F1 Williams STEM Visit Grove Site

Date: 26th August 2025

Squadrons Attending: Bury St Edmunds, Stowmarket, Sudbury, Thetford and Thurston

Today, cadets and staff from across four local squadrons travelled to Oxfordshire for a unique opportunity to visit the Williams Racing headquarters at Grove – home of the

Williams Heritage Collection and the team’s world-class Esports facility.

The Williams Heritage Collection

The day began at 0915 with a full briefing, before splitting into two groups: one heading into the famous Heritage Collection and the other into the Esports hub.

The Heritage Collection is recognised as the largest private collection of Formula 1 cars in the world, with around 100 cars on display or maintained. The collection spans from the team’s very first entry, the Williams FW06 of 1978, right through to modern challengers of the 2020s.

Highlights of the Collection

• Alan Jones’s 1980 Championship-winning car – Williams’s first F1 title success.

• The experimental six-wheeled FW08.

• Cars driven by champions including Damon Hill, Alain Prost, and Nigel Mansell.

• Jenson Button’s first F1 car (2000).

• Juan Pablo Montoya’s Monaco GP-winning car (2003).

• Ayrton Senna’s final racing vehicle, an iconic and emotional piece of motorsport history.

Escorted tours brought this history vividly to life, showcasing both engineering brilliance and the legacy of one of Formula 1’s most successful teams.

Williams Esports – The Future of Racing

Meanwhile, the other group dived into the Williams Esports centre, one of the most advanced facilities of its kind. Housing 20 professional-grade simulators, the centre allowed cadets to experience the thrill and intensity of virtual racing first-hand.

The Esports session demonstrated how the skills of focus, reaction speed, and strategy translate directly from real-world motorsport into the digital arena – highlighting the future-facing side of the Williams brand.

Our SGT Trumpess stole First Place

Afternoon STEM Workshop

After lunch, all cadets came together for a STEM engineering workshop, where they were challenged to design, build, and test a car component. This hands-on session gave practical insight into the teamwork, creativity, and problem-solving skills that drive success in both motorsport and engineering careers.

The first task introduced the concept of a crumple zone – a safety feature designed to absorb energy in a collision. Working with just two sheets of A4 paper, cadets had to design a structure no taller than 150 mm that would protect a plasticine ball from the impact of a dropped weight.

With no glue or tape allowed, this was a real test of ingenuity. Folding, tearing, and reshaping the paper into concertinas, tubes, and cushions, cadets quickly learned how structure and design can influence energy absorption.

The second challenge raised the stakes: to design, prototype, and build a Formula One nose cone within a strict budget.

Using a catalogue of available materials ranging from cardboard and foil to cotton wool and polystyrene pellets, cadets had to create two prototypes before improving and producing a final design.

Each design was crash-tested under controlled conditions, with teams analysing the results to see how well their nose cones reduced the deceleration forces on impact.

This exercise mirrored the real-world process F1 engineers use, where cost, materials, and safety must all be carefully balanced.

Congratulations to Team 8 for following the brief and ending strong

Staff and Cadet Leadership

The visit was coordinated and supported by:

• FLT LT Baxter

• SGT Hudson

• APO Ryan

• CI Millard

• CI Niedzwiecki

Their leadership ensured that the day ran smoothly and that cadets could gain the maximum benefit from each activity.

Reflections

From the world’s largest collection of F1 cars to cutting-edge Esports racing and practical STEM workshops, the visit to Williams Grove offered cadets from Bury St Edmunds, Stowmarket, Sudbury, and Thurston an unforgettable insight into the past, present, and future of motorsport.

The day was not only inspiring but also directly linked to skills of teamwork, leadership, and innovation that cadets will carry forward into their own development journeys.