Making an F1 car can be easier than buying it

[@iancarr8682]

My recollection is that drawings of the P34 were provided to Tamiya when the kit was first produced, Tamiya provided sponsorship to Tyrrell and now the kit has helped to create a new car. Full circle.

[@michaelandrew4488]

I believe Tamiya has/had a Tyrrell in their museum/collection.

[@ventisette.]

@@michaelandrew4488 they have it at the entrance of their headquarters in Japan

[@astronomenov99]

I built the 1:24 model when I was about 13. I got into trouble from my parents for 'wasting my pocket money' on what was a very expensive kit in about 1978.

[@JAMPROSOUND]

One of those original cars from Tamiya is in my family. It was built, test driven once and placed back on the shelf in the box. The decals were never applied. The car is mint. The tires and everything are in pristine shape even today. The car has lived in total darkness at about 60 degrees forever. I carefully took the car to a local RC track one night to share with the club. There were multiple offers to trade me entire RC collections plus a mountain of cash. The car was not and is not for sale. A piece of RC history for sure.

[@ventisette.]

@@JAMPROSOUND they are actually not even worth that much surprisingly, the 1977 originals can be found for 350/400$ on Ebay. She’s a keeper for sure.

[@SmallBlogV8]

Apart from anything else, it's amazing that a hand drawing of the air duct translated into a CAD shape that fit perfectly into a scaled-up scan of a diecast model. Such disparate sets of measurements and they worked that well! There's no way it's always like that. Hats off to Tamiya for their accuracy, though.

[@agbennett11]

They have one of the original cars at Tamiya, but none the less, their models are extremely accurate!

[@teamlaguna]

Museum quality Plastic model , like all Tamiya kits !

[@ekspatriat]

Tamiya don't do die-cast. Polystyrene is their medium. 1/12 400 pieces and rare. I could have bought 1 in the 80's for 30 quid. BUT it is being re-released by Tamiya so I'm getting 1.

[@vwstormchaser7985]

I used to love the Tamiya F1 kits, especially the 1:12 big scale. The accuracy was amazing. Even the instructions were filled with close up photos of the chassis and engine details. I made the P34 along with the Wolf WR1, Ferraris 312T and T4, Renault RS3 and the Lotus 78. The kits were £30 a pop back in 1986. Money well spent

[@donreid6399]

I remember as a teen building the Tamiya version of this car. I had no idea at the time how precise my model actually was at the time! 🙂

[@colintamiya]

Using the Tamiya kit is not a bad idea. Tamiya bought a Tyrrell P34 straight after the Japan GP in 1976 to make their 1:20th and 1:12th scale model kits. That car, which is one of the 5 surviving chassis, is actually at display in the Tamiya Reception Hall in their headquarter in Shizuoka. So to re-engineer body parts from the 1:12th scale model kit is the next closest thing to the real thing beside straight copying an existing nosecone from another surviving car.

[@carloko08]

great idea, dude :D

[@euandykes]

If you're an engineer and an F1 history buff. This must have been a dream project. Great to see there's people out there to preserve the living history of race engineering. The mix of modern CAD and older fabrication methods would have been so interesting to me.

[@dennisbrannvalls1fan964]

I watched Rush for the first time the other day and was amazed by how unique this car is. Thanks for the fantastic insight on the car’s production, Matt!

[@mattamys]

No problem!

[@morenoverhoevenphoto]

I photographed this car during the Historic Grand Prix at Zandvoort in 2022. I didn't even know it was a replica, very cool that there are people who keep these amazing and pure cars alive.

[@ventisette.]

I’m even luckier, I know someone who has two originals!

[@MrLaughinggrass]

​@@ventisette. Two! Hogging them a bit!😂

[@philiptitley5528]

If my uncle (Derek Gardner) was still with us he would have been amazed that you were able to build this car. In fact as the designer of all Tyrrell cars from 69 to 76 he probably would have been keen to give you as much guidance as he could given his glaucoma.

[@stevesgaming7475]

Your uncle was a legend and a true Tyrrell hero! also he worked with my first F1 Hero, Francois Cevert! Hope you're proud of him and what he achieved :)

[@eduardhenny5725]

Bless your Uncle and yourself for this comment!!

