Tyrrell P34: the only six-wheeler to win a Grand Prix

Like most interesting cars in F1, the Tyrrell P34 was born from a creative interpretation of the sport's regulations. In this case, the stipulation that a car's front wing must be no more than 1.5 metres wide, which left the front tyres sitting proud of the spoiler and buffeted by the airflow. And that, was bad for aerodynamics.

Tyrrell's chief designer, Derek Gardner – who was already keen to add variety to a sport where every car bar Ferrari used the same Cosworth DFV engine and Hewland Gearbox – spotted an opportunity to shake things up.

The idea? To reduce the size of his car's front wheels, shielding them behind the front wing. Fitting four front wheels, meanwhile, compensated for the tiny tyre's smaller contact patch.

The new design brought its own technical complexities. Only the leading front wheels were attached to the steering column, with a bell crank linking them to the second axle behind. The front suspension was also much bulkier than on a four-wheeled car. Additionally, portholes in the bodywork were needed so the drivers could see their front tyres to hit apexes.  

Tyrrell's finished machine was revealed in September 1975. Hoops under the car's tarpaulin at launch gave the silhouette of a conventional four-wheeled F1 car, only when the cover was pulled off were the car's tiny front wheels revealed, stunning onlookers. Even the team's drivers, Jody Scheckter and Patrick Depailler, had no idea until now that their new car was a six-wheeler. 

Any thoughts that the P34 was a publicity stunt would soon change when it took to the track in anger in 1976 in long-wheel base form, the Spanish Grand Prix hosted the car's inaugural race with Depailler driving. 

Given the radical design change affecting everything from aero and front-end grip, to braking and front-wheel lift, the P34 was expected to be severely off the pace. But it defied expectations; Depailler qualified third behind that season’s Championship protagonists, polesitter James Hunt and Niki Lauda.

The dream of a first points finish was shattered though, when Depailler, running in fourth after a slow start, crashed out with issues with his brakes. Two rounds later, the P34 got even closer to victory in Monaco when both Scheckter and Depailler joined victor Lauda on the podium, a surprising feat for such a unique car.

But it would be the next race in Sweden where the P34 showed its full potential. Scheckter took his car to pole position in qualifying, with Depailler managing fourth. While Mario Andretti's Lotus 77 dominated large chunks of the race, he suffered an engine failure after 46 laps attempting to build a lead over the Tyrrells, having been awarded a 60second penalty for a jump start.

That cleared the way for Tyrrell to achieve a dream 1-2 finish. In just its fourth race, the remarkable P34 made history as the first and only six-wheel car to win a Grand Prix. Scheckter and Depailler would go on to finish third and fourth respectively in the Drivers’ Championship, with Tyrrell third in the Constructors’, but not everyone was happy.

While Depailler waxed lyrical about the oddest car he'd ever raced, having a 'pointy' front end and a rear built for oversteer, Scheckter was far from a fan. Despite his win in Sweden and five podium finishes, he declared the P34 "a piece of junk" and left the team at the end of the 1976 season. 

The P34 certainly had its weaknesses. It performed best on tracks with long straights and fast corners, where it could make the best of its low-drag and increased mechanical grip. Bumpy tracks were a different matter, though; the four front wheels experienced oscillating levels of grip that made the car hard to predict. 

Then there were the braking problems. The P34 braked great in a straight line, making full use of the larger combined contact patch of its four wheels, but factor corners into the mix and it became unpredictable, as the car's virtual wheelbase changed depending on which front axle had grip. 

None of this would stop Tyrell entering the wider and heavier six-wheeler P34B for the 1977 season, but it would sadly struggle with poor braking and cornering grip, leaving Depailler to finish tenth and the incoming Ronnie Peterson 14^th in the Drivers’ Championship – a stark drop off from the previous year’s achievements.  

Desperate to make its car perform better, Tyrrell increased the P34B's track in a hunt for mechanical grip, meaning the tyres stretched beyond the front wing, exposing them to airflow and essentially going against the car's original concept.

The underdevelopment of the car's uniquely small front tyres was a bigger snag. While revisions of the regular tyres continued apace, Tyrrell's mini tyres were left to stagnate, creating a grip imbalance between the front and rear that only got worse into the 1977 season, and would eventually lead Tyrrell to return to a conventional four-wheeler for 1978.

While Tyrrell had faced challenges, its six-wheeler's success had not gone unnoticed by the other teams. March, Ferrari and Williams all built six-wheeler prototypes, although those cars used four wheels at the back, negating some of the problems encountered by the P34. 

Six-wheelers would soon be banned, with cars with four driven wheels prohibited from competing in 1983 before the rules stipulated more precisely that a car should only have four wheels. But while the demise of six-wheelers in Formula 1 would close one innovative chapter in the sport’s history, the launch of Brabham BT46B fan car in 1978 proved that with such creative minds operating at the heart of F1, the next groundbreaking design wouldn’t be far away.

The 2025 Festival of Speed takes place on 10^th-13^th July. Friday and Saturday tickets are now sold out, but Thursday and limited Sunday tickets are still available.

Images courtesy of Getty Images.