One of our favorite little multitools of 2024, The James Brand Warrick is a sleek and focused driver with a form that directly follows its function. Now it's gaining a little extra flash to match. The updated pocket tool features the same great stashable multi-bit driver design as the original, just dressed up in a vibrant F1-inspired color scheme guaranteed to stand out boldly against the steels, woods and micartas in your existing tool collection.
The blue-and-pink Warrick that stands before you is part of The James Brand's new BWT Alpine Formula One Team collection, which includes a handful of other special edition tools. The last time we saw that particular combination of deep Alpine blue contrasted by strategically placed bright-pink accents was on Alpine's water-injected Hy6 hydrogen combustion engine and the Alpenglow race car it calls home.
That 3.5-liter twin-turbo hydrogen V6 and its 9,000-rpm redline don't represent just any experimental concept engine but a ferocious, power-doubling clean-burner aimed at rescuing the belovedly loud, rumbling, organ-rattling state of motorsport that fans love and demand. It burns pure hydrogen gas fed from a compressed onboard storage system and leaves little more than freshly vaporized water in its wake.
A screwdriver's torque may be positively minuscule in comparison to the 568 lb-ft (770 Nm) put out by a hydrogen race engine, but the Warrick driver maximizes the amount it has to work with via smart, multipurpose design. Its flat body not only fits more comfortably in a pocket than a traditional cylindrical design but also increases the torque applied through the bit driver by expanding the radius out from the center of the screw.
The flattened shape delivers that extra torque without the pocket bulge that would be involved in growing the radius of a cylindrical handle. In fact, the anodized aluminum Warrick weighs a mere 1.9 oz (54 kg) and fits in a fifth pocket. The included lanyard makes it easier to find and pull out.
That same slim, flat design serves yet another purpose, naturally enabling the design's slide-and-stash storage layout, which houses a set of Phillips and slotted screwdriver bits on a little drawer inside the main body. More specifically, the Warrick comes packaged with Phillips head #1 and 2 and slotted 4.5- and 6.5-mm bits. Those, of course, can be swapped out for other bits that might be more useful to the person carrying it or the mission on which it's being carried.
Each bit pops out of its storage slot and secures in the head via a magnetic connection, creating a screwdriver that's easy to hold and provides a little extra oomph in each twist. Once closed, a waterproof seal keeps those bits from wetting and rusting.
The Warrick measures in at 3.6 x 0.9 x 0.5 in (90 x 22 x 12 mm). The BWT Alpine edition prices in at the same US$85 as the more uniform black and tan models.
Source: The James Brand
