March
Not according to TRS! Williams. The question is manufactured, not raced.
A more pertinent question might be who RACED a 6 wheeler F1 car and the clear answer is Tyrell. twin steering front axles with 10 inch wheels. Unfortunately because it still had the standard sized rear wheels there was probably no aerodynamic advantage, built and run for other (financial return?) reasons.
Who built one is a bit murkier, possibly many of the top teams at least investigated the concept. Certainly March built and tested one but whether it actually had both rear axles driving at the time they demonstrated it is doubtful. Williams also tried the concept, probably the last to do so, also tandem rears. On paper, smaller tandem axle rears gave a lot tyre less frontal area and as the rear wing position was measured from the centre line of the "rear" wheels, put the rear wing in cleaner air.
F1 banning 4 wheel drive effectively stopped development dead.
IT comes back as wrong.. March...Williams..Lotus...Ferrari..BRM...Tyrrell...Scuderia Ferrari.
Everything you need to know on six wheelers but didn't know who to ask.......Originally Posted by CUSTAXIE50
This shows the development of the cars in order
http://www.forix.com/8w/sixwheelers.html
This is all about the Williams, the last
https://primotipo.com/2017/11/23/williams-six-wheelers/
Terry,
Thanks for that informative Primotipo.com 6-wheeler site.
It reminded me of when Patrick Head sent me a photo of the FW07D 6- wheel project back in 1982.
As you can see there is more tyre rubber to the ground on the front compared to the rear 4 tyres which is one of the many areas they were experimenting with. This is a brief description of that concept.;
"This six-wheel set-up would again be four smaller wheels at the back, in a direct effort to improve straightline speed and traction out of corners due to the increased rubber contact, but also to allow the free flow of air along the sidepods all the way to the rear axle of the car. As ground effects were permitted within the wheelbase of the car, Head cunningly interpreted this rule as being from front axle to, well, the most rearward axle! In Head's mind, these would be ground effects almost to perfection. The leading rear axle was placed four inches ahead of its original place, with the driveshafts angled to cope.
Basically, to get more ground effects within the wheelbase, Head stuck an extra axle on the back to get more room!"
This is a rough sketch of Patrick's interpretation of the rules that shows in Orange the increased ground effects area gained by using the area from the rear most axle to the front axle.
As they say Patrick was a "cleva fella"
June 1996. Patrick Head with his "mentor " KJH, at the Williams Team headquarters, Grove, Oxfordshire, UK,
The papers in Patrick's hand were actually to use in preparing the 6- wheeler at Goodwood that year.
(Sean Hyndman photographer )
A brief clip of the FW08B in action at Goodwood. The FW08B had the biggest tyres on the back when it came out the following season.
(Ken Hyndman)
Last edited by khyndart in CA; 02-12-2018 at 07:51 PM.
Its an interesting article, however it gives incorrect designation for both Williams, they are the FW07D and FW08B. D was a one off chassis Williams had built in 81 with the stated purpose of building a 6 wheeler. Somehow some publications in 82 got the initial Williams chassis numbering incorrect and instead of racing FW07D, they were actually FW07C.
And before anyone gets upset with what I just wrote, I asked the question of Williams, Jonathon Williams sent me this email.
Dear Mr McBride Thank you for your email to Williams.
Regarding the Williams FW07; the FW07 was raced from early 1979 through to the opening race of 1980. The FW07B first appeared also at the opening race of 1980, and was last raced at the non-championship 1981 South African GP. The
FW07C raced from the opening race of 1981 through the first three races of 1982.
The FW07D was purely a test car – the first six-wheeler. It never raced, hence won’t appear in any public records. We have noted
the FW07s that raced in early 1982 referred to as D specification. This is incorrect. These cars were C specification.
FW08B was the second Williams six-wheeler. Again, a test car that never raced.
I’m afraid we cannot comment on individual chassis numbers.
Kind regards
Jonathan Williams
The only 6 wheeled race car to win a Formula One Grand Prix was the 1976 Tyrrell Project 34.
It certainly was a radical design and this person has put together an interesting site for this car.
The only F1 car I know that had "portholes".
http://www.project34.co.uk/
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/f...rrell-P34.html
(Ken H)
Last edited by khyndart in CA; 02-12-2018 at 07:53 PM.
Here you go Ken,
You could have a go at finishing this, its got 6 wheels, but a long way to go for F1.
Currently for sale on Trademe
Hey Paul,
I will contact Sir Patrick Head and send him this as a project in his retirement years.
That might add some value to this vehicle !
Cheers,
Ken
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