1981 Williams-Longhorn FW07-LR02 Spec Sheet

1981 Williams-Longhorn FW07-LR02 Indycar

Serial Number: tbd
Gearbox Number: DG-300-325
Logbooks: SCCA, CART registration
Condition: Very Good
Price: Offers
Location: North Carolina, US

Description

Aluminum honeycomb-tubbed sister car to the Formula One Williams that was Makes Champion in 1980. The car was run by Al Unser Sr. at Indy in 1981. It also ran in the Can-Am single seat racing series. It was rebuilt for club racing and ran in the SCCA, winning a west coast divisional championship and setting a lap record at Laguna. It is a full ground effects car and has the original body in non-period livery.

The car has a full race small block Chevy engine that is 2 races old. The transaxle is a Hewland DG-300 5-speed. The car is registered with CART and the SCCA. It has a SCCA competition logbook.

The car is accompanied by extensive spares as well as Williams and Longhorn engineering drawings.

History

The FW07 was Patrick Head's first ground effects design and after a late introduction in 1979 was dominant in 1980, taking the championship. Bobby Hillin Sr. built this car for Al Unser Sr. for the 1981 500 Indy race. It was built by Longhorn in Midland, Texas from plans and components supplied by Williams. Bobby Hillin Sr. supplied the money. The owner has seen 2 other Formula One Williams FW-07s and the tub and body work are the same. These are hand built cars, so each one is a little different, but a lot of the parts will interchange. The big difference in the Indy car to the F-1 seems to be the 15" wheels required at Indy as compared to the 13" wheels that were in use at that time in F-1. Also, the suspension rockers are at different angles to allow for the different height of the wheels. The plans which accompany the car are from Williams in England. Not a complete set, but pretty extensive. Ed Zink did a lot of the detail work on many sets of additional Longhorn drawings.

Al qualified 6th and finished 19th. The car was then run as a single seat Can Am by Bill Tempero, the AIS promoter. The car later went to another West Coast racer, Jerry Smith. Jerry left the country to excape some unpaid racing bills and the car came into the possession of the legendary Red Legrand, designer and builder of LeGrand race cars.

At this point we must quote the owner's story directly:

"... and Red Legrand ended up with the car. It was stored at the track in a trailer and the trailer was broken into and a lot of the engine was stolen. (heads, fuel injection,etc.). It was a mess with oil running out of the trailer when we first saw it. Red Legrand was to have met us, but he wasn't there, just 6 cowboys playing poker in Red's Casino. (He had a shop, with living quarters above, and a Casino next to the shop right at the track ( Willow Springs ). The cowboys knew that I was coming to buy the car, and asked me if I had brought the money. This was my most dangerous moment in racing. About the time I knew I was dead, Red showed up from the hospital where he spent the night. He had had a head-on crash the night before and had gone through the windshield and looked like a piece of hambuger. He was still in the hospital gown and was bleeding in various places. He had walked out of the hospital and driven himself home. He passed out after we talked a few minutes and his daugther completed our deal. Red Legrand was a neat guy. He died a few years later. (couldn't really embelish on that, ed.)

The car was rebuilt 1987 and run in the SCCA from 1987 to 1992. It was Pacific Coast Road Racing Champion in 1988 and set a lap record in SCCA at LAGUNA SECA, CA. of 1:13.687. That record still stands today and is one QUlCK trip around Laguna, even by today's standards.