F1's Frank Dernie
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Poster:
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Jonathan Scull
(see this users gallery)
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Views:
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15598
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Rating:
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 (10.00)
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Date:
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Sat May 6, 2006
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Filesize:
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77.3k, 866.9k
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Dimensions:
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1000 x 742
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Description:
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Now this is a special “snap”.
F1 aficionados will quickly recognize a decade’s younger Frank Dernie.
He’s often described as a “Williams veteran”, but his career encompasses so much more. This unassuming guy who last that I know was working with Juan-Pablo Montoya started his long career at March Engineering. He was chief engineer at Lola, designed the Lotus 94T and many others, worked with Williams in the old Didcot facility, and Ross Brawn even worked for him at one time at Williams! TWR/Walkinshaw... and he designed the mighty ’91 Jag that won a third World Sportscar title.
JA, who shares the F1 Mojo, hooked me up with Frank via email.
When we visited Paris for “HeeFee” ‘96, we stopped in the UK to visit Wilson Benesch’s Craig and Christina Milnes. We had a great time, but I seriously froze my ass off in that particular Sheffield cold. We headed south and visited Martin Colloms in London, then wound up at Max Townshend’s place. That’s a whole other hilarious story, and I’ve got photos to prove it!
But for the photo at hand, Frank Dernie is a passionate, devoted audiophile, and at that time he was running all-Goldmund as you can see, with Sonus Fabers. The system coupled very well with the room, but he was still working on the acoustics. Those back windows didn’t help things. Still, it’s way better than working with a dead room, in my modest opinion, he drawled.
The small town Frank and his incredibly lovely wife and two kids lived in was… magical. We went out to dinner, friends nodded hello to Frank and made a few F1 jokes. It was ultra warm and convivial, but you could tell they respected him. But that image I carry doesn’t square with the following tidbit about Frank from grandprix.com:
“Still on the subject of Williams, there have been suggestions that the Grove squad's sparkling form of late is linked to the return of veteran aero expert, music buff, wine connoisseur, inveterate tea drinker and famous talker Frank Dernie. The team's technical director Patrick Head was non-committal on the subject: "What I can tell you is that we all now know a lot more about hi-fi and tea consumption in the motorhome has shot up dramatically." When Dernie comes to town, even Magny Cours is no longer a quiet spot.”
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Keywords:
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Frank Dernie Formula 1 F1 Goldmund Jonathan Scull
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