Six-Wheel Tyrrell P34, The Zaniest F1 Car Ever, Could Sell For As Much As $700k

If you find modern F1 racing boring because you can’t tell one F1 car from another, you need to jump in that time machine pronto and head back to the 1970s. Back then teams had more freedom to try new tech like ground effects, turbocharging, or, in the case of the Tyrrell P34, an extra set of wheels.

The P34 looks crazy today even though most of us have probably seen pictures or video footage of one before. But can you imagine what the response must have been like when Ken Tyrrell unveiled it back in 1975? Incredibly, Tyrrell wasn’t the only team to build a three-axle racer – even Ferrari created a prototype – but only the P34 deployed its extra wheels at the front. It even won a race, scoring a 1-2 at the 1976 Swedish Grand Prix.

Related: What Is The ’70s Six-Wheel Tyrrell F1 Car Like To Drive? Let The Stig Tell You

F1 regs of the time restricted the width of the front wing and Tyrrell understood that regular-sized rims and tires would extend past the front spoiler, slowing the car’s top speed. One pair of smaller wheels would have solved that problem but created two more: a smaller tire contact patch and less effective brakes. So it got four tiny 10-inch wheels (the same size as an original Mini’s) instead, which cut drag and still allowed more braking surface.

Tyrrell raced the P34 in 1976 and 1978, though other than that Swedish success in its first season, the six-wheeler struggled, and the team reverted to a four-wheel setup for ’78. But understandably the car remains a fan favorite and the $490-700k RM Sotheby’s thinks it might sell for in Monaco in May would certainly get you access to a host of historic motorsports events and shows.

This particular P34 wasn’t raced in-period but was built from chassis number 8, an original monocoque that was never used at the time. It’s being sold by Jody Scheckter, the F1’s 1979 World Champion, and still the only man to win an F1 race in a car with more than four wheels.

Scheckter reportedly called the P34 “a piece of junk” in the 1970s despite it helping get him to the top step of the podium, and when former Top Gear Stig, Ben Collins, drove a different example recently he described it as uncomfortable and brutish, saying the experience left him full of respect for Tyrrell’s drivers.