Tyrrell 006
The Tyrrell 006 was a Formula One car designed and built by the Tyrrell Racing Organisation. It was introduced towards the end of 1972. In the hands of Jackie Stewart it won the Drivers' Championship for the 1973 Formula One season, Stewart's third and final title. The car was first raced at the 1972 Canadian Grand Prix with Stewart's team-mate and protégé François Cevert at the wheel. The 006 was a very slightly reworked version of the preceding Tyrrell 005 car, but in contrast it was the first Tyrrell-built chassis to be replicated, the number 006 becoming a model- rather than chassis-number; previous Tyrrells were one-off constructions. In total there were three Tyrrell 006 models built: 006; 006/2; and 006/3. The 006 model was gradually phased out in the early part of the 1974 Formula One season as Tyrrell constructed the succeeding Tyrrell 007.
A Tyrrell 006, driven by John Delane, at the 2007
Silverstone Classic meeting, July 2007.
006 was built for Cevert to replace damaged chassis, while the existing 005 was retained by Stewart for the final races of 1972. Stewart continued to use 005 for the first two races of 1973 while 006/2 was in construction and took 006 to the model's first win, at the 1973 South African Grand Prix. On the completion of 006/2, 005 was reduced to testing duties and was often seen in practice sessions adorned with experimental and copy-cat parts. The drivers retained their respective chassis for the majority of the remaining 1973 races, Stewart scoring five victories on his way to the Drivers' Championship title. Cevert also took several podium finishes, but the season was closely fought and Tyrrell (82 points) were beaten to the Constructors' title by Lotus (92pts). Cevert damaged 006 in a collision during the Canadian Grand Prix, and a new chassis, 006/3 was built up for his use in the following race. It was in 006/3's only ever appearance that Cevert was fatally injured, when he crashed during practice for the final race of the season: the 1973 United States Grand Prix. After Cevert's accident a devastated Stewart drove 006/2 around the Watkins Glen circuit once more, in an attempt to understand what had happened to Cevert,[1] parked the car and then walked away from Formula One. Stewart personally owns 006/2, he has driven it in on a number of occasions, particularly at the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend and Goodwood Festival of Speed, both times in 2010.
The surviving 006/2 was used for the early races of the 1974 Formula One season. Jody Scheckter drove it in Argentina, Brazil and South Africa and Patrick Depailler used 006/2 as a fall-back after qualifying breakdowns in Spain, Monaco and France. After France, Tyrrell retired the 006 model in favour of the newer 007.
Complete Formula One World Championship results
(key)(results in bold indicate pole position, results in italics indicate fastest lap)
References
- ↑ Stewart, Jackie (2007). Winning Is Not Enough: The Autobiography. Headline. p. 495. ISBN 978-0-7553-1537-6.
Jackie Stewart
François Cevert.svg.png){kind=small}
Jody Scheckter
