In this regard, the four-wheeled 008 hit the nail and proved a significant addition to the Tyrrell canon on a number of fronts. For starters, it was the first from the Surrey-based team not to be designed by Derek Gardner, the low-key transmissions specialist who had served Ken Tyrrell so well since the Jackie Stewart<\/a> glory days.<\/p>\n Second, it proved a winner and revived\u00a0Tyrrell\u2019s status as a contender \u2013 albeit briefly. And third, the model, and the specific chassis you see here, played fruitful cameos in its post-contemporary life, both for female racers and the emerging historic F1 scene.<\/p>\n Finally \u2013 and this cannot be overlooked \u2013 it still bristles today with oh-so-cool late-1970s F1 panache, and carries an endearing association with one of France\u2019s most charismatic daredevil racing idols: Patrick Depailler<\/a>.<\/p>\n The 008 represented Tyrrell having to go back to the drawing board to re-establish its credentials<\/p>\n Photo by: Jonny Lau\/Machina Studios<\/p>\n The six-wheeled P34 existed not as a novelty but for a simple\u00a0raison d\u2019etre: to chase a new competitive edge in an era when the good old Cosworth DFV had become near-ubiquitous. That challenge remained in 1978, as Tyrrell (literally) went back to the drawing board to re-establish its credentials. Just look at the list of teams running DFVs back then: deep breath\u2026 Lotus, McLaren, Shadow, Arrows, Surtees, Wolf, the emerging new Williams team, ATS, Fittipaldi, Ensign, Hesketh, Theodore, Merzario\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite Ferrari\u2019s flat 12-powered run to three consecutive constructors\u2019 titles, the DFV was still in its garagiste pomp in the V8\u2019s 12th season as F1\u2019s go-to motor. Standing out from the crowd was only getting tougher.<\/p>\n Gardner\u2019s valiant effort with the P34 had proven a cul-de-sac rather than signalling a new direction. Now it marked the end of his Tyrrell (and F1) tenure. Undermined by the signing of Maurice Phillippe in the summer of 1977, he abruptly quit around the time of the Italian Grand Prix and retreated into industry with automotive parts supplier heavyweight BorgWarner.<\/p>\n \u201cDerek Gardner was still there, and he didn\u2019t allow us into the drawing office! There was a double garage down the bottom of\u00a0Tyrrell\u2019s\u00a0woodyard, and Maurice and I had our drawing boards in there\u201d John Gentry<\/p>\n Draughtsman and engineer John Gentry was another new recruit, by\u00a0Phillippe\u2019s invitation, and witnessed the crossover tension as Gardner\u2019s patience ran out of road. \u201cI got a phone call from Maurice,\u201d says F1 nomad Gentry, who also had spells at March, Shadow and Fittipaldi during the 1970s and had just returned from an enlightening experience running Gilles Villeneuve in Chris Amon\u2019s Can-Am team (now, that\u2019s another story).<\/p>\n \u201cMaurice had moved to\u00a0Tyrrell, was in the throes of designing the 008 and needed help on the detail stuff. Derek Gardner was still there at the very beginning, they were still running the six-wheeled car, and he didn\u2019t allow us into the drawing office! There was a double garage down the bottom of Tyrrell\u2019s famous woodyard, and Maurice and I had our drawing boards in there. Once Derek left we joined the main office \u2013 although there was only one other guy in there.\u201d<\/p>\n The chance to learn from the designer behind Colin Chapman\u2019s era-defining Lotus 49 and 72 was not lost on Gentry, despite Phillippe\u2019s lustre gaining a spot of tarnish by his short-lived stint with Vel\u2019s Parnelli Jones and a false start on a turbo engine project at Renault.<\/p>\n Designer Phillippe, here with Depailler at Long Beach in \u201978, didn\u2019t shy from being hands-on<\/p>\n Photo by: Phipps\/Sutton Images\/Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cI really enjoyed working with Maurice,\u201d says Gentry. \u201cHe didn\u2019t have to, but we\u2019d sit there until 9 or 10pm with him explaining why he did something on a Lotus that he\u2019d designed. He was that kind of guy. He wanted to help you understand.\u201d<\/p>\n Gentry was also witness to Phillippe\u2019s initial plan for the 008 to be much more radical than Tyrrell\u2019s safe return to convention. Lest we forget, the fan car concept wasn\u2019t new. America\u2019s greatest racing pioneer Jim Hall had been way ahead of the game with his Chaparral 2J Can-Am sucker car in 1970.