about here would do 0-200mph and back to 0 in under 13 seconds. Think about that.
I'm with you Colonelclaw. Those 80's and early 90's were the golden era of F1 and we will never ever see the likes again. During the era of Prost, Senna and Piquet, Mansell could have very easily won 2 more championships if he didnt have such rotten luck.
Nigel is a great guy at the track. Met him several times in the paddock area in Canada and he was always friendly and never evasive (like some other big names in F1 named Alain). He never disappointed the fans!
That was like the drivers in the 60's especially during the Tasman Series in particular. I have at least 6 probably 7 world champions in my Autograph Book, that I have kept. The key was to get there before the crowds , Thurs and Fri. The F1 paddock at Melbourne is a joke .So called celebrities prancing around trying to catch a Television camera, the occasional driver walking from A to B but basically in the teams compounds behind walls all day. No wonder these drivers in some cases become divorced from reality.Nigel was different you could see that. There is almost zero interaction between drivers and "technical" fans these days. It is the Sports loss and will kill it in the end as much as money and procession like racing with 1 team winning race after race for 2 to 3 years. The 86 Australian Gran Prix was brilliant with I think 3 drivers including Nigel fighting to be Champion and Williams and Mclaren fighting for the Constructors Championship and they passed a lot in thee race.
It was watching Nigel Mansell that got me into F1 properly. Before that it used to be on World of sport of Grandstand but I didn't pay much attention until I saw Mansell winning races. The original British Lion. My favourite driver ever!
@@sbaxter4207 Senna was a really big pig and costs Nigel his Williams contract for 1993 and 1994 and the next WM-Titles for these years. Senna had also fear to drive ChampCar. I think these guys told him he will go to the wall, when he drives so dirty as he drives in F1. Nigel the Lion drove ChampCar and became Champ in 1993.
Simon P Cowell 1990 FW 14 Nigel Mansell and Williams got me interested in Formula One when it was more about racing cars that you had to drive without the help of electronics!
A lot of people out here underestimate Nigel because he won in 1992 with the Fw14B, but he dominated the whole season due to two factors, he is one the greatest driver ever and that car was the most cutting-edge car by that time
Nigel did have his silly times in F1 (like they all do) but he always strikes me as a man who really knows his stuff. Great to hear he's still doing great work post f1
N M was and is the greatest racing driver of all time, the only man that Senna truly feared, underrated by many, Indy car champion in rookie year, bad luck deprived him of an even greater C.V. long live the LION.
To the contrary, Mansell was infamously hard on a car. He was not known for having mechanical sympathy. Indeed, he was in the fastest car on the grid on at least 5 occasions, possibly 6, yet he managed to convert that good fortune into just one championship.
I'll second that! To those that say he was hard on the car? I say there is no room for mechanical sympathy in the crucible of competition at the highest level of Motorsport, if it doesn't seize up on the slowing down lap then your not trying hard enough? No doubt the thinking man's racing driver (Le Proffesseur) will be mentioned as an example of how the alternative approach might yield better results, but no thanks, the only proponents of that argument are the patriotic French. Nigel is admired the world over.
It was great to see Nigel on screen this 17 Aug. 2018. He bought alot of excitement, pleasure and interest into many peoples lives. But for the lack of luck and a following wind he may well have been world champion a few more times. Nigel, thanks for the memories.
We should have a Sir Nigel Mansell as well! Nigel has been one of the greatest ambassadors for his country and his sport. He is a champions champion and modest to a fault.
Mansell used Q power continuously for the last 6 laps to catch and make a daring pass of his “team-mate” Piquet, disregarding the fuel display which at the finish read “Minus 2.5 laps”. The car stopped 2 corners beyond this and it was reported at the time to be out of fuel but, 4 years later, the driver admitted that the engine had blown up.This incident may well have been the last straw for the patience of the Honda management, since it had threatened their easily-attainable 1, 2 result. Being sure of powering both 1987 Championships it was announced by Honda in September that they would break their agreement with Williams one year early and supply their 1988 engines to McLaren instead (Lotus continuing to receive them) for the final year of the Turbocharged era, as ruled by FISA.There was a financial settlement with Williams and that team usedit to buy Judd 3.5 Liter NA engines
Good ol' Nige, my favourite driver ever!! He drove some absolutely stunning races in his time, what he lacked in god given skill compared to Senna and Prost, he made up for with guts and sheer determination. Silverstone '87 in the 11B must be one of the best drives of all time..
