My favourite worst F1-car!

[pearsey13]

Hmmm, enough said.

[pearsey13]

Tyrell-Ford, what made them think that more wheels=quicker?

[machin]

I'm not sure you could call the P34 a "worst" F1-car...? 1st and 2nd in the Swedish FGrand Prix in '76 is pretty good if you ask me....

....look at that nice clear air flow to the back of the car!

[andrew]

Better in wet weather too, in theory. Whilst the front wheels aquaplane, the second pair of front wheels are in contact with the tarmac and give more grip.

Actually, quite a good concept. I think it was only dropped as Avon would not make tyres small enough for the front wheels. Quite a few teams experiments with a 6 wheel design in the lates 70's and early 80's.

[astracrazy]

Tyrell-Ford, what made them think that more wheels=quicker?

i'm prob talking crap, and i don't actually know why they done it...

but looking at it, it looks like it is to reduce drag? the wheels are no higher than the skirt?

[horse]

Wikipedia: Tyrrell P34

The car used four specially manufactured 10-inch-diameter (250 mm) wheels and tyres at the front, with two ordinary-sized wheels at the back. Contrary to popular belief, the idea of the smaller front tyres was not to have a smaller "frontal area" to reduce drag, as the frontal area was still determined by the width of the standard-sized rear slicks. In fact, the six-wheel design reduced the lift caused by two larger front wheels, improving frontal downforce, increased the total contact patch of the front tyres and created a greater swept area for the brake discs.

[ESPImperium]

Another 2 from the more modren breed:

Renault R29

Looked clunky, altho gained in the season was abandoned quickly after halfway thrugh.

Red Bull-Renault RB3:

Looked great, however was very unrelyablye and was painfully fragile as well, generally if it didnt break mechanichally, it would find something to break that affected aero.

[xpensive]

As I opened this thread, I'm trying to convince myself that the horrid Ensign above must be the ugliest car of all times, unless someone have a picture or two of the Life car, as occationally run by Bruno Giacomelli? The 1974 Trojan was pretty ugly as well as I recall.

[SiLo]

The RB3 looks like a Rebranded Mclaren.

[Robbobnob]

http://images.forum-auto.com/mesimages/ ... 077%60.jpg
Tyrell-Ford, what made them think that more wheels=quicker?

i'm prob talking crap, and i don't actually know why they done it...

but looking at it, it looks like it is to reduce drag? the wheels are no higher than the skirt?

there is a few benefits, less rotational inertia of the wheels, greater contact patch and less drag

[marcush.]

the arrows A2 is a must:

[andrew]

Well, here's a direct comparison of the 3 cars that you mentions Xpensive.

[xpensive]

Difficult call, the three all shine in their different areas of forte.

- The Ensign is ugly as sin itself, gawd!
- The Life was probably the most useless F1 car ever made, legend has it that the mechanics began to party everytime the W12 had the courtesy to start up to take little Bruno for a lap or two.
- The Trojan possibly takes the price as most pitiful kit-car of all times.

Any personal favourite there, Andrew? Or did we forget Luigi's Eifelland?

marcush contribution above would probably take the prize as the most pretentious aerodynamic failure, when Tony Southgate tried to take ground-effects into warp.

[andrew]

Oh dear! I think we have a winner.



Does it double as a submarine for really wet races?

Looks like they just couldn't stop adding parts the thing!

[xpensive]

Hold on andrew, that's the way it looked AFTER the design was moderated, look for the original and it will take your breath away!