Tyrrell P34
 Tyrrell P34 at the 1976 German Grand Prix |
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| Constructor: |
 Tyrrell
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| Designer: | Derek Gardner | ||||||||
| Predecessor: | Tyrrell 007 | ||||||||
| Successor: | Tyrrell 008 | ||||||||
| Technical specifications | |||||||||
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| Chassis: | aluminum | ||||||||
| Weight: | 587 kg | ||||||||
| Tires: | Goodyear | ||||||||
| statistics | |||||||||
| Driver: |
 Jody Scheckter Patrick Depailler Ronnie Peterson 
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| First start: | 1976 Spanish Grand Prix | ||||||||
| Last start: | 1977 Japanese Grand Prix | ||||||||
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| World Cup points: | 85 | ||||||||
| Podiums: | 14th | ||||||||
| Leadership laps: | - | ||||||||
The Tyrrell P34 , also known as the "Six-Wheeler", was a Formula 1 racing car designed by Tyrrell racing engineer Derek Gardner . The car used four custom-made 10-inch front tires and two standard rear tires. The smaller front tires should reduce the drag of the car. However, since smaller tires meant less traction, four tires were used to compensate for this. A complex wheel suspension enabled all four front tires to be steered.
Calls
Together with the Brabham BT46B from 1978, the P34 is considered to be one of the most radical developments ever to be successful in Formula 1.
The car made its first appearance at the 1976 Spanish Grand Prix and was very competitive. The drivers Jody Scheckter and Patrick Depailler achieved good results with the car. While Depailler consistently praised the car, Scheckter realized that the slow development of the special Goodyear tires would only result in short-term success.
The car had its greatest success in the same year at the GP in Sweden , with Scheckter and Depailler taking first and second place. To date, Scheckter is the only driver who has won a race in a six-wheeled car. He left the team at the end of the season and continued to insist that the car was "a pile of junk".
For the 1977 season Scheckter was replaced by the Swede Ronnie Peterson ; the latter, despite his enormous speed, was not known as a good and keen development driver. The car was redesigned from an aerodynamic point of view, but also became wider and heavier. Peterson, like Depailler, was able to achieve some respectable results. However, the car was not as successful as in the previous season. This was primarily due to the poor front tires and the lack of further development of the special tires. The additional weight on the front suspension also had a negative effect. Towards the end of the season, experiments were even carried out with an extremely wide track on the front axle; the wheels that protruded far out of the way completely destroyed the original aerodynamic advantage. The project was therefore discontinued at the end of the season.
The car was driven in a total of 30 races, with one pole position , one race being won and three fastest laps.
In the past few years, the cars were often used in historic races in which they were quite competitive. This was made possible by custom front tires from Avon Rubber , which they made for Simon Bull, the current owner of one of the cars. In 1999 and 2000 the car was used in some races in England and Europe. In 2000 the car, driven by Martin Stretton , even won the FIA's Historic Formula One Championship , and in 2008, this time driven by Mauro Pane. This example of the P34 is now in an Italian private collection. Stretton also achieved pole positions and class wins at the Grand Prix Historique de Monaco. The car can also be seen frequently at the Goodwood Festival of Speed .
More six-wheeled Formula 1 cars
While the P34 is the most famous six-wheel Formula 1 car, it is not the only one. Both March and Williams developed experimental six-wheeled cars. However, despite extensive testing, neither the March 2-4-0 nor the Williams FW08B were used in a Grand Prix. Ferrari also developed a six- wheel racing car, but the Ferrari 312T6 had four rear wheels on one axle. Due to changed regulations, however, none of these cars could ever be used, and the number of tires in an F1 car is now fixed at four.
Similar concepts in road traffic
The British automobile manufacturer Panther Westwinds took up the drive concept of the P34 in 1977 and implemented it for road traffic with the Panther 6 model . In 2005, Covini Engineering in Italy developed the C6W, a closed sports car that also had two steered front axles.
Models
Despite the brief appearance and success in the motorsport world, some toy and model replicas of the P34 were produced. Corgi made a die-cast model of the car in the late 1970s. The P34 was manufactured by Carrera for the universal car racing track system. The transformer "Drag Strip" is also based on the P34.
The Tamiya company even bought a real P34 as a template for their models. They developed a remote-controlled 1:10 version as well as a highly detailed 1:12 version.
