Racing history in a six-pack
05/03/2024
South African Jody Scheckter is one of the few racing drivers who has not only been able to drive fast and successful cars in his career, but also two very special and particularly historic vehicles.
One of them is, of course, the only Formula 1 racing car with six wheels that has ever competed in a Grand Prix: The Tyrrell P34, designed by Derek Gardner. When it was unveiled at the beginning of 1976, the car went down like a bomb. Nobody had expected something so crazy. Even the two drivers, Jody Scheckter and Patrick Depailler, were completely surprised by this design. While the Frenchman quickly took a liking to the concept, the South African was rather skeptical and preferred the four wheels of his Tyrrell 007. Nevertheless, it was he who won the 1976 Swedish Grand Prix in Anderstorp and thus went down in history as the only Formula 1 winner in a six-wheeled car.
The second car steeped in history alongside the three-axle car is the Wolf WR1. The Austro-Canadian oil multinational Walter Wolf had bought into Frank Williams' Formula 1 team in 1975 and wanted to become the spearhead of the "premier class" with Scheckter and the team now called "Walter Wolf Racing" from 1977. Scheckter immediately won the first race in Argentina with the technically conservative car designed by Harvey Postlethwaite. Victories in Monaco and Canada followed in the course of the season. Even the world championship would have been possible in the team's first year, as at the end of the season they were only 17 points behind Niki Lauda in the Ferrari.
Two years later, Jody Scheckter finally became Formula 1 World Champion with three victories (Zolder, Monaco, Monza) in the Ferrari 312 T4. It was the last world championship title for a car of his brand that Enzo Ferrari was able to celebrate in person. The first wing car from Ferrari with its three-liter V12 won both the drivers' and constructors' titles in the 1979 season. The other half of the 312's total of six victories in the season went to crowd favorite Gilles Villeneuve. However, the Canadian was unable to take his chance against the much more consistent South African.
Even though he became world champion in a Ferrari, Scheckter would never have got that far without McLaren. After his debut in the M19A at the US Grand Prix the previous year, the British racing team offered the South African his final entry into the premier class in 1973 with the use of a third car - where he was the talk of the town immediately after the race at Silverstone. At the end of the first lap, Scheckter lost his McLaren M23 in the fast Woodcote corner and crashed into the pit wall, from where he was thrown back onto the track, triggering one of the biggest pile-ups in Formula 1. Nine cars were involved and the track was blocked, which immediately led to the race being stopped.
All six important cars from Scheckter's career (McLaren M19A and M23, Tyrrell 007 and Tyrrell P34 as well as Wolf WR1 and Ferrari 312 T4) will now go under the hammer at the same venue shortly before the 45th anniversary of his triumph at the 1979 Monaco Grand Prix.
The South African, who was born on January 29, 1950, competed in a total of 112 Grand Prix races between 1972 and 1980 with McLaren, Tyrrell, Wolf and Ferrari, of which he won 10. He started from pole position three times and set five fastest race laps. Today, he is a farmer and owner of a huge organic farm with countless animals - and his own race track. But he will soon lack the right cars for it...
