This is a racing simulator built around a replica of the front 3/4 of a Williams Formula 1 car from the modern turbo era. It has a three-display rig and it’s powered by a ZOTAC mini PC with a pre-installed version of Assetto Corsa.
The car includes the cockpit, side pods, air intake and engine cover assembly, the front end, nose cone, front wing, and front wheels. The triple monitor display is designed to offer an immersive racing experience, and Assetto Corsa is widely respected for the level or realism it offers.
The simulator is built around a replica of a Williams F1 car, well the first 3/4 of one at least, including the cockpit and front end with both wheels and faux suspension in place.
A History Speedrun: The Williams Formula 1 Team
The Williams Formula 1 Team, officially titled Williams Racing, is one of the most celebrated and successful teams in Formula 1 history. It was founded in 1977 by Sir Frank Williams and engineer Patrick Head and its story would stretch all the way to the current day, and beyond.
The team’s story began in 1977 when Frank Williams, after several unsuccessful attempts to establish a Formula 1 team, partnered with Patrick Head to create Williams Grand Prix Engineering. With limited finances, the team made its debut using the March 761 chassis, driven by Patrick Nève. Though the early results were modest, Williams Racing laid their groundwork, and would soon become one of Formula 1’s most successful teams.
By 1979, the team had built its first in-house car, the FW06, followed by the FW07, which introduced revolutionary ground-effect aerodynamics. This design change catapulted Williams into the limelight and to the front of the grid. The team’s first victory came in 1979 at the British Grand Prix, with Clay Regazzoni behind the wheel.
The following year, Williams achieved its first Constructors’ Championship, and Australian driver Alan Jones secured the Drivers’ Championship, cementing the team’s reputation as a major new force to be reckoned with in Formula 1.
The 1980s saw continued success. Keke Rosberg claimed the Drivers’ Championship in 1982, establishing the team’s competitiveness even in an era dominated by other giants. By the mid-1980s, Williams had entered a period of dominance with the help of Honda engines. The partnership led to further Constructors’ titles, and Nelson Piquet’s Drivers’ Championship win in 1987.
The cockpit uses modern sim racing controls and a computer mouse and keyboard for changing settings.
The 1990s marked the golden era for Williams Racing, as the team formed a partnership with Renault that proved to be one of the most successful collaborations in Formula 1 history. In 1992, Nigel Mansell dominated the season in the FW14B, a car featuring active suspension and advanced aerodynamics, and claimed the Drivers’ Championship. The following year, Alain Prost took the Drivers’ title with the FW15C.
The team’s success continued with Damon Hill winning the Drivers’ Championship in 1996 and Jacques Villeneuve replicating the feat in 1997. Williams also secured multiple Constructors’ titles during this period, establishing itself as one of the most dominant teams in the sport’s modern history. Sadly, this period of runaway success was not to last.
The late 1990s and early 2000s saw the team face challenges as Renault withdrew from Formula 1. Although a partnership with BMW provided a temporary resurgence, with competitive performances from drivers like Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher, Williams could not recapture its championship-winning form. By the late 2000s, the team struggled to keep pace with its wealthier rivals, and its performance declined significantly.
The 2010s brought more difficulties as Williams faced financial pressures and lagged in competitiveness. Despite a brief resurgence in 2014 and 2015 with the introduction of Mercedes power units, the team could not sustain its performance. In 2020, after decades of family ownership, the Williams family sold the team to Dorilton Capital, marking the end of an era.
Today, Williams Racing continues to compete and has shown recent signs of significant improvement, a hint that perhaps there are more championships yet to come for the British team.
The Williams-Inspired F1 Simulator Shown Here
The racing simulator shown here was developed for professional use, and while it’s not an official F1 simulator it is an excellent rig for anyone wanting to get into serious sim racing.
As noted higher up, it’s powered by a ZOTAC ZBOX mini PC which runs a pre-installed version of Assetto Corsa. It is said to contain an Intel i7 processor, 8 GB of RAM, a 250 GB SSD, and a GTX 1080 graphics card – the simulator is pre-programmed with over 25 tracks and 196 vehicles.
The triple monitor set up allows for fully immersive racing.
It’s clear that the specifications of this PC aren’t all that impressive, however it would be easy enough to up the RAM and the GPU to boost performance significantly, and subsequently improve the in-game graphics.
The rig is now being sold as a complete plug-and-play unit on Bring a Trailer out of Lanark, Illinois with no reserve and a bill of sale. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