<\/p>\n Now\u00a0Phillippe picked up the idea, albeit with a little more subtlety. Part of the reason why the 008\u2019s fan has received so little attention over the years wasn\u2019t just down to it never racing, it was also because the fan was unseen. Unlike Hall\u2019s 2J and Murray\u2019s celebrated Brabham BT46B, Phillippe hid his fan from view, buried within the chassis behind the fuel cell and in front of the 008\u2019s DFV.<\/p>\n From the outside, a clue that something was a bit different about\u00a0Phillippe\u2019s Tyrrell was its lack of visible radiators. That\u2019s because he\u2019d chosen to house the water radiator and oil coolers horizontally underneath and at the back of the chassis. The fan was then mounted via a Silentbloc bush to the end of the crankshaft.<\/p>\n Air was drawn through the floor-mounted radiators and oil coolers, exhausted through the fan and up and over the\u00a0DFV\u2019s inlet trumpets. A ducted channel at the top of the engine cover was a tell-tale for air exhaustion. Just as Murray would later claim of his Brabham, the fan offered improved cooling \u2013 but happened to offer certain advantages for increased grip too\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cWe went through a lot of designs for the fan and we were restricted for size,\u201d reveals Gentry. \u201cWe had to make the vanes ourselves. The guy in the workshop on a milling machine was incredible.\u201d Some of the designs tried on a test rig were said to give off a sound similar to that of an air-raid siren.<\/p>\n Depailler was the most prolific starter for Ken Tyrrell\u2019s Formula 1 team<\/p>\n Photo by: Phipps\/Sutton Images\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The apparently radiator-less\u00a0Tyrrell was transported to the south of France for tests at Paul Ricard \u2013 for what turned out to be the Tyrrell fan car\u2019s only on-track appearance. Every time the DFV approached 10,500rpm the system gave trouble.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just got too hot,\u201d confirms Gentry of the overheating problems that scuppered the plan. \u201cSo in the end the radiators were\u00a0repositioned, sat on top of the bodywork [just ahead of the rear wheels] as an afterthought. But Maurice was an amazing guy.\u201d<\/p>\n The following summer, when Niki Lauda won all too convincingly on the Brabham fan car\u2019s debut at the Swedish GP, Ken Tyrrell was reduced to one of his famous \u2018froth jobs\u2019, such was his fury at Murray\u2019s apparent coup.<\/p>\n With a twist of a knob, it was said you could tune the car from oversteer to understeer without having to adjust wing settings, anti-roll bars and springs<\/p>\n Perhaps his anger was motivated by more than a niggle that he\u2019d given up on a similar concept. It\u2019s also been claimed that an engineer who visited\u00a0Tyrrell for an interview at the end of 1977 spotted the fan car design on Phillippe\u2019s drawing board, then took a job at Brabham\u2026<\/p>\n No fan car revolution, then, but Phillippe\u2019s 008 still carried other significant innovations. One was active camber control, a system Richard Jenkins describes in his book Tyrrell as effectively F1\u2019s first active suspension system. Phillippe prototyped the concept on his Ford Cortina Mk3 using a pendulum-controlled spool valve.<\/p>\n With a twist of a knob, it was said you could tune the car from\u00a0oversteer to understeer without having to adjust wing settings, anti-roll bars and springs. But in the shadow of Lotus\u2019s game-changing ground-effect Type 78 and then \u2018Black Beauty\u2019 79, it\u2019s another overlooked innovation.<\/p>\n British garagiste Tyrrell ran the all-French line-up of Pironi and Depailler in 1978<\/p>\n Photo by: Schlegelmilch\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Instead, perhaps 008\u2019s most significant contribution was its use of early data logging electronics. Sponsor Data General introduced a system developed by Dr Karl\u00a0Kempf using microprocessors to record suspension behaviour, steering angle, lateral g-force and rotational mobility. Early days for tech that we now take for granted.<\/p>\n In terms of success, 008 is remembered as respectable \u2013 but little more. Look at the results from 1978 and you\u2019ll notice Tyrrell was one of only two teams running DFVs to win across the season. But it did so only once. In contrast, the Lotus ground-effect masterpieces claimed eight of the 16 races that year, with Ferrari and Brabham\u2019s Alfa Romeo power scooping up what was left. In reality, Tyrrell was beginning to fall behind the curve as a frontrunning F1 entity.