[@blueapo]

Beautiful work....I'm lucky enough to say I got to see both of the actual 1977 versions of Ken Tyrrell's P-34 as a 15 yr old boy at the Long Beach Grand Prix that April..Driven by Ronnie Peterson and Patrick Depailler. 3 years later, both drivers would be gone due to respective racing accidents.. Colin Chapman's JPS Lotus 78.. James Hunt, Nicki Lauda... Memories of a lifetime... Thanks for taking me back to a day I'll never forget, 46 yrs ago.

[@davvaz62]

I just turned 16 but i went to my first GP last year at 15 here in Austin. Watching those cars is definitely an impactful moment and I'm incredibly jealous of the memories you have of those amazing drivers and cars.

[@Phantom096]

Great drivers both of them. Legends and with the right car both would have been championship material.

[@PescaraProductions]

The good thing about privateer teams back in the 70's where F1 was accessible as building a car and just showing up with the thing, is that the vast majority of the drawings used to build them aren't sealed away in a massive facility and have likely been sold along with the cars when they became obsolete and worthless. And as they weren't insanely high tech you can just build another one out of any old spare metal lying about. The greatness of F1 in the 1970's was that anyone could have a go really, and it's still a positive felt today on the historic racing scene. I was told a story a few years ago about a historic F1 racer who had a fire at his shop and lost his F1 car in that fire, but because he had the drawings, he just built another one and hardly told anyone about it!

[@guillemlluciagris5072]

I've just realised that I have actually seen this car race in Barcelona. Spoke to the owner and the team for a bit, nice people who love to race what others would keep in the garage :)

[@MarvinNeumannOfficial]

Again and again your videos are of such high quality. I really enjoy to watch them. I truly believe that there is no like private KZbin who is doing as elevate formula 1 content as you do. Thank you 😊

[@mattamys]

Thank you very much!

[@andrewharris3380]

Tyrell used to go to Horsley cycles to get secondhand inner tubes. They would cut them up and use them on the F1 cars.

[@LGAustralia]

Unreal bit of kit, and job by Alistair's team!

[@JarcodeRover]

The fact that a Tamiya model helped design the front is just awesome, such a great compliment to them! The P34 is a legendary car, mega cool that this company is able to make such a beautiful replica!

[@greyone40]

Thanks for making this. I built the Tamiya model way back when. It was a strange yet brilliant car, and I just loved the way they designed to solve a problem (winning). Now I have no idea when or where that model disappeared, or maybe it is still in a box that I don't know about. Might just have to get another one and build it again some day, if it's even still available.

[@rcmaniac6743]

It’s crazy seeing you feature the P34, back in the early 2000’s my father worked at a vintage race shop and they completely restored and raced one of those cars at vintage race events, I was young but I still remember the car just because of how strange it was, super awsome!

[@brentritchie6199]

Wow imagine what that project cost along with all the travel equipment and personnel for a years racing! But that is an amazing engineering achievement by the team hats off.

[@fxx-evo7414]

This is a Piece of art and engineering !! Great Job from FR Racing !!

[@BOABModels]

My favourite F1 car! I've built the 1/20 Tamiya kit twice ('76 is on my channel) and would really like the 1/12 now. For anyone who wants to know more about how these cars went together, I can totally recommend scale models like Tamiya.

[@trappenweisseguy27]

Yup, building the big Tamiya kits was crucial in my development on how the real cars actually worked.

[@BOABModels]

@@trappenweisseguy27 oh definitely. I wish there were more kits for modern F1 cars really as it's great to see how technology has moved on.

[@fepatton]

The 1/20 Tyrell was my first Tamiya F1 kit!

[@BOABModels]

@@fepatton same here!

[@zentrolm]

impressive build,im not suprised you can still buy crate dfvs,iwant one too lol

[@speedfinder1]

This is one of the most worthy endeavours I've seen in a long time. Thank you so much for taking the trouble to post this video. Simply excellent.

[@lindebr]

What a great project. Wonderful Tyrrell allowed it.

[@michaelgautreaux3168]

@ 6:01; 😳 unbelievable! Using a model to finish out the original...lol, too perfect. A fabulous piece, both the car & the vid. Geeze...a second batch P34! Many thanx 👍👍

[@MarioVitiello43]

Your videos are always awesome

[@eduardhenny5725]

Building the P34 Tamiya kit sparked my F1 interest, ever since 1983. Tamiya is so good. Tyrrell as well

[@eduardhenny5725]

Same for me it started with the P34 1/20 Tamiya Kit when i was 11, never lost interest and got my way into enginering. Still in it!

