Tyrrell P34

To anyone used to watching Formula 1 racing today it will probably seem hard to believe that during the years before the 1980's the designers could almost do whatever they pleased in the pursuit of speed. Virtually the only restrictions on the cars related to overall length, width and height along with engine displacement. Within reason, almost everything else was open to interpretation

This allowed engines with 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and even 16 cylinders in V, flat and even H formations with and without turbo-chargers.

During the '60's the cars themselves quickly evolved into the slim cigar tube shape and all looked very similar. This came to a sudden end when designers began to understand aerodynamics. At first the cars began to grow strange-looking wings at both front and back, but once the rules began to outlaw some of the more outlandish and potentially dangerous versions, designers began moving things like water radiators and oil coolers around in search of aerodynamic efficiency. This began to radically change the look of the cars.

As the cars began to change shape and wheels and tyres grew wider and wider in search of more grip to transmit the growing horsepower to the track, designers began crawling around the outer edges of the envelope to gain an advantage. One designer in particular pushed the edge a little farther than anyone else, and out popped the Tyrrell P34!

When the car was officially launched, after being developed in absolute secrecy, the Tyrrell folks were not really sure how the assembled press would react. Once everyone was settled, the cover that had been completely hiding the car was slowly removed, beginning at the rear. Nothing appeared very different until the last few feet of the cover was whipped away from the front exposing four tiny front wheels, to absolute silence.

A six-wheeled F1 car? Were their eyes deceiving them? No, it really was a six-wheeled F1 car, with four tiny 10 inch front wheels.

The Theory

Tyrrell designer Derek Gardner had been scratching his head trying to work out how to claw back the advantage Ferrari had found. He decided that the four front wheels, even at a tiny 10 inches diameter, would put more rubber on the road than the conventional two-wheel set-up. The much improved front grip would give a number of advantages.

First of all it would decrease understeer without needing aerodynamic help from a huge front wing. This along with their small diameter would decrease frontal area. The extra grip would improve the performance of the front brakes, already improved by using four disks instead of the normal two, and cornering grip was also improved.

This seemed to add up to quite an advantage over the normal front end.

The Tyrrell sponsors must have thought Christmas had come early as the car generated huge interest everywhere it went. It even sported 'windows' in the cockpit sides to allow the drivers to see the tiny wheels!

Goodyear had agreed to produce suitable tiny tyres and Lockheed made the 8 inch disks. Initially, standard Mini Cooper calipers were used as the Mini also used 10 inch wheels.

Koni came up with suitable suspension units.

The rack and pinion steering worked directly on the front axle with a suitable linkage to the second.

The Debut

Patrick Depailler was much more enthusuastic about the P34 than team mate Jody Schekter, so he was given the honour of driving it at it's first race at the 1976 Spanish Grand Prix. They had used the existing Tyrrell 007 in the first three races of the season. He qualified in a very respectable third place with Scheckter in a 007 back in 14th. Unfortunately his race ended with overheating brakes on lap 25. This became an ongoing problem that eventually helped bring about the end of the six-wheeled experiment.

Both drivers had P34's for the next race at Spa when Depailler qualified 4th behind the pace-setting Ferraris and James Hunt in the McLaren, with Schekter 7th, 0.3 seconds behind his team mate.

Schekter scored the car's first finish with fourth behind Lauda and Regazzoni in the Ferraris and Laffite in the Ligier.

The car really shone at that year's Swedish Grand Prix when Schekter started from pole position with Depailler in 4th, eventualy finishing first and second with Schekter leading Depailler home by almost 20 seconds. Their nearest challenger, Niki Lauda in the Ferrari, was a further 14 seconds back.

Although the P34 raced throughout the 1976 and 1977 seasons, this turned out to be it's only win. It was competitive, at least during 1976, when Depailler and Schekter produced a total of eight podium finishes, but 1977 with Ronnie Peterson joining Depailler turned into a big disapointment.

The car was much modified for it's second season with different bodywork and attempts to keep the front brakes cool but it was incredibly unreliable producing an unfortunate 20 retirements between the two drivers and only four podium finishes.

Overheating front brakes had been a regular problem, and when Goodyear failed to fully develop the tyres the car's performance was always going to be compromised. The changes made for the 1977 car also increased the weight. Even when things kept working long enough to finish a race it was clearly becoming less competitive and never really looked like winning during the 1977 season.

For 1978 Tyrrell went back to conventional four wheels.

Subsequent History

The P34's were sold into private ownership but continued to be seen on ciruits around Europe. Avon had agreed to manufacture tyres for the front wheels and the cars became popular entries at various historic racing events where they proved to be very competitive. One of the two cars won the Thoroughbred Grand Prix series in 2000 and the second repeated this win in 2008. A number of pole positions and class wins have also been acheived in the Grand Prix Historique de Monaco and the cars have been popular attractions at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.