But Nelson was a little faster than him that day; and did an incredible mistake not pitting to change tyres. Nigel did a great race but the brazilian did not live well in that team. This and the Imola crash were big advantages for Nigel that year. Anyway Mansell was fast.
Don't you think that it was a little sad that you didn't see Nelson that day??? There is a n°6 car but not the driver. Doesn't it tell you something about how bad he lived? After Jones and Rosberg, Nelson was the third World Champ for Williams...
What are you on about, he was the most skillful driver out there, if he had a fault it was lacking a bit of car empathy in his early years. He would have been world champ 3 times but for bad luck. Senna was the ultimate but he never took liberties with Nigel Always respected him as an equal.
I disagree he was better than prost and every bit as good as senna, left f1 went into indi car racing there are five ovels circuits the rest are like a normal racing circuit, everyone said he would do OK on the typical circuits but he won't do any good on the ovels, he went there as a rookie and one it in his first year indy car champion, he won 4 out of the five ovels, 235 mph round the ovals circuits, absolute brilliant driver
Sorwis I respect everyone says that but didn't it ever ouccr that Williams might have just put the boost up even more going from 1300 to 1500 so I'll agree with the driver
If you enjoy F1 nowadays, kudos for you and skip my comment. F1 for me starts around the early 70s and ends May 1st 1994. That’s the time of sportsmanship, insane engine tweaks, car variety and a multitude of talents. That’s the period that defines what F1 is all about. It’s not about generational differences or anything.
It was a beast all the cars in 86-87 were, the FW14 was the tech marvel but the FW11 was the real race car, brutally quick, amazing sound track, beautiful and unforgiving
The cars during that era were just flat out amazing , the Ferrari 87/88 ( Michelle Alboreto, Gerhard Berger ) McClaren (Porsche 0 MP4/2B, Benetton( Ford ) B188 Thierry Bouston and Alessandro Nannini the B190 that was piloted by Gerhard Berger didn't have the Horse Power like the Williams and McClaren but the Motor was smaller and could rev up to 13,000 rpms. and then there was the Super fast Honda Powered Lotus 99t that was driven by Saturo Nakajima and the Late Great Ayrton Senna da silva .. ironically this was one of the last cars to go to active suspension ( because Senna demanded it . lol ) during that era.. however the 99t was a handful to drive on most of the circuits except Detroit and Monaco but with a driver like Senna he could do the most with the least.. I will never forget the 1993 European Grand Prix at Donington Park were Senna in a under powered McClaren Mp4/8 held of Prost who was in the vastly superior Williams Renault V10 no less in the effing Rain ! That left no doubt in a lot of peoples mine that Senna was better than Prost.
Sure he had a bit of a monotone voice, tended to complain a lot, was paranoid of the establishment and team mates, a boring name, a big tash, but.... what a beast. I for one will be telling my boy stories of 'our Nige' when he's old enough to understand what a Hero is. I'm your hero Son but a guy called Nigel was Daddies hero!
As an Aussie I well remember Mansell's tyre blowout at Adelaide was one of the hairest things I had seen in Adelaide yet he managed to keep it from crashing at 320kph.
I don't think newcomers to F1 (aka youngsters) will ever really appreciate the toughness Mansell's era. The bloke is an utter beast in a car. Sheer, bloody-minded determination and raw driving talent. I'd love to see today's drivers tackle the FW11B
He had launch control, traction control and ABS. Foot to the floor on throttle or brake and the car managed it all. There are plenty of videos about it.
I think you are confusing the FW14 to the FW11 which is the topic in this video. You idiots come spew obnoxiously only to find out you make the wrong argument.
