Tyrrell 026

Tyrrell 026

Toranosuke Takagi in the Tyrrell 026 at the 1998 Goodwood Festival of Speed
Constructor:	Tyrrell
Designer:	Harvey Postlethwaite (technical director)
Predecessor:	Tyrrell 025
Technical specifications
Chassis:	Honeycomb sandwich -Monocoque from CFK
Engine:	Ford Zetec-R / 97 JD 2,998 cm³, 72 ° V10 naturally aspirated engine
Front suspension:	Double wishbone axle with internal springs and shock absorbers , operated via push rods
Rear suspension:	Double wishbone axle with internal springs and shock absorbers , operated via push rods
Weight:	0595 kg
Tires:	Goodyear
Petrol:	Eleven
statistics
Driver:	20. Ricardo Rosset 21. Toranosuke Takagi
First start:	1998 Australian Grand Prix
Last start:	1998 Japanese Grand Prix
Starts Victories Poles SR 16 - - -
World Cup points:	-
Podiums:	-
Leadership laps:	-
Status: end of season 1998

The Tyrrell 026 was the last Formula 1 racing car of the British motorsport team Tyrrell . It was used in the 1998 Formula 1 season . He was the only Tyrrell next to the 020C who did not score world championship points.

Technology and development

Tyrrell's Box at the 1998 British Grand Prix

Like its predecessor, the Tyrrell 026 was designed by Harvey Postlethwaite . The aerodynamics were developed by Mike Gascoyne . The only special feature of the 026 was the design of the vehicle nose: Two horizontal baffles were attached to the tip above the front wing, which guided the air flow to the side pods. The top of the vehicle nose was not designed with a smooth surface; rather, it had a depression in the middle. In addition, the car was equipped with the so-called twin or Tyrrell towers at some races , i.e. H. with additional wings that were attached to high supports on the two side boxes. Tyrrell introduced them to the 025 in 1997 . After Jordan , Prost , Sauber and Ferrari used similar designs in the following years, the FIA banned them in the course of the 1998 season for safety reasons.

The Tyrrell 026 was powered by a ten-cylinder Ford Zetec-R / 97 JD engine. It was a construction that was used exclusively at Stewart Grand Prix in 1997 . Its maximum output was around 720 hp, about 80 hp less than the power of the most powerful engines. A semi-automatic six-speed transmission from Tyrrell served as the power transmission.

The team obtained the tires from Goodyear , the fuel came from Elf .

Racing history

Toranosuke Takagi at the 1998 Spanish Grand Prix

The Tyrrell Racing Organization, founded by Ken Tyrrell in 1960 , took part in the Formula 1 World Championship from 1968 . After the team had won three drivers and one constructor titles by 1973, a sporting decline began. Although Tyrrell was able to maintain racing operations into the 1990s, the team was financially troubled and was able to survive mainly because it was supplied with engines free of charge by Yamaha for years . After the end of the relationship with Yamaha, Tyrrell began using Ford customer engines for a fee from 1997 , which put a considerable strain on the budget.

When the 1997 season was over, Ken Tyrrell sold his racing team to the cigarette manufacturer British American Tobacco , who were planning to build their own racing team with the help of Adrian Reynard , Craig Pollock and Jacques Villeneuve . This team, called BAR , was supposed to use Tyrrell's starting authorization, but apart from that had completely new structures that were only operational in 1999. Until then, Tyrrell should continue to operate. The 1998 season was therefore planned as a transition season from the outset. Ken Tyrrell left his team before the first race. Villeneuve's manager Pollock took over the management and managed the team with little effort and “only did the bare minimum”.

For this transition season, the Tyrrell 026 was created, an “extremely simple car” that was rated by observers as “average goods” and “typically conventional without any particularity”.

Before the start of the season, Tyrrell took part in the FIA ​​test drives at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain . On one of the test days, Takagi achieved the best time of the day; it was also the fourth best of the entire test week.

In the course of the season, the team acted without success. According to observers, the imminent end of the team noticeably limited the vigor of the employees. There was also speculation that Craig Pollock had no interest in the sporting success of the team in order not to set too high a benchmark for the successor team BAR starting in 1999. Some observers said that Rosset's commitment was due to this motivation, among other things.

The newcomer Takagi was the more successful of the two Tyrrell drivers. He qualified for every race and repeatedly achieved starting positions in the midfield. His best result was the 13th starting place he was at the Australian and Argentine Grand Prix . Takagi dropped out eight times in the races. Driving errors were the cause of this four times, the other failures were due to engine defects. Takagi's best race result was ninth place at the Grand Prix of Great Britain and Italy .