<\/p>\n As for Depailler, entering his fifth full season with Tyrrell, it was beginning to look as if he was destined never to win a grand prix \u2013 especially after a near-miss in South Africa. Riccardo Patrese\u2019s Arrows had led and retired with engine failure at Kyalami, leaving Depailler ahead of Lotus duo Mario Andretti and Ronnie Peterson.<\/p>\n When Andretti ran out of fuel, Peterson was let off the leash to go after the Tyrrell \u2013 which late in the race spluttered with fuel starvation. When Depailler was held up by Hector Rebaque\u2019s privateer Lotus at Crowthorne Corner on the last lap, Peterson pounced to steal the win. Depailler was said to be distraught in the aftermath.<\/p>\n Still, 1978 turned out to be arguably his most consistently competitive season \u2013 when the Tyrrell didn\u2019t let him down. Depailler scored a fifth in Canada, a fourth in Britain, podium thirds in Argentina and Long Beach, that second place in South Africa and another in Austria. But his day of days arrived in Monaco on 7 May, driving 008\/3 you see here. The never-to-win mantle was thrown off in style at his 69th attempt.<\/p>\n Depailler qualified fifth around the houses, behind Carlos Reutemann\u2019s pole-winning Ferrari, the Brabhams of John Watson and Lauda, and Andretti\u2019s Lotus. In the race, Reutemann made a poor getaway and so Watson took the lead, with fast-starting Depailler hot on his tail. When Wattie went straight on at the chicane with brake trouble on lap 38, the Tyrrell assumed the position.<\/p>\n Depailler\u2019s day of days came in Monaco when he won on his 69th attempt<\/p>\n Photo by: LAT\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Now Lauda exerted pressure, only for a puncture to relieve the tension, and Depailler ran out a delighted winner, 22 seconds ahead of the recovering reigning world champion. He had become Tyrrell\u2019s first Monaco winner in five years and fittingly, it was Jackie Stewart who interviewed him for TV when he stepped out of 008\/3.<\/p>\n According to Jenkins, the race is also an example of how hands-on Phillippe was. In Thursday practice, the long radius rods on the rear suspension were buckling, so the designer flew back to England on the Friday day off, had larger diameter versions made and returned in time to have them fitted for the race. The car ran strongly and like a dream for Depailler\u2019s signature F1 performance.<\/p>\n At this stage, the Frenchman even led the world championship. But a string of retirements in Belgium, Spain, Sweden and France derailed any ambitions of a title bid. Still, the runner-up finish at the Osterreichring was another special day. From 13th on the grid, Depailler shone in a race disrupted by an early stoppage amid chaos when the entire field started on slicks on a damp track, only for rain to return.<\/p>\n From carrying decent support, Tyrrell was left with none. Feast to famine. The team would not win again until the end of 1982<\/p>\n At the restart on full-wet tyres, Depailler led Peterson for what would be an aggregate result \u2013 but the Swede was irrepressible and soon passed to win a race of only nine finishers.<\/p>\n The points haul at least lifted Depailler to third in the championship, but an engine failure at Zandvoort set him back and then at Monza he was among those to be caught up in the first-lap accident that ultimately cost Peterson his life. Following an eighth retirement of the campaign at Watkins Glen, two points in Montreal left Depailler fifth in the final standings, with Tyrrell a creditable fourth in the constructors\u2019 behind dominant Lotus, Ferrari and Brabham.<\/p>\n Strangely, given the heights of his later career, rookie team-mate Didier Pironi played only a bit-part in Tyrrell\u2019s revival season. Signed on a two-year deal through the Elf connection to complete an all-French line-up \u2013 without a flinch from the proudly British team chief \u2013 Pironi started well, scoring points in four of his first six starts.<\/p>\n Eventual runner-up Depailler leads Peterson\u2019s Lotus in a soggy Austrian Grand Prix<\/p>\n Photo by: Phipps\/Sutton Images\/Getty Images<\/p>\n But this cool character found the team a little cold and only scored once more across the rest of the season. That was at Hockenheim, where Pironi should have finished fourth only to confess to being caught napping by Emerson Fittipaldi.