From: rmg19@mail.idt.net (Roy Glikin) Newsgroups: rec.autos.sport.f1 Subject: Re: Was there ever a GP/F1car with 4 front wheels? Date: 12 Feb 1997 02:29:37 GMT Organization: IDT Lines: 48 Message-ID: References: <19970211222000.RAA15683@ladder01.news.aol.com> <19970211232501.SAA19040@ladder01.news.aol.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: boston-pm1-dyn4.pcix.com Jeepers, how old ARE you people :) Four front wheels that's the Tyrrell P34-DFV. It is discussed in this month's (FEB97) Motor Sport. There's a very nice Tamiya kit, likely still available on account of the weirdness factor, of the little honey. The logic of having four front wheels included a theoretical larger contact patch for braking and turning, and additional swept area for the front brakes. Also, the tiny fronts could be placed out of the airstream behind a "sportscar nose." The P34 raced in 1976 and 1977, and replaced the Tyrrell 007. It was driven by Scheckter/Depallier in '76 and by Peterson/Depallier in '77. The Tyrrell P34 finished 1-2 at the 1976 Swedish GP at Anderstorp (Yes, Virginia there used to be a GP in Sweden). In the 77 Japanese GP (at Fuji), Gilles Villeneuve used the back of Peterson's P34 as a launching ramp for his Ferrari 312T2 and three spectators (sitting in a prohibited area) were killed. It was the ten-inch tires which were the car's downfall as Goodyear was reluctant, some say refused, to provide special compounds and constructions to get the best out of the arrangement. During the course of '77, Tyrrell had to widen the P34's track to get any grip, effectively eliminating any advantage obtained from the six-wheeler. The March team had a little publicity stunt and showed the 2-4-0 (a steam engine designation) with four rear wheels the same size as the standard front. Sponsors did not line up at March's door... Williams came up with a four-rear wheeled FW07, which actually could be driven and fully intended the FW08 to race with six-wheels. However, the FIA stepped in and banned this nonsense. This explains why the FW08 was so stubby, no worries, it won the Championship for Keke Rosberg. Someone, sometime showed a P34 with a March 2-4-0 rear end grafted on. That's eight wheels. The legendary Roy Lane used the March 2-4-0 (now functional) as a hillclimb car for a while. And to complete the trivial (interesting typo there) lesson, once upon a time there was a six-wheeled road car inspired by the P34. It was produced by the Panther Company in the UK. It was a convertible, looked like something out of the "Thunderbirds," had some humongous turbo motor and was featured on the cover of Road & Track (USA). I suspect none other than the prototype were built. There, aren't you glad you asked?