1986 Williams-Honda FW11 - Nigel Mansell's 1986 British Grand Prix-winner

After many years dreaming of finding this car, and thousands of hours of research, it ended up being a chance encounter that led to us finding Nigel’s lost 1986 British Grand Prix winner. No record at Williams, no articles, nothing since 1987. But there it was sat in front of us.

A car with a truly special history - Not only was it Nigel’s first ever British Grand Prix win, but he did it in Nelson’s spare car with no drinks bottle in front of Frank Williams attending his first Grand Prix since his horrific car crash. It was because of Frank’s injuries that his wife Virginia would become the first ever woman to collect the Constructors Trophy at a Grand Prix. It was the last ever Grand Prix at Brands Hatch, in a year that became Honda’s first ever championship-winning campaign. All in front of the biggest ever crowd at a British Grand Prix (estimated at 150,000 but impossible to know, such was the chaos). Added into the mix was the ferocious rivalry between Mansell and Piquet... which lasted all of qualifying and the duration of the race.

1986 was also the last year of unlimited boost in F1 - with cars rumoured to be 1400bhp in qualifying (in a 540kg chassis) with no driver aids, no power-steering, and a manual H-pattern gearbox. They weren’t just drivers, they were gladiators. 

1986 will forever be the wildest year of Formula 1 - Senna, Prost, Piquet, Mansell, Rosberg in the craziest cars the world has ever seen.