Rare Book Review: Williams FW14B The Evolution & Development of the Williams Grand Prix Car 1991-1993 by Andy Mathews and Sean Kelly
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Negatives
I have to admit as a former diecast car modeler, Williams FW14B: The Evolution & Development of the Williams Grand Prix Car 1991-1993 is a beautifully presented hardcover book from cover to cover. As I mentioned in a previous post, based on aesthetics alone, this book is in my top 3 best ever book covers.
Andy Mathews is a car modeler specialist and his book Williams FW14B seems to have been his pet project along the way to creating an amazing 1:12 scale pair of diecast models of Mansell’s and Patrese’s FW14B cars (which he dedicates 16 pages in the book to).
Books that are focused on one particular race car are either packed with photos or heavy with technical detail. Williams FW14B is not so heavy with the technical detail or narrative but instead contains lots of excellent colour photos with great layouts. Many of the race photos are familiar stock images but are all beautifully reproduced on heavy grade paper.
The book is divided into 8 chapters with some brief Williams team history, team personnel profiles, FW14 race history, 1991-1993 car development, technical photo review and shots of Mathew’s own FW14B model. In my view, the best section of the book is the technical photo review – particularly the car’s famous active suspension.
Non-modelers might find the 16 page photo spread of Mathew’s own FW14B models a little indulgent but given it was his inspiration for the book and the extraordinary detail you can see from the photos, I think it fits nicely.
If you’re a model builder its hard to pass up on this book but the photography and print quality is so good, that Williams FW14B is also just a great photo album of arguably the most advanced and dominant F1 car built of its generation.
Wow Factor or the Money Shot: Definitely a great modeler’s reference text with a wide variety of detailed shots from most angles. Nice close up rear suspension photo of the 6 wheel FW08.
Suitable for: Williams fans and modelers
True artist, wonderful guy, so dedicated. Tremendous quality book and well balanced text/photo/model ratio. The best inspiration for F1 modelling, brings out the best in one. Wish there were more volumes, maybe in time there will be. Well done Andy, wishing you all the best in your current and future projects, which bring us increased quality of life.