Tyrrell 003

[i70q7m7ghw]

Hi All,

I am hoping to start a work on a model of the Tyrrell 003 at some point this year. Currently I'm trying to gather as much reference material as I can.

I seem be struggling to get technical information about the car, ideally I need measurements such as track width, wheelbase, overall length/width, wheel diameter, tyre widths etc.

Also, I'll need some good reference photos, side, top, front & back views as straight on as possible.

If anyone here has any of this information, sharing would be much appreciated. In return I will post pictures of the model build

[scarbs]

The tamiya 1:12 model kit is a good reference source. The instructions and photos can easily be found online.

[Facts Only]

Could you go to the donington GP collection. Plenty of cars there to measure, even if they aren't 003's there are many cars from the era that will be similar.

I say this every time there is a question about dims of a historic cars but I do stand by it as the best way to find out about a car, go and measure.

[gavingav1]

nice site - https://primotipo.com/tag/tyrrell-003/

[paparoch]

The nature of what was said was really nice and very helpful.

[Sombrero]

https://primotipo.com/tag/tyrrell-003/

[bill shoe]

Beautiful car and nice background story, per Wikipedia:

When Ken Tyrrell, the team's owner, was disenchanted with the poor performance of March chassis during the 1970 season, he decided he would design and build his own car. He employed Derek Gardner to design it in secret at his own house.[1] The project, codenamed "SP" which meant "Special Project" cost Tyrrell over £22,000 of his own money. The resulting car named Tyrrell 001 made its debut at Oulton Park at a non-championship race.

After the season had finished Gardner redesigned some sections of the car, altering the airbox, remodelling the nose section, lengthening the wheelbase and slightly narrowing the monocoque. The redesigned car became known as the 002 and 003, which were chassis numbers given to each of the cars made for the 1971 season.

Question-

If you were designing an F1 car by yourself in Ken Tyrrell's house in 1971 for £22,000, would you be able to make it significantly faster than the 003? Assume all the 2016 knowledge you want, but can you convert that knowledge into a faster and functioning car?

Difficulties-

1971 minimum weight was 530 kg (1166 lbs). That's roughly 105 kg (234 lbs) lighter than 2016 if you assume a 67 kg (148 lb) driver. I'm trying to find dimensional limitations, there appears to be a severe rear wing height limit.

[zac510]

Can't we just remake the whole thing in CF?
Don't have to worry about all that safety malarkey either

[bill shoe]

Where do you source good CF in 1971? Was it commercially available in the weaves that were later typical for F1 monocoques?

Who constructs a CF monocoque to your drawings? Or do you ask Mrs. Tyrrell for permission to use the kitchen table?

[zac510]

I misunderstood the question. When you meant 2016 knowledge I presumed that to mean material knowledge too (even in that case £22k would be a bit of a tight budget!)
I wanted to keep the spirit and aesthetics of 003 but with characteristics of a stiff, light chassis, which is why I didn't immediately throw a floor, tunnels and ground effect onto it. Of course with such aerodynamics it wouldn't be a 003 anymore.

[zac510]

Hi All,

I am hoping to start a work on a model of the Tyrrell 003 at some point this year. Currently I'm trying to gather as much reference material as I can.

I seem be struggling to get technical information about the car, ideally I need measurements such as track width, wheelbase, overall length/width, wheel diameter, tyre widths etc.

Also, I'll need some good reference photos, side, top, front & back views as straight on as possible.

If anyone here has any of this information, sharing would be much appreciated. In return I will post pictures of the model build

I checked at an automotive book store today (in Tokyo) which stocks lots of high detail magazines (including modelling magazines) and they didn't have one for Tyrell 003, but they had a general one for the 1971 season. They also have a few for Lotus, Ferrari etc of that era.

[bill shoe]

I misunderstood the question. When you meant 2016 knowledge I presumed that to mean material knowledge too (even in that case £22k would be a bit of a tight budget!)
I wanted to keep the spirit and aesthetics of 003 but with characteristics of a stiff, light chassis, which is why I didn't immediately throw a floor, tunnels and ground effect onto it. Of course with such aerodynamics it wouldn't be a 003 anymore.

OK, vague question. I also thought of throwing on some simple floor/tunnels/diffuser kind of thing. Made out of aluminum so not a big weight increase. But I wonder if that simple outboard suspension could handle, say, a doubling of downforce. Especially if the downforce required a more fixed "aero platform" i.e. a more stiffly sprung chassis. There could be a pretty severe tradeoff in mechanical grip to handle the extra downforce at speed with that setup. Would you go with inboard suspension to reduce that tradeoff? But then you're adding even more weight to an already bloated car.

Over the last few days I've been pondering the 003 and this generation of car in general, and I've come to respect it much more. Previously I thought of them as an awkward transition between the non-wing "cigar" cars of the 60's and the more modern look of the 80's. Didn't appreciate them enough. OK, sorry for high jacking this thread. Back to good drawings/dimensions of the 003. Ken Tyrrell can have his house back.