Sorry if this has already been posted. Has anyone seen that BMW-Williams prototype? Six Wheels, 4 Wheel drive. I saw it in the F1 Racing magazine last week. I was in a hurry and didnt get to read the arrticle, just saw the pictures. Did anyone read this article?
Ferrari (1976-77), March (1976), Tyrrell (1976), and Williams (1981) all made 6-wheel cars at one time or another...not very successfully either. Only the Tyrrell actually raced. Is there a chance the magazine photo was from then?
the Ferrari had 4 wheels on the back, any one has original pictures ? the Tyrell had 4 wheels on the front....
I did see the article briefly in the newsagents, the general gist was Williams were asked what they would do to build the ultimate restriction free F1 car. The concept had 4 driven wheels at the back full ground effect aerodynamics, slicks and active suspension. The computer model reckoned it would be 10 seconds a lap faster around Silverstone than the current cars and would produce up to 6g on cornering. So pretty quick then!!
todays rules prohibit more than 4 wheels and more than 2 wheels driven which is really too bad, imagine the engineering fun we could watch with six wheel cars and all wheel drive, whoa!
http://homepages.pathfinder.gr/goodwood2002/pics/Tyrrell6wheeler1.JPG http://homepages.pathfinder.gr/goodwood2002/pics/Tyrrell6wheeler.JPG and a good read plus williams, Offenhausser, March pics. enjoy.. http://www.f1nutter.co.uk/tech/6wheels.php
I think we are referring to 2 different cars. 1st car: Williams back in the 70's (I think, may have been 80's) produced a 6 wheeled car with 4 rear wheels ... I do not think it ever raced. 2nd car: Not long ago for the F1 magazine they produced a theoretical study of how they saw a modern F1 car without all these stupid restricting rules and thus ended up with a 6 wheeled car again ... with 4 rear wheels. This ofcourse never will be built. Also I was not aware that Ferrari ever went the 6 wheeled route??? ... confirmation please Pete
Okay I followed the link and read up, but while the Ferrari may have had 6 'wheels' it was not a true 6 wheeled car IMO. This is because they mounted the rear wheels all on the same axle, ie. like a truck, 2 per side. This does not take full advantage of the concept and is probably no better than a 4 wheeled system, especially on a bumpy track. The advantage of the way the Williams car did this is that the extra wheels have their own suspension, etc. and thus follow the road independently thus improving traction under all conditions. The Ferrari system on the other hand doesn't in the situation say the outside rear wheel was on a lump (say curb) ... this would mean that it's mate right next to him would also be lifted and thus not providing the ideal traction. Thus Ferrari did not really put much effort and thinking IMO into this concept ... also considering how big the rear wheels used to be in those days the contact patch was probably bigger than 2 front wheels anyway! and thus why the concept for all was binned I guess. Nowadays it would be a much bigger contact patch ... Pete