[@drubradley8821]

At the time stamp, @2:17, the drawing, shows the tie-rod's / links, the welded on threaded bungs, are each cut at an angle before welded on. Can I just assume that was one extra step that allowed for aerodynamics, as in the perfect alignment world, all those being "IN-LINE" with air flow, is a small amount but collectively, all adds up. But, what about, if they need adjusted, as a turn buckle process, where each tie-rod has on one end, right-hand thread and the other end has a left-hand thread, so, for ease of adjustment, a compounded linear length of movement happens, pending the thread pitch, all in all, a quarter turn, now has those angle cut threaded bungs not in the air stream efficiency? Or is this a welding technique, for balancing the contraction from where the weld started and ended, and just adds more control over how the tube warps? I have seen this method of tie-rods on other drawings, but nobody ever has an answer as to why the drawing has them drawn this was.

[@CONCORDE444]

Have to admit, this is really cool but my eyes kept wondering over to that Jaguar 😍😍

[@stephenbartley8133]

Mine keeps checking out that equally stunning JPS LOtus back there.

[@DatBoiOrly]

pretty awesome engineering it's always tough to work with someone elses drawings especially when stuff is done to it that is just undocumented, if you didn't know all the folks you did this wouldn't have been possible major props to the team behind this

[@oppenz3723]

The real money sinker is the developing the car / adding improvement over time and maintenance from the fact that F1 basically run so the engine to shatters itself in a timely manner because performance. I remember watching some docs of people who race older generation F1 basically said they only need to dial down the engine to 90% power output and it'll last forever (with proper maintenance of course)

[@ventisette.]

Can confirm. A friend of mine has two early 2000s Jaguars (2000 and 2002) and he can manage roughly 1500KM between engine rebuilds. He keeps the rev limiter at 1K below what they used in period, when they rebuilt the engines after only about 400KM. He also runs no ballast so about 50KG underweight, so there is no real performance loss all things considered.

[@JOKBO1]

It's crazy how you manage to get these videos done. Always an interesting topic about F1 that few people get to see. Keep it up Matt. I can't wait to see what comes next.

[@lucasRem-ku6eb]

Crazy plan, Netflix ? Tor ads needed ?

[@selder_7]

The people you get on always present these videos so well

[@retrobiker4166]

Awesome job! Takes me back to when I was 12 year old boy and first started watching racing on TV. Fell in love with car design back then and still looks amazing today!!!

[@EngineMode11]

Matt, it is still criminal that you are under 90k subscribers when you are putting out content as good as this

[@nicolafalciani6299]

Fantastic video. I've seen this racing at Silverstone Classics a couple years back and it was truly an experience.

[@herbertwilliams1608]

Can't wait to start studying this wonderful race car.

[@nsx_montana]

One of the most iconic cars of all time! still a beauty😍

[@narancs5]

There are no words that can describe how amazing this is. Terrific place.

[@JorgeRzezak]

Amazing video that reminds me how I enjoyed watching F1 races at this time and reminds me Jody Schechter and also Ronnie Peterson driving this beautiful P34 vs James Hunt McLaren and Nikki Lauda's Ferrari. Bravo for doing a perfect replica with all the charm of this old times where the drivers and cars were all legends.

[@richardhume2811]

was lucky enough to see the Elf Tyrell and JPS Lotus as well as Marlboro McLaren having a spin around Goodwood a few years back at a historic racing weekend. As a lad in the 70's I loved my Scalextric lotus and 6 wheel Tyrell.😃

[@VRDriving]

This is our favourite vintage F1! Love to see a brand new one like this some day!

[@JK-mo2ov]

That’s insane. It looks incredible.

[@carldewet6428]

Super Cool Bringing these Cars Back. Looks Epic.

[@iainkemp197]

I was one of the two people who made the chassis, lots of head scratching! As a fabricator, I realised making those things back in the day must have been incredibly hard, time consuming work, we had it easy in the grand scheme of things.

[@mattamys]

You and the team did an incredible job!

[@lt_spirit5759]

If you guys want to see this car in action, theres a wonderful onboard in the Robbert Alblas channel of this exact car (The few exterior clips in this video are from that onboard)

[@RJD2809]

Great to see Alistair in a video!

[@L3GHO5T]

One of the coolest looking most unique race car ever. I seen one in person in the 80’s and it was unforgettable!

