The Tyrrell P34 wasn't F1's only car to sport six wheels. This six-wheeled Williams-Cosworth FW07D was developed by the team in Grove as a bit of aerodynamic trickery, but sported its extra axle behind the driver instead of in front.
Based on the ground effect FW07 chassis from 1979, the six-wheeled single-seater used six front wheels and tires as a way to the reduce frontal area – and drag – in 1981. It was all an elaborate plan to compensate for a lack of power from their Cosworth DFV, then producing a paltry 500 horses.
"We were all intrigued to see if we could balance a car that had such a large contact patch at the rear and we quickly discovered that we could. I remember (test driver) Jonathan Palmer telling me that he couldn't really tell that there were four wheels at the back, although the traction out of slow corners was phenomenal," Patrick Head, then technical director at Williams, told Auto123.
Even though the resulting FW08B, another six-wheeler based on a four-wheeler chassis, was "bloody heavy" according to Head, the weight issue wasn't what buried the idea.
"In the end, the six-wheeler was banned after someone in a FOCA meeting said it would drive up costs and cause chaos during pit stops. The regulations were changed to say a car could only have four wheels, of which only two could be driven."
The resulting four-wheeled, Honda-powered FW09 (in B-spec) went on to win only single race in 1984 at the hands of Keke Rosberg, father of current F1 pilot Nico.
[Photo: Williams]
The post This Six-Wheeled Williams F1 FW07D Never Turned A Single Racing Lap in Anger appeared first on The Truth About Cars.
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