Frank Williams, the man who has provided British motor racing fans with more to cheer than anybody else in recent years, has received a knighthood in the New Year Honours list.

The Williams team might have taken a back seat to McLaren during 1998's World Championship, but Sir Frank is the man behind the cars in which Damon Hill and Nigel Mansell won the sport's greatest prize.

The classic image of Mansell driving Williams to success

He has also struck gold with Australian Alan Jones, Brazil's Nelson Piquet and France's Alain Prost before his most recent success driven by Canadian Jacques Villeneuve.

"I am surprised and very happy that I have received such an important honour," said Sir Frank.

"Additionally, I am truly delighted that the team's achievements in grand prix racing have been recognised in this way."

Williams employs several hundred people in a multi-million pound factory in Grove, near Wantage, Oxfordshire, though that is a far cry from his early days in the sport.

After success, albeit on a moderate level, as a Formula Three racing driver, the 56-year-old from South Shields switched to running cars for other teams in 1969.

Phone box business

But he was often so strapped for cash he regularly ran his operation from a telephone kiosk because his own had been cut off.

The team won their first race in 1979 and a first world championship with Aussie Jones the following year.

The knighthood is a personal triumph to a man whose dependability of a wheelchair follows an accident in a hire car in Monaco 12 years ago.

It is also a recognition of an industry and a sport in which Britain leads the way, designing the world's fastest cars in a high pressure industrial and sporting environment.

But above all it is a reward for his own lifetime devotion to the four-wheeled speed game.

Villeneuve and Hill: Both world champions in Williams cars

Sir Frank has earned the ultimate personal accolade for a pursuit of motoring perfection that brought nine constructors' crowns and seven individual driver's titles.

And as well as his own accident, he has also had to cope with the tragedy of Ayrton Senna's death in a Williams car at Imola in 1994, just months after the team had signed the best driver of his day.

Since then there has also been a legal battle with the Italian authorities to contend with as well as the day-to-day management of the team.

Throughout all of this, Sir Frank has single-mindedly pursued world titles, ruling his team with a rod of iron, and not being afraid to take difficult decisions, most notably dropping Hill as he won his title.

"I am not here for the benefit of the drivers. I am here to enjoy myself and keep up my living," he once said. "Drivers come and go but the team is here forever."

It is ironic that Williams' knighthood comes following the team's first season in a decade without a win, though he will be determined that 1999 sees them back at the top.

But whatever his team's fortunes bring, he will be driven through the gates of Buckingham Palace to pick up an honour from the Queen.

And the worlds of motor racing, industry and sport will all surely applaud him as he does so.