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71-582: The P34 was introduced in September 1975 and began racing in the 1976 season . It proved successful and led other teams to begin design of six-wheeled platforms of their own. Changes to the design made for the 1977 season made it uncompetitive and the concept was abandoned for Tyrrell's 1978 season. The other six-wheeled designs ended development and F1 rules later stipulated that cars must have four wheels in total. The cars later had some success in various "classics" race events, but today are museum pieces. For

142-436: A dominant Ferrari 1–2, with Laffite taking his first podium. Lauda took pole with Regazzoni alongside on the front row again. Lauda led into the first corner, and was never headed again. Ronnie Peterson 's March got up to second, and allowed Lauda to pull away by holding up Regazzoni and the two Tyrrells. At one-third distance, Regazzoni went down an escape road because of oil on the track, and Peterson spun off and crashed on

213-450: A puncture but soon Hunt himself also had the same fate and had to pit. Andretti now led, with Alan Jones 's Surtees second, Regazzoni third, Depailler fourth and Hunt fifth. On old, worn-out tyres, Jones and Regazzoni were fighting just to save their tyres, and first Depailler, and then Hunt with just two laps left passed both of them. Andretti won, getting his first win in five years, with Depailler second, and Hunt's third place meant that he

284-456: A reported $ 130   million. The company changed its name from Avon Rubber to Avon Protection in July 2021. In December 2021, the company announced it would be closing its body armour business after its bullet-proof vests failed US regulatory tests. In April 2022 the company warned that the year's profits would miss City forecasts, leading to a share price drop of nearly 20 per cent over

355-587: A sixteen race series which commenced on 25 January and ended on 24 October. Two non-championship races were also held during the 1976 season. In an extraordinarily political and dramatic season, the Drivers' Championship went to McLaren driver James Hunt by one point from Ferrari 's defending champion Niki Lauda , although Ferrari took the Manufacturers' trophy. The controversy began in Spain where Hunt

426-570: A spin which dropped him well down the order, but he charged back up to fifth, and was back in third after Pryce's Shadow, and Jody Scheckter in the second Tyrrell retired after driveshaft and suspension failures respectively. Regazzoni went on to take a dominant victory, with Lauda completing the Ferrari 1–2, and Depailler third. As the European season began at the Jarama circuit near Madrid, there

497-485: A suspension failure. As a result, third place went to the consistent Lauda. With Hunt finishing fifth Scheckter was now second in the points for the world championship. The French round took place at the Paul Ricard circuit in the south of France, and 'normal service' was resumed, with Hunt on pole and Lauda second, with Depailler third, continuing Tyrrell's strong form. Lauda beat Hunt off the line as usual, and led

568-602: A time when such footwear was manufactured by calendering or dipping processes. Production started on a range of inflatable boats in 1959. In 1994 the Llanelli -based marine business Avon Inflatables was split-off and sold; it subsequently became a division of Zodiac Marine , France. In 1997 the Avon Tyres business was sold to Cooper Tire & Rubber Company of Findlay , Ohio in the United States, leaving

639-696: Is now owned by Pierluigi Martini alongside chassis number 2. Stretton also achieved numerous pole positions and class wins at the Grand Prix Historique de Monaco. The P34 has also been seen a number of times at the Goodwood Festival of Speed . While the Tyrrell P34 is the most widely known six-wheeled F1 car, it was not the only one. The March Engineering , Williams and Scuderia Ferrari teams also built experimental six-wheeled F1 chassis; however, all of these had four wheels at

710-484: Is so gentle and absolutely free of reaction that you might have thought it was power-assisted!" The new design was unveiled at the Heathrow Hotel in late September 1975. The car was initially kept under a tarpaulin with hoops over the wheels to make it look conventional, leading to astonishment when the tarp was pulled off. Some in the audience were convinced the design was a publicity stunt. The car first took to

781-657: The Avon tyre company agreed to manufacture bespoke 10-inch tyres for Simon Bull, the owner of chassis No. 6. In 1999 and 2000, the resurrected P34 competed at a number of British and European circuits as an entrant in the FIA Thoroughbred Grand Prix series. Driven by Martin Stretton, the car won the TGP series outright in 2000, Chassis No.5 repeating that success in 2008 in the hands of Mauro Pane ; this example

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852-491: The British Grand Prix , for being the only championship race ever in which more than one female driver were entered (although both failed to qualify). The following teams and drivers contested the 1976 World Championship of Drivers and the 1976 International Cup for Formula 1 Manufacturers. The Drivers and Manufacturers titles were contested over sixteen races. There had been no impactful regulation changes over

