Williams FW33 Barcelona F1 experience

[@eamonnsheil4063]

Brilliant drive Kevin. I was in the Benetton in this video. Yeah the slow poke with the rev restricted engine. For those not familiar with this driving school. They have a bronze, silver and gold package with each one allowing higher RPM and more powerful engines. Sorry I messed up your lap there Kevin. I was having problems on the downshift as it didn't always register every time you hit it which isn't exactly confidence building at 160-170mph at those braking points. I did lift coming onto the main straight once I saw the blue flags but I floored it as soon as you came along side and you left me for dead! Well done I tip my hat to you for getting the extra performance out of that car. You are a racer!

[@KevinJohnson-gs6xn]

Hi Eamonn! That was just an amazing day, and I could see that the Benetton was a handful. The Williams is no doubt the faster, more well sorted car. I started a thread on pistonheads, but KZbin doesn't like you posting links. Username is 456MGT. If it wasn't so much money to do it, I'd make it an annual pilgrimage. Let me know if you're going again!

[@janjay666]

Hi Eamonn, I know the cars. Generally they don’t restrict anything but problems in downshifting it’s something different that’s right you had a good line, the Benetton car doesn’t have a chance to follow the Williams at all. It is 13 years younger and its more powerful. Good job man

[@chumleyk]

@@janjay666 The website says the Benetton is limited to 650 bhp. It was nearer 800 in race spec. The Williams is limited too - rev limit down to 16000, and of course, without the KERS. They use the same car for bronze and silver packages increasing the BHP limit each time. The packages are formatted similar to the long-standing and quite successful NASCAR driving experience in the US, where they unlock more BHP as you go up the packages. They shouldn't have released the Bronze package Beneton so close in front of the Gold package Williams.

[@bopperda]

Eamonn - I can relate. I drove the Benetton two weeks ago at Magny-Cours and it did not downshift properly for me either. Still a rocket, though.

[@SCD-BOY]

You were straight out the blocks😆 Brilliant drive,I must do this!

[@thetrash6514]

That looks fucking amazing! Well done for keeping it on the black 👍

[@gbgiorgos]

yes man Excellent job...

[@F-Man]

Man you are so lucky! I drove a Formula 2000 car and I thought that was cool! :P

[@juangurris6183]

10:37 SAD

[@IceFish.]

This is awesome well done!

[@Dbil360]

I was there that beautiful day. Nice drive Kevin. I drove the Prost V10 that day. Awesome!

[@KevinJohnson-gs6xn]

How amazing is that??!! There's some footage of you driving it- those guys who were running around filming go under the name of Tigerstripe and they're putting stuff out on Instagram and Facebook

[@Dbil360]

Thanks! Happy to share my experience with someone who did it!

[@moreflowfalls2404]

I envy you guys. One day I hope to do this.....

[@dangibbs5390]

Was this car restricted? I thought that was the case with experience days but you seem almost flat out at 3:11 on the straight!!!! awesome!

[@KevinJohnson-gs6xn]

They wind them back to around 16K (from 18) I think Dan, but that's it. They were pretty cool about you wringing it out, everything except putting it in the gravel actaully

[@iqwan9850]

@@KevinJohnson-gs6xn 2013

[@IvanIvanov-cx9hj]

Nice engine sound, as if thre was no rev. limitation... What was the lap times?

[@peterbonnez]

Brilliant

[@MatejKopina]

what is the price and where can you book?

[@FTBBCRedline]

Nice work sir.

[@KaganRustem]

Such a shame you got held up by the slower car. For what these experiences cost I'd expect to be sent out one at a time or with similarly matched drivers so my laps aren't wasted in traffic.

[@CrazyforAuto]

How hard is brake pedal:

[@KevinJohnson-gs6xn]

About the same as a road car. Quite a lot of travel in both throttle and brake pedals too

[@CrazyforAuto]

@@KevinJohnson-gs6xn left foot brake?

[@KevinJohnson-gs6xn]

@@CrazyforAuto yes, you have to use your left foot

[@BigElijah]

This was with lrs right? I was on the track on the 5th driving an F3 car.

[@winnersmentality5141]

, have u driven the fw29 already in sweden

[@este_marco]

your better lap is around 20sec slower than a f1 driver pace, not bad

[@arthurperes3399]

How can I drive an F1 car ? Can I pay for this type of experience?

[@KevinJohnson-gs6xn]

adren-a-line.com/

[@fasthracing]

Decent enough that

[@yesssigotmail]

Hi kevin, I am thinking about doing this drive. I have not driven any other race cars to date (closes thing would be a Ferrari f430 scuderia). How are the G forces? Are they tolerable for the untrained?

[@KevinJohnson-gs6xn]

Hi Keith, you'll have no problem. I don't race anything or do track days even, so pretty green. Physically it was easy, I think you really need to be pushing it to have trouble with your neck etc. I wasn't confident enough to do that. The biggest physical problem was the airstream trying to lift the helmet off my head, taking my head with it...

[@yesssigotmail]

@@KevinJohnson-gs6xn thanks Kevin. Have you done any of the other drives through LRS?

[@yesssigotmail]

@@KevinJohnson-gs6xn also, one more question- did you train on any simulators? Or play a f1 game before this?

[@KevinJohnson-gs6xn]

@@yesssigotmail No Keith, no other drives, with anyone! And yes I did a few sessions on a sim at Mark Blundell's place in Royston. This was mainly to learn the circuit, I didn't want to spend expensive laps getting familiar. I wrote up a full description on Pistonheads. www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=1682942

[@MarcoZucchi81]

You can drive it, man! If you would practice for a month or two you'd be almost a pro!