Derek Gardner, the racing car designer best known for creating the six-wheeled Tyrrell P34, has died aged 79. The gifted engineer was catapulted into Formula 1 while working on advanced transmissions for Harry Ferguson Research, where he helped to develop four-wheel-drive systems for Matra in 1969.

It was here that Gardner first met F1 team boss Ken Tyrrell the following year. Tyrrell invited Gardner to work on the Matra V12-powered Tyrrell 001 F1 car, which he developed very quickly. The car made its racing debut at the 1970 Canadian Grand Prix.

Jackie Stewart took 001 to pole position but failed to finish when a stub axle broke. It was for the 1971 season that Gardner created his most successful car. The Tyrrell 003 took Stewart to his second Drivers’ Championship and Tyrrell to its first Constructors’ title. A third Drivers’ victory followed for Stewart in 1973.
The six-wheeled Tyrrell P34 arrived in 1976 – with four small front wheels to decrease frontal area without compromising grip – and is certainly Gardner’s best-known legacy. It wasn’t beautiful, and nor was it a championship-winner, yet the P34 remains iconic.

It debuted at the Spanish GP in 1976, and was quick from the word go. But that was a brief flash of pace. Jody Scheckter and Patrick Depailler (above) took the P34 to a memorable one-two in that year’s Swedish Grand Prix, even though the South African described the car as a ‘piece of junk’. But Gardner was becoming disillusioned with F1, and left the sport during 1976.

Even so, he remained a keen engineer and designer until retirement, producing vehicles as diverse as boats and microlights.