This fantastic looking machine was first campaigned by Tyrrell in 1976, at a time when almost all GP cars were powered by the Ford-Cosworth DFV engine. Consequently teams could not rely on a power advantage over their competitors to win races, and had to work on areas such as aerodynamics and packaging to make their cars more competitive. Tyrrell's chief designer, Derek Gardner, decided that reducing the frontal area of the car would bring advantages in speed by reducing aerodynamic drag. By reducing the size of the front wheel, this could easily be achieved, but a second set of front wheels would be needed to give the same area of rubber contact as a larger wheel would have.
For 1976, Goodyear agreed to develop a special small tire for the P34, and provide them for the season. The high point for the car came at the 1976 Swedish GP when future World Champion (for Ferrari) Jody Scheckter came in first with team mate Depailler second. It would be the cars only win. Also that year, Scheckter set the last lap record for a GP car at the old Nurburgring circuit, as after Niki Lauda's near fatal accident in the 76' German GP, Formula One cars would never again race there.
In 1977, tire technology moved on (as it always does in Formula One) and Goodyear decided not to continue developing the smaller tire for Tyrrell (who was the only customer for such a tire). Consequently, the 1977 car struggled to remain competitive on outdated front tire rubber, and for 1978 Tyrrell reverted back to a more conventional 4 wheel design.
No other team raced a six-wheel car after Tyrrell, but Williams did test a car with 4 rear wheels in the early 1980's. It was never raced though, and current regulations demand that Formula 1 cars have 4 wheels only.
As a postscript to the P34 story, a 1977 version raced in the FIA Cup for Thoroughbred Grand Prix Cars (or TGP). This series gives owners of historic GP cars a chance to use them in anger once more. Raced by restorer Martin Stretton, it came a creditable 3rd in it's first outing at the Paul Ricard circuit in France in 1999, and would have most likely won only for a brake problem. Tire supplier to the series, Avon agreed to supply the special front tires for the Tyrrell, which consequently for the first time in it's career had competitive rubber. In 2000 Stretton won the TGP series outright and his Tyrrell is regularly seen at events such as the Festival of Speed at Goodwood.
Exoto make this superb model of the P34 in 1976 form. The level of detail is astonishing, from the plug leads on the engine, tire valves and the incredibly realistic seat belts and buckles. It also looks great in it's blue Elf livery, and represents Scheckter's Swedish GP winner. Unusually for an Exoto model, I'm not giving this one top marks. The reason for this is that I think the front wheel assembly on my model is poorly put together. One of the inner pair of wheels always points slightly inward of the others, giving the front end a slightly "wonky" appearance. I have noticed this in photo's of other Exoto P34's as well, so mine may not be the only one with this minor problem. However, this is my only major criticism of this fine model.
81.5%
