Race and classic pictures

Scheckter offers Tyrrell six-pack its single win in F1

We never willingly pass up an opportunity to show off the Tyrrell P34, one of Formula 1's most instantly recognizable and unusual cars in over seven decades of racing.

The six-wheel design still shocks and astonishes even now. It made its debut at the 1976 Spanish Grand Prix and was the brainchild of designer Derek Gardner.

It was on this day in 1976 that the original car won its first and only Grand Prix. The race took place over 72 laps of the Scandinavian Raceway in Anderstorp, Sweden.

Jody Scheckter had put the car on pole position, but Mario Andretti quickly took the lead for Lotus. However, the American was subsequently given a 60 second jump start penalty and then suffered an engine failure.

Scheckter took the lead and won the race, leading his team mate Patrick Depailler across the line by almost 20 seconds.

As for the Tyrrell P34, unfortunatey its small front wheels were never really supported by Goodyear, and regulation changes the following year made the whole thing much less competitive. The car's final Grand Prix outing was in Japan in October 1977.

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.