Tyrrell 008
The Tyrrell 008 was a Formula 1 racing car that Tyrrell used in the 1978 Formula 1 World Championship.
technology
After the innovative six-wheeled P34 , Tyrrell returned to the conventional four- wheel chassis construction with the 008 . Maurice Philippe , whose first job for Ken Tyrrell's racing team was 008, designed a vehicle with a flat monocoque, double triangular wishbones and internal spring struts for the front suspension, as well as upper and lower wishbones with push struts and external springs at the rear. The tried and tested DFV V8 engine from Ford-Cosworth served as the engine .
Racing history
The 008 made its racing debut at the Argentine Grand Prix . In 1978, the young Frenchman Didier Pironi joined the team, replacing Ronnie Peterson , who had returned to Lotus . Pironi's teammate was Patrick Depailler , who had been with Tyrrell since 1974. After bad starting positions for both vehicles, Depailler finished the race in third place and thus ensured the new monoposto's first podium finish. At the race in South Africa , Depailler again provided a strong performance. After a tough duel in the last laps of the race with Peterson, who drove a Lotus 78 , he was beaten by the Swede by just 0.466 seconds and finished second.
After another third place for Depailler in the US West Grand Prix, he won the Monaco Grand Prix . It was the first and only victory for 008 and the first success in a world championship run for Patrick Depailler. Pironi finished the race in fifth. After this success, there were no good placements in the next races. Technical defects crept in more and more often and most of the time both vehicles did not finish. It was not until the Austrian Grand Prix , which was characterized by rain and many accidents, that Depailler came back on the podium in second place, as only beaten by Ronnie Peterson in South Africa. By the end of the season there was only a fifth place for Depailler at the Canadian Grand Prix . In the Constructors' Cup, Tyrrell finished fourth overall with the 008.
In 1979 two 008s were given to Milchester Racing. Desiré Wilson and Gordon Smiley drove it in the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch . Wilson finished ninth and Smiley tenth.
literature
- David Hodges: Racing cars from A – Z after 1945. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-613-01477-7 .
Web links
Racing car from the 1978 World Automobile Championship