[@oranda15]

That was an excellent video of one of my favourite F1 cars. Brilliant engineering explained very well.

[@nicholasmarshall3191]

Incredible! That was one of my favorite cars when I was a child. Still is.

[@Gracievision]

The ingenuity and engineering skills across the generations is breathtaking.

[@Nico_LaBras]

This is SO INTERESTING! Dude, I love your videos! I've been a subscriber for a short while now and imo your videos are THE most interesting and the quality is also insane. Literally every video

[@mattamys]

Glad you like them!

[@grantspinks5159]

My dream car is to do the same sort of build for a Mclaren MP4/4. I’ve always wanted to build that since I was 14.

[@kevinpatriquin822]

You could be the best engineer's and copy but you have gone above and beyond and to have the appoval is icing on the cake .

[@josec.278]

Tamiya bought a real P34 and its at one of the factory basements. They also bought a Porsche 934 that raced in Lemans. There is a photo of the cars in a Tamiya book I have.

[@bobbygermano9926]

I have many models of the TE. From slotcars to diecast & RC. This would be a crown jewel.

[@harrykeel8557]

I always had a fascination about this particular F-1 car. When I first saw a picture of one back in the 70's, it was like something out of a Sifi novel or someone's vision of race cars in the future. It was wild. But pushing the envelope doesn't come without its problems. But it's a really cool car now. And yes I have my model sitting on the shelf.

[@pumelo1]

There is also a six-wheeler prototype F1 car from Williams 1981, which on the other hand has 4 rear wheels

[@tadroid3858]

This is the most fascinating "behind the scenes" videos I've seen. I remember Jaguar completed a similar project building an E-type to original specs. So freaking cool. Thanks!!

[@lucasRem-ku6eb]

reengineering it, why, just a stupid dream this is, why go full blown fake ?

[@chilledburrito]

ah man, I remember, first time ever seeing this car was on the G1 transformers show, one of the decepticon stunticons(named Dragstrip) was this car, and I remember thinking it was the coolest thing I had ever seen, It's still so cool to me.

[@kylehansen3333]

This is truly a remarkable project!

[@rEdf196]

I watched a F1 race at age 12 in 1976 and saw a 6 wheel racer for the first time doing a bunch of laps before crashing. never saw another 6 wheeler on TV after that.

[@jimmcculloch3786]

WOW - Thank you! have always been a big fan of Williams and Tyrell, and with Williams, even since the Walter Wolf days !!

[@OverTheFence555]

I've only ever seen the P34 on a TV screen...but it's my all-time favourite Formula 1 car. I first noticed it watching a highlights reel of the '76 Monaco F1 - back in the day - and remember being mesmerised these two radically different looking racing cars. For me F1 had become bland for quite a while leading up to that moment - and so the sight of these almost alien looking cars rekindled my interest - not to mention how well they were performing. It's only through unfavourable circumstances that they weren't more successful. Because they had huge potential. And sadly...when they disappeared...so again did my interest in F1. It's obvious how proud Alistair is of the result he and his team have achieved - and deservedly so. They have recreated an iconic piece of automotive history. Congrats to all concerned.

[@TheDrAkira]

Mind Blowing that they were able tu put togheter from scracth a Tyrrel P34!!! Wow, just amazing! That's one hell of a Team they have O_O

[@scottl.1568]

YES! THE TYRRELL-FORD P34 IS MY MOST FAVORITE CAR EVER!!

[@GRAHAMAUS]

Always been fascinated by this car. I have a long-held plan to build a small-scale electric go-kart based on the P34 concept, with dual front steering. I never considered the IP aspect of it, that's got me worrying now.... but then again, the pace of my projects (and lack of funding!), it's probably not likely to happen.

[@WiseGuy02]

Was hoping to hear the car start up

[@valentinafuffa535]

it's crazy to think how much freedom f1 teams had back in the day, even the number of wheels wasn't restricted that's madness

[@valentinafuffa535]

on the one hand i'm glad today's cars are more similar to each other in comparison because it leads to closer racing, and of course strictier rules improve safety which is a big issue, but on the other hand the lack of big innovations could get boring and I wonder how creative engineers could get with today's technology if given more freedom

[@sethguest781]

A real Ford Cosworth engine in it and it RUNS??? Now that is a wicked build for sure especially since it's based on an F1 legend that was knocked off its pedestal undeservingly.