I dont think that design is as beautiful as the 90's Williams cars but surely was faster Nelson Piquet did a great job winning that '87 WC taming this beast
I've always said that Mansell has ALWAYS been tragically underrated as a driver. He may only have that 1 championship, but he should have actually had 3 or 4 if not for terrible misfortune in 86 and 87, and possibly 91, when the Williams was really quick, only to be undermined by bad reliability in the beginning of the season. He's easily in the top 10 in my book, because for some reason, Mansell had this steely drive to go wheel to wheel with anyone and not flinch at all, and would somehow just will himself and the car to victories.
If Mansell was put in the cockpit of a Spitfire in 1940 he would have been an Ace. He had that approach to anything he did. Such an exciting driver to watch, and deserves to be discussed among the greatest of all time.
I actually glad that Nigel said he prefered this car compared to the active ride FW-14B. Mainly, because this car had a proper manual gearbox with a clutch pedal(although they did plan on introducing the sequential transmission). Also, the turbo charged engines of those old cars were awesome(not just the Honda, Renault, BMW and even the Tag).
I reckon that if NM had 3 months intensive training and familiarity with the 2019 cars he would find them VERY EASY to drive and be better than a lot of the midfield drivers straight away and by the end of the season he would give the top guys a good run too. HE was the reason why I got into F1.....every race with Nige' was adrenaline fuelled excitement. STILL one of the BEST and very unlucky not to win at least 2 or 3 titles. I rest my case ?
Mansell may not have been the best driver ever, yet he's one of the very great, definitely the bravest, and my absolute all-time favorite. He achieved some moves no other driver would even have dared imagine. This guy was the essence of racing. He didn't win as many titles as the other three (whom I respect very much as well by the way, as any driver of that golden era) but no matter the results, his driving always seemed epic, you knew it would be spectacular, you knew there would always be something happening as long as Nigel was on the track. This guy is a legend.
Watching Nigel at Adelaide 86 on the long, straight braking for the a semi hairpin , he would use every gear in his downshifting. To me he was outbraking everybody , including Prost and Senna. That was the race where he lost a tyre at at least 150 mph and kept the car basically straight. I think Nigel was a bit like Dennis Hulme, never really given the credit he deserved. Interesting Nigel was a guy I think who had bad days, but he was an English Bulldog. Driving as a teammate to Prost must have been damned hard.An outstanding driver who deserved more acknowledgement of his achievements.
I think the same. But his rear tyre blow up at 200 mph. And the playing- games-man Williams himself costs Nigel the WM 1986 and later the WM 1993 and 1994.
The Williams team were so far ahead of the curve way back in the late 80's and early 90's the FW11B and the FW15c were effing missles and they were good on all tracks on the F1 circuit.
The real max power figure of Honda RA167E engine used on FW11B was 1010 hp / 12 000 rpm with a boost of 4 bar (limited according to regulations). So quite less than cited "1500 bhp" :))
The 86 version had no boost limitation. That's where the 1500 figure came out. Liketly not for RA167E, but for the BMW M12/13. Still the Honda engine would put up something around 1300hp in qualify suicide trim :-)
I really miss that era. Not many electronic additions. No DRS. No traction control. I enjoyed the races more then because there was more that 2 or 3 drivers that might win.
Those monster turbo engined cars were amazing. Rumour had it that on the bench/dyno with no restrictions the BMW and I think Renault could touch 5000hp, No wonder they were restricted.
He couldnt have been more wrong about Hamilton v Vettel . In fact the complete opposite was true this season. Is was Vettel who had off weekends, Baku and Singapore being two examples
All after the underestimating of the track condition from Vettel in Germany(the chance Ham needed) . Before that in the quali look at Hamilton look at how he reacted and that as a 4times reign wdc. 2nd half of the season the Merc was way better then the Ferrari. And I say this as a kind of Neutral fan.(Max Verstappen fan)
Can anyone explain the difference between the F1 regulations of 1987 & 1988. If Williams had just turned up with the FW11 would it have been enough to challenge the McLaren Mp4/4. I was trying to Study Lap time’s they seam reasonably close
For the best and for the worst, like a reversal Clark. Capable driver, still too impulsive when under pressure. Antithesis of any current f1 driver and their polished speechs (aside Raikkonen, an Oscar for everything he said until now)
What a thought! That would make him at least 8 years older than Louis Chiron who at age 55, I believe is the oldest person to date to have driven an F1 car in race conditions
