Now With 50% More Wheels: 1976 March Formula 1 2-4-0 For Sale

Tyrrell caused a bit of a tizz in 1976, when it unveiled Derek Gardner’s P34 – the six-wheeled Formula 1 car. Formula 1 being ever the technology and development race, several other marques followed suit and produced six wheeled cars of their own. Examples were seen from March, Williams and Ferrari, but none of them were ever raced in Formula 1, with rule changes eventually insisting that four was the most wheels you would be allowed to run.

This 1976 March Formula 1 2-4-0 is one of an extremely rare breed of race car, from a magic era of Formula 1. It never made it to a Formula 1 Grand Prix, but it’s now up for sale over at Speedmaster Cars and ready for you to pick it up, and go racing yourself.

Although inspired by the success of Tyrrell’s P34, the 2-4-0 is a very different beast. For starters – it places its extra wheels at the rear of the car instead of the front.

Robin Herd’s design put four 16″ driven wheels at the rear of the car, which he felt would improve traction to the driven wheels and allow cleaner air to pass through to the rear wing. Using the same diameter wheel as a standard Formula 1 car’s front wheel would also solve the tyre development issues which plagued Tyrrell and their 10″ wheel.

Unfortunately the car only made appearances in testing, and never made it to a full-blown F1 Grand Prix, although it did see some success in hill climbing at the hands of Roy Lane. It was, however, a great boon for March, who was able to generate significant interest and income from the buzz that surrounded it.

The example up for sale today is one of just two prototypes built, and is the only one in race-ready condition. To get it there it was recently fully rebuilt, and it now features a low-mileage LPE Cosworth DFV, fully-equipped spares package and FIA papers ready for racing.

Via Speedmaster

Images via Speedmaster