<\/p>\n Overall, Tyrrell had gained back vital momentum \u2013 which was then immediately lost in the final year of the decade. Firstly, Depailler quit for a drive with Ligier. He would remain Tyrrell\u2019s most prolific GP starter, 80 of his eventual 95 having been made in Uncle Ken\u2019s blue cars. But the switch to the other blue cars was immediately rewarded as the Cosworth-powered Ligier JS11 set the pace in the early rounds of 1979, Depailler doubling his F1 victory score in round five at Jarama.<\/p>\n He was level on points with Ferrari\u2019s\u00a0Villeneuve at the top of the standings at that stage \u2013 only to break both legs in a hang-gliding accident. Depailler returned in 1980 at Alfa Romeo, only to die in a dreadful testing accident at Hockenheim.<\/p>\n As for\u00a0Tyrrell, losing a driver for 1979 was one thing \u2013 but losing not one, but two sponsors was too much. The withdrawal of Elf, which now focused solely on the French promise of Renault\u2019s increasingly potent turbo campaign, was bad enough. But Tyrrell\u2019s two-year deal with First National City bank also came to a close, and in a time of recession it was not renewed.<\/p>\n From carrying decent support,\u00a0Tyrrell was left with none. Feast to famine.\u00a0The team would not win again until the end of 1982, with its 23rd and final F1 victory landing the following summer in Detroit. Michele\u00a0Alboreto\u2019s Motown success was also the 155th and last for the DFV (in DFY form). It was fitting that it landed with Tyrrell \u2013 the ultimate garagiste.<\/p>\n As for 008\/3, the 1978 Monaco GP winner gained a successful second life. Sold to Melchester Racing, the chassis was campaigned in the 1979 Aurora AFX British F1 Championship by Desire Wilson, the South African doing wonders for the claim that women could compete at this level by scoring three thirds at the start of the campaign.<\/p>\n Foremost of the 008\u2019s innovations was the pioneering use of data-logging technology<\/p>\n Photo by: Phipps\/Sutton Images\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Then in 1981 Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason added the car to his collection. Under Mason and in the hands of John Brindley, 008\/3 resumed active service in the new and quickly burgeoning world of historic motorsport. It\u2019s claimed that the Tyrrell was the first winner of a historic race for 1970s F1 cars, just a few short years after its contemporary grand prix life.<\/p>\n And its story might not yet be over. Two years ago, 008\/3 joined the first Tyrrell, 001, for the reopening of the team\u2019s famous shed following its relocation from the old Ockham HQ to Goodwood, and now it\u2019s for sale as a going concern.<\/p>\n The carrot for potential buyers could be a return to the scene of its greatest moment: Monaco, for the Historic Grand\u00a0Prix. Time, surely, for someone else to channel their inner Patrick Depailler.<\/p>\n Race record<\/p>\n Year 1978 In the wake of the complex P34, the 008 met the criteria of being simple, easy to work on and conventional<\/p>\n Photo by: Jonny Lau\/Machina Studios<\/p>\n SPECIFICATION<\/p>\n Chassis\u00a0aluminium monocoque This article is one of many in the monthly Autosport magazine. For more premium content, take a look at the May 2026 issue and subscribe today<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n It is claimed that 008\/3 was the first winner of a historic race for 1970s Formula 1 cars<\/p>\n Photo by: Jonny Lau\/Machina Studios<\/p>\n We want to hear from you!<\/p>\n Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dsc08755-4.jpg\")
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GPs 16
Wins 1
Other podiums 4
Pole positions 0
Fastest laps 0
Key drivers Patrick Depailler, Didier Pironi, Desire Wilson (in Aurora F1)<\/p>\n![\"In](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dsc08723-3.jpg\")
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Suspension double wishbone front suspension with inboard coil springs and dampers; rear upper links with fabricated steel uprights
Engine\u00a0normally aspirated Cosworth DFV V8
Engine capacity 2993cc
Power 485bhp
Gearbox\u00a0Hewland FGA 400 five-speed
Brakes Ventilated discs front and rear, 4-pot aluminium calipers
Tyres Goodyear
Weight\u00a0585kg<\/p>\n![\"It](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dsc08705-rt-2.jpg\")
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