[@formulablox2655]

matt,what editor you use to make graphics?

[@seanberry1]

If you were to say to me that I could have any F1 car from history, this would be the one I'd pick. It's a left-field, outside-the-box design that has inspired me since childhood.

[@paullambert4445]

I love the oddity of the car. I’m an F1 fan and have that Tamiya model you used for the nose design. F1 allowed more innovation back then. Nice project and video. Thanks

[@42DBH]

Incredible!!! many thanks for this video. Love the era, these cars, and I'm very interested how they're built. And I just love looking at cars like this. So beautiful, even if not one single hour was invested to make it look pretty. It's only made to be fast, but in the end it's beautiful.

[@NormanStansfield1]

Amazing job. In the USA, we had a hard time back then seeing any F1 races on TV before cable. They would show most of the GP of Monaco and I remember the P34. It was something else and great looking. Any idea what a Ford DFV V-8 runs today? How many bhp? About 550 bhp? I remember Eddie Jordan in 1994 paid Brian Hart about $13 million (?) to build him a Hart V-10 which was a great engine. I think Brian Hart said an engine cost about $400,000 to build around 1994 which did not include the development costs.

[@ventisette.]

A short-stroke DFY (early 1980s spec) makes around 520. Older ones like the one in the Tyrrell around 480-490

[@PrezziePrez]

You can always trust a bloke who works on cars who has a bashed up black finger nail. It means he is hands on

[@GasketManzrevenge]

Now there's a blast from the past! When this thing came out I just started Jr. High.. My Grandma and I watched Indy, F1, and Top Fuel Drags regularly and I remember talking about this 'thing'.. I thought it was a unique concept where Grandma said it'd never make it as a 'standard' entry. She was right... again. It's a cool idea even if it didn't gain any momentum as anything other than a conceptual, evolutional oddity.. it's still cool though and in the back of my head, my teen aged brain still thinks further development is needed.

[@commodoresixfour7478]

Thanks for the explanation on the tires. Is air pressure still a problem?

[@Seantubes]

I so wish someone like Factory 5 would take up the mantle and offer these. It would be too cool to see a p34 nostalgia-spec group!

[@mccanlessdesign]

This is my retirement dream - but with a '69 McLaren M8-B. Shop's nearly complete; couple years to go! Thanks for the inspiration.

[@CHRIS_HITCHCOCK]

Superb work Matt.

[@f.kieranfinney457]

So one can just buy a new Cosworth engine from the ‘70s? That blows my mind. Why would they keep all the tooling and castings? Amazing.

[@DanielPizarro184]

amazing stuff that these guys are doing. they are mega talented

[@alexandrecorelli7179]

Just amazing ! I'm just speechless !

[@Dave-gf3kd]

That is incredibly cool!

[@MW3RToledo]

I would love to see anything about that beautiful Jaguar F1 ❤️

[@matthewmontgomery8337]

Awesome project. What a car . They should have been allowed to race more

[@tonywright8294]

Excellent film. Must make a 1/8 ic version to go with my lotus 49 .watch this space !

[@sethguest781]

It would be awesome if they made model kits in this size, I'd certainly love to have one of this car sitting in my house!

[@kristianbates8305]

Please put that car in the silverstone classic event 🙏

[@johnstrac]

Really enjoyed this.

[@markjefferson7492]

Will the car be out at the Masters Historic at Brands Hatch in May?

[@mokeimusic]

There is also one hand built in Japan, basically built in a shed.

[@attilaosztopanyi9468]

What catched my attention is the Jaguar in the background

[@ceedoubleyou]

so interesting, thanks for that.

[@paulgraham4567]

Megatron phoned, he wants his Stunticon back.

[@FlyBoyGrounded]

I love it; can I put an order in for a fully skirted Lotus 79? Interesting that the wheel nuts on both the left and right sides were red. I've always pictured blue on one side and red on the other to indicate right or left hand threads.

[@vildaion1]

Hi excellent video. Always wanted to own one. Where can it be purchased and what is cost?

[@outfield1988]

Awesome but the gauge panel is heart breaking

[@derekmccord3798]

Now go to the Avon historic factory next Matt.

[@TheColinChapman]

great great work, but it sends me shivers down my spine thinking that they really fiercely raced in these aluminum coffins.

[@thomasciul8932]

I'm making 2 copies of a 1970s Bug stinger racing kart. Lots of work but nothing like that!