strange motorsport Cars
 

since the curretn F1 season is "a bit" dull so far I discovered my interest for the history of the F1 and found some really strange cars.

First the most popular car I think
The Tyrell P-34 6 wheeler, this Car won the swedish Grand Prix '76
http://8w.forix.com/tyrrell-p34.jpg


But the Tyrell was not the first 6 wheeler in the F1, the first one was a Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser KK500G, also known as the "Pat Clancy Special". In 1957 this car drove the Indy500
http://f1.no/jpg2/oyvind/femtitallet...7_Jack_Tur.jpg

Two other 6 wheelers were planned. One in '77 the march 240
http://www.f1nutter.com/images/tech/march-240.jpg

the other, the last one, was a Williams. it was testet in '82
http://www.samuelyan.com/images/Tameo/TMK285.jpg

But there are still rumors about a Ferrari with more than 4 wheels. The Ferrari 312T6, I found only one picture which is claimed to be a fake.
http://8w.forix.com/cr-fio77.jpg

But the six wheelers were not the only strange cars in the F1. For me one of the strangest cars was the Brabham BT46B, the "fan car". It had a fan in the back which sucked the air away from under the car and produced a very strong ground effect. At the 78 Swedish Gradn Prix Lauda and Watson qualifying 2nd and 3rd behind the Lotus 79 of Andretti. Andretti eventually dropped out due to valve spring caps breaking under load, causing a valve to break, allowing Lauda into the lead. Once a back-marker dropped oil onto the track, the Brabham was in a race of its own, seemingly unaffected by the slippery surface. Lauda went on to win by 34.6 seconds.
http://8w.forix.com/tail.jpg



Do you know other strange cars? What about the Indy or Nascar series?

I knew about the 6 wheelers but had never seen the fan cars. That's very interesting!

thats really uh...out of this world....So...any advantage with the extra set of wheels?

Bigger tyre footprint = more traction I guess...

the fan seems like a pretty good idea... wow... over 34 seconds

I actually saw the Tyrells race in the Long Beach Grand Prix in 1977.

In the 60's there were scores of odd cars running at Indy. Turbine cars - two different designs - were my favorite.

This site has pictures of both
http://www.dfphotoservices.com/galleries/galleries.cfm

Two things:

first ,as spartak said, the had a better traction. The Williams drove at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and it is said that the car had a fantastic grip and acceleration on the track.

second, lower air resistance. Tyrell realised that the front tyres are most responsible for the air resistance so they made the wheels smaller and added a second pair of wheels.

Yeah, it waas a good and interesting concept, sadly it was illegal. No moving aerodynamic parts were allowed. So they claimed the fan was for cooling the engine, but you could see as soon as the fan was started the the car was sucked on the ground.

BTW - Jim Hall also made a 'sucker' Chapparal car for CanAm. I think it was before the fan F1 car. Not sure though.

True the Chapparal 2J sucker-car was before the Brabham Fan car.
Here is the Chapparal with Jackie Steward driving:
http://8w.forix.com/2j-js.jpg
it raced it the 1970 Can-Am series. The car worked so well that it was promptly banned.

The Back:
http://8w.forix.com/2j-rear.jpg

You're clearly not a current fan of F1. During the 2001 and 2002 seasons the Schumacher piloted Ferrari that far ahead, if not farther, of the rest of the field.
...most times his teammate was his only competition. It's still true today, but a few teams have closed the gap.

kooky stuff