The 1977 Formula 1 season was the second season for Tyrrell's radical six wheeled P34 F1 car. In 1976 the car had proved competitive and had one once in the Swedish Grand Prix driven by Jody Scheckter. (I have a model of the 1976 Swedish GP winning P34 which is reviewed on it's own page on this site). The theory behind the four small front wheels involved the reduction of the cars frontal area with the aim of increasing it's speed without loosing front end grip. The problem however was that tire supplier Goodyear were not able to continue development on the small 10 inch front tires (as no other team was using them and therefore the cost was too much to bear) and for 1977 the car sported the latest specification rear tire rubber while the front tires were essentially the same as were used in 1976.
As the tires used in F1 tend to get more adhesive from one year to the next, this meant the level of front end grip for the 1977 P34 was poor and as a result the car did not handle as well as in 1976. A lack of grip at the front tends to result in understeer which does not lend itself to fast lap times and makes a car difficult to drive well.
The most obvious visual change to the 1977 car was the addition of a new white over blue sponsorship livery thanks to Tyrrell's new sponsor (in addition to the French oil company Elf) First National City Travellers Checks. While the all blue "Elf" liveried 1976 cars looked good, I think the blue/white colours on the '77 cars looks even better! In the later half of the 1977 season, the P34 was more radically altered from the previous years car compared to the version seen here. It was wider overall and had new upper bodywork without the small "portholes" beneath the rear view mirrors which on the original version were installed to allow the driver to see the small front tires while driving (both to check on their condition and to help place the car in corners).
This model by Exoto depicts the P34 driven by French driver Patrick Depailler at the 1977 Monaco GP. He qualified the car in 8th place in the grid but retired from the race due to gearbox failure on lap 46 out of a total of 76. His team-mate from 1976 Jody Scheckter won the race, but in 1977 he was driving for the new Wolf F1 team, having left Tyrrell at the end of 1976 as he saw no future in the six wheeled car. As it happened he was right as the car was nowhere near as competitive in 1977 thanks to the lack of up to date front tires, and in 1978 Tyrrell reverted to a conventional four wheeled design. Depailler went on to score the 1st of two GP race wins in the 1978 car, winning that years Monaco GP.
Depailler himself drove for Tyrrell in F1 from 1972 until 1978, when he switched to the French team Ligier. He scored his 2nd and last GP win in a Ligier at the 1979 Spanish GP and in 1980 he switched teams again, joining the Alfa-Romeo F1 team. Tragically he was killed on August 1st 1980 at the Hockenheim GP circuit during a test session in his Alfa F1 car. The car left the track and hit the crash barriers following suspension failure and Patrick sustained fatal head injuries when the car overturned and vaulted the barrier.
The Exoto P34s were some of the earliest models released by Exoto, the first 1976 version being released in 1999. At the time it was a state of the art 1:18th model, and it remains an excellent piece although no longer a first rank model. The latest Exoto releases (as of 2006) show considerably more detail in areas such as the drivers compartment and the brakes and wheels. However, the model of the P34 was spot on in it's shape and stance and it remains a very good model indeed. The 1977 versions of the car as shown here were released by Exoto in 2001 and even though they are no longer available new from Exoto I do believe they are relatively easy to find now, especially on eBay.
As I'm in the middle of a house move (as of August/September 2006) all my models are in storage hence I'm not able to accurately rate this model for this review. To do so properly I like to have the model to hand so I can inspect it properly in order to give it a fair rating. Once our house move is complete I aim to get my models out of storage ASAP and add a full rating of this model to this review.
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