Talk:Tyrrell P34

Racing car template

I've had a stab at a template for racing cars (see template:Racing car) to summarise the usual data. I've used the F1 templates as a starting point and applied it to the Brabham BT46 article. If anyone's got an interest in this, please have a look at the template and modify or suggest changes as appropriate. After a few people have had a go at it and we have something we're happy with we could start to use it more widely. Note that it's not meant to be specific to F1, by the way. Cheers. 4u1e 09:37, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Regulations

The first sentence reads "The Tyrrell P34 (Project 34), otherwise known as the six-wheeler, was a Formula One race car designed by Derek Gardner, Tyrrell's chief designer, as a response to new regulations due to come into force in 1976". The article doesn't describe the new regulations; what were they? -Ashley Pomeroy 18:43, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

Reading the information in the History section of http://www.project34.co.uk/ it doesn't seem that the design was a response to a change in regulations but rather an effort to reduce the lift effect of large front wheels. The designer, Derek Gardner, apparently had the idea of a six wheeled car long before the P34 was designed. I would suggest changing this sentence. 129.67.105.62 (talk) 15:50, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

That's always been my understanding. I've removed "as a response to new regulations due to come into force in 1976". DH85868993 (talk) 13:17, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

Assessment

I rated this as Start class, but with references we might have a strong shot at a B-class article here. Guroadrunner (talk) 06:02, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Six wheeled car should not redirect here.

The Tyrrell P34 is not the only six wheeled car ever made. There should be another page covering six wheelers in general. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.24.159.231 (talk) 18:50, 12 December 2012 (UTC)

Mistake?

The article states "which prohibited four-wheel-drive cars from competing", am i drunk? or is this a typo, shouldn't be six-wheel or is the meaning that it is not allowed for the engine to power four wheels, if so is it legal to have a 6 wheel car with only four powered, and this is simply not efficient as the extra friction would slow down the car?Eranus (talk) 03:52, 2 January 2014 (UTC)

It's not a typo. The meaning is that it was not allowed for the engine to power four wheels. So it would have been legal to have a 6 wheel car with only two powered (i.e. like the P34). I can offer no opinion on whether or not you are drunk. DH85868993 (talk) 23:13, 2 January 2014 (UTC)

In Media

It's a relatively small thing, but the George Harrison song "It's What You Value" (from his 1976 album Thirty-Three and 1/3) which humorously uses cars as a foundation for a larger message, references the P34 in this line: Someone's driving/a six-wheeler/Seems the world is all blurred/Knows he's in a/show-stealer/With a sound that's uncompared. Given the other references in this section, I'm a bit surprised this was missed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Amateriat (talk • contribs) 06:18, 4 December 2017 (UTC)

questions, questions

Does anyone know how many P34s were built? How many still survive? And where the survivors are located? Elsquared (talk) 09:51, 20 May 2020 (UTC)

@Elsquared: https://www.oldracingcars.com/tyrrell/p34/ suggests 7 were built in period (and an extra car was built up in the 1990s using an unfinished monocoque) and provides the last-known locations of the 5 "original" survivors and the 1990s car. DH85868993 (talk) 10:40, 20 May 2020 (UTC)

Thanks very much! Just what I was looking for. Elsquared (talk) 06:19, 21 May 2020 (UTC)

Design benefits

Without having read anything about this car, I’ve always assumed the primary goal was to reduce “unsprung mass”. This is always a chief design parameter, particularly for such exotic as F1. This radical design achieved that in spades. I have no documentation available, but can anyone add any citation that supports my assumption? Rule303 (talk) 15:06, 5 March 2022 (UTC)

@Rule303: Doug Nye's History of the Grand Prix Car 1966-85 quotes designer Derek Gardner as saying that the idea behind the P34 "... was to minimise induced drag by reducing lift at the front end and to turn that small gain into the ability to enter and leave corners faster." The full-page discussion of the P34 in that book makes no mention of reducing unsprung mass. So it would seem that wasn't a major consideration in the design of the car. DH85868993 (talk) 04:48, 8 March 2022 (UTC)