Ricardo Rosset missed qualifying five times during the season. He was the only driver who failed the 107 percent rule that year . He crossed the finish line four times and his best result was eighth in the Canadian Grand Prix . Ultimately, Rosset did not take part in the race in Belgium . In a start-up accident in which numerous cars were involved, both Tyrrell drivers destroyed their cars. The team only had one spare vehicle in the pits, which was given to Takagi for the restart.

Tyrrell finished the 1998 season with no points in last place in the constructors' championship. The Italian Minardi team using the same engine did not achieve any championship points either; but because of better positions in individual races it was rated better than Tyrrell. Tyrrell's successor BAR also failed to score World Championship points in 1999 and was the weakest team that season.

Tyrrell's test team essentially did prep for BAR over the course of the season. This also included test drives with a modified 026, which was experimentally equipped with a Supertec engine - the 1999 engine of the BAR team.

Painting and sponsorship

The basic color of the car was a combination of black and white with green and silver accents on the side of the car, the nose and the airbox. Sponsors were the Japanese investment company PIAA with advertising space on the side coolers and the nose, the computer dealer Morse on the rear wing, Brother on the nose and the zipper manufacturer YKK on the side of the rear wing. British American Tobacco, the owner of the team, did not advertise extensively on the cars. Only a palm-sized sticker on the nose of the vehicle indicated BAT.

driver

The first regular driver was Toranosuke Takagi , Tyrrell's test driver last year. The second cockpit remained free until February 1998. Ken Tyrrell strongly advocated Jos Verstappen , Craig Pollock, who had also considered the use of Tarso Marques and Jean-Christophe Boullion , decided at short notice for the Brazilian Ricardo Rosset , whom Ken Tyrrell considered unsuitable.

Further use of the chassis

Paul Stoddart , the new team boss and owner of the Minardi Formula 1 team from 2001 , bought all of the team's materials, including fully functional Tyrrell 026 , through the new owner of Tyrrell, British American Racing .

The Dutch entrepreneur and racing driver Frits van Eerd competed in the 2011 BOSS GP racing series with a Tyrrell 026.

Results

driver	No.	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	Points	rank
Formula 1 World Championship 1998																		0	-.
Ricardo Rosset	20th	DNF	DNF	14th	DNF	DNQ	DNQ	8th	DNF	DNF	12	DNQ	DNQ	DNS	12	DNF	DNQ
Toranosuke Takagi	21st	DNF	DNF	12	DNF	13	11	DNF	DNF	9	DNF	13	14th	DNF	9	16	DNF

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

literature

• Roberto Boccafogli, Brynn Williams: Formula 1 - The duel of the giants. The 1998 Formula 1 season. 1st edition Naumann and Göbel, Cologne 1998, ISBN 3-625-10751-1 .
• Adriano Cimarosti: The Century of Racing , Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-613-01848-9
• David Hodges: A – Z of Grand Prix Cars 1906–2001 , 2001 (Crowood Press), ISBN 1-86126-339-2 (English)
• David Hodges: Racing Cars from A – Z after 1945 , Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-613-01477-7
• Pierre Ménard: La Grande Encyclopédie de la Formule 1 , 2nd edition, St. Sulpice, 2000, ISBN 2-940125-45-7 (French)

Web links

Commons : Tyrrell 026  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• antfrench.files.wordpress.com Image of the Tyrrell 026 with twin towers

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Roberto Boccafogli, Brynn Williams: Formula 1 - The duel of giants. The 1998 Formula 1 season. 1st edition Naumann and Göbel, Cologne 1998, ISBN 3-625-10751-1 , p. 143.
2. ↑ Roberto Boccafogli, Brynn Williams: Formula 1 - The duel of the giants. The 1998 Formula 1 season . 1st edition Naumann and Göbel, Cologne 1998, ISBN 3-625-10751-1 , p. 20.
3. ↑ ^{a b c} David Hodges: AZ of Grand Prix Cars, p. 234.
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Pierre Ménard: La Grande Encyclopédie de la Formule 1 , p. 543.
5. ↑ ^{a b c} The racing magazine. Formula 1 special edition 1998, p. 38.
6. ↑ Auto Motor und Sport Formula 1 Extra 1998, p. 38.
7. ↑ Motorsport aktuell, issue 8/1998, p: 13.
8. ^ Similar to David Hodges: AZ of Grand Prix Cars , p. 234.