or a decade and a half the Ford-Cosworth DFV
engine was the common denominator of some
of the most successful grand prix cars, powering
12 world champion drivers from Graham Hill in
1968 to Keke Rosberg in 1982. Tyrrell was oneof
the teams that came toepitomise success in this
era: small, agile and innovative in its own way, it
built solidly engineered cars that handled sweetly
and ran reliably. Given theleve l playingfi eld the Cosworth
engine created, Tyrrell was apace setter in the early 1970s and
generally there or thereabouts for the remainder of the decade.
By the 1980s, though, this approach had hit diminishing
returns as a newgeneration of turbocharged engines
made power a differentiator again, and ‘ground-effect’
aerodynamics demanded additional investment in research
and development. This was all a little too much for the
relatively humble Tyrrell organisation, still based in the former
timber yard that had beenthe home of team boss Ken Tyrrell’s
family business; famously, the team’s early F1 cars had been
drawn by former designer Derek Gardner in his sparebedr oom
and assembled in his garage. Times had changed.
When former Lotus and Parnelli engineer Maurice Phillippe
took over from Gardner in the summer of 1977the revolution
was underway: Lotus had introduced its78, the fi rst of the
ground-effect cars, at the beginning of the season and Renault
had launched its new 1.5-litre turbocharged car at the British
Grand Prix. Like the other Cosworth customers – including
Lotus – Tyrrell had been striving to innovate elsewhere onthe
car to gain an advantage on its competitors but its solution, a
six-wheeled chassis, proved to be a dead end. Whilewe nowview ground-effect aero as a competitive game-changer, in
period it was notwell understood – evenby Lotus. Several
other teams remained convinced that thepace of the Lotus 78
and 79 could be attributed to sometrickery Colin Chapman’s
team was performing with its differential. And when Chapman
demanded his engineers generate even greater levels of peak
downforce loadings in Lotus’s successor cars,the an ticipated
gains didn’t materialise. Phillippewas initially tasked with
re-engineering Tyrrell’s P34 six-wheeler to accommodate the
new Renault powertrain but, when thatengine supply deal
fell through, he set aboutdesigning a new car for 1978 with an
active camber-control system he’d been experimenting with
on his road car, a Ford Cortina.
Active camber theoretically offered a host of benefits
including lower rolling resistance (and potentially greater
speed) in a straight line, and more control over the slip
angle of the tyres for better grip and stability in corners.
But as a mechanical system rather than an electronic one it
was difficult to perfect, and Phillippe was forced to shelve it
in favour of conventional suspension. Meanwhile Tyrrell’sF
NOW
THAT
WAS
A
CAR
No.85“PHILLIPPE TOOK A BELT-AND-
BRACES APPROACH FOR THE 011, SET
AGAINST A BACKGROUND OF ALMOST
CONTINUOUS RULE CHANGES”
THE TYRRELL
011
82 GP RACING APRIL 2020
or a decade and a half the Ford-Cosworth DFV
engine was the common denominator of some
of the most successful grand prix cars, powering
12 world champion drivers from Graham Hill in
1968 to Keke Rosberg in 1982. Tyrrell was oneof
the teams that came toepitomise success in this
era: small, agile and innovative in its own way, it
built solidly engineered cars that handled sweet
and ran reliably. Given theleve l playingfi eld the Cosworth
engine created, Tyrrell was apace setter in the early 1970s a
generally there or thereabouts for the remainder of the deca
By the 1980s, though, this approach had hit diminishing
returns as a newgeneration of turbocharged engines
made power a differentiator again, and ‘ground-effect’
aerodynamics demanded additional investment in research
and development. This was all a little too much for the
relatively humble Tyrrell organisation, still based in the for
timber yard that had beenthe home of team boss Ken Tyrre
family business; famously, the team’s early F1 cars had been
drawn by former designer Derek Gardner in his sparebedr
and assembled in his garage. Times had changed.
When former Lotus and Parnelli engineer Maurice Phill
took over from Gardner in the summer of 1977the revoluti
was underway: Lotus had introduced its78, the fi rst of the
ground-effect cars, at the beginning of the season and Ren
had launched its new 1.5-litre turbocharged car at the Briti
Grand Prix. Like the other Cosworth customers – includin
Lotus – Tyrrell had been striving to innovate elsewhere on
car to gain an advantage on its competitors but its solution
six-wheeled chassis, proved to be a dead end. Whilewe noview ground-effect aero as a competitive game-changer, in
period it was notwell understood – evenby Lotus. Several
other teams remained convinced that thepace of the Lotus 78
and 79 could be attributed to sometrickery Colin Chapman’s
team was performing with its differential. And when Chapman
demanded his engineers generate even greater levels of peak
d f l di i L t ’ th ti i t d
F
NOW
THAT
WAS