923-683: The Netherlands , but with only one car for Regazzoni. It was Peterson who took pole at Zandvoort, beating pole king Hunt and Tom Pryce 's Shadow . Peterson led the early stages ahead of Watson, until Watson made a mistake which let Hunt through. Peterson then struggled and dropped behind Hunt, Watson and Regazzoni. Watson retired with a gearbox failure, promoting Regazzoni and Peterson, but the latter also retired when he lost oil pressure. Regazzoni now closed up on Hunt, bringing Mario Andretti with him, but Hunt held them off, with Regazzoni and Andretti within two seconds of him in second and third. After

994-585: The 1976 German Grand Prix was the last Grand Prix at the old Nürburgring- one of the most iconic, historic and legendary circuits in motorsport. The German Grand Prix moved further south to the Hockenheimring and Grand Prix racing did not return to the Nürburgring until 1984 on the newly constructed 2.8 mile (4.5 km) Grand Prix circuit. The news before the Austrian GP at the Österreichring

1065-454: The 1978 season, and it had a conventional layout. He commented, "In the meantime, we have closed the book on our six-wheeled project, and I am sure the cars will become something of a collector's piece". Tyrrell kept the frame that Scheckter won on and sold the rest. More recently, the P34 has been a popular sight at historic racing events, proving competitive once more. This was made possible when

1136-784: The 2013 film Rush . Lupin is seen racing a version of the car in season 1 episode 11 of Lupin the Third Part II - "Bet on the Monaco Grand Prix (Who's Vroomin Who?)". In season 4 of Phineas and Ferb , a car inspired by the Tyrell P34 is used in the episode "Live and Let Drive" by Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz . Several die-cast and model kit manufacturers were made a replica of the P34: • 1/64 scale die-cast models were made by Mini GT and Hot Wheels . • A 1/43 scale model

1207-542: The Avon Automotive division was sold to a US-based management team and became a separate entity called Avon Automotive Holdings Inc.; this was the largest buy-out in the company's history. The aerosol division was sold for £1.75 million in March 2008 to Avon Group (an unrelated Bristol-based company), enabling Avon Rubber to concentrate on its core protective equipment, dairy and extrusions markets. In November 2008,

1278-543: The Ceradyne brand from 3M . In September 2020, the company divested its milking equipment business, milkrite | InterPuls, to DeLaval for net proceeds of around £160   million. This enabled the company to concentrate on personal protection, both respiratory and ballistic, under the Avon Protection brand. Shortly after, they acquired Team Wendy, a maker of helmets for military and first responder use, for

1349-465: The Dutch GP, with Hunt only two points behind Lauda, the championship seemed to be a cakewalk for him. But then came the news that Lauda was going to make an astonishing return for the last four races of the season (it was so unexpected that Ferrari had to run three cars for Lauda, Regazzoni, and Lauda's supposed replacement Carlos Reutemann ), just six weeks after his accident. As the event went on at

1420-760: The Hampton Park West development. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange . The business was established when a former cloth mill, known as Avon Mill, on the banks of the River Avon at Limpley Stoke in Wiltshire, was acquired by Messrs E G Browne and J C Margetson in 1885. The previous owners of the site had been timber merchants but had diversified into rubber goods. By 1890, the business had transferred to premises in Melksham and

1491-560: The March, Williams, nor the Ferrari, were ever raced. In 1983, the FIA prohibited cars with four driven wheels from competing. Later, the Formula 1 regulations required four as the maximum number of wheels allowed. ( key ) (Results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap.) * 13 points in 1976 scored using the Tyrrell 007 The Tyrrell P34 was featured in

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1562-400: The Nürburgring, where the grip was actually variable, because, depending upon the contours or bumps on the track, one of the front small tires would touch the road, but the one in front or behind it on the same side would not. Scheckter left the team at the end of the season, insisting that the six-wheeler was "a piece of junk". For 1977, Scheckter was replaced by Ronnie Peterson , and the P34

1633-564: The South African race, the drivers assembled at Long Beach in the US for the third round. Regazzoni took pole position with Depailler second, forcing Hunt and Lauda onto the second row. The top four maintained their positions at the start, and almost immediately Regazzoni began to pull away. Hunt now tried to pass Depailler for second; they collided; Hunt was out, Depailler went wide, and Lauda sailed through to second. Depailler kept third until

1704-469: The Swiss was up to third. Scheckter dropped off, and the top four of Peterson, Depailler, Regazzoni and Laffite ran closely. Hunt spun off while trying to charge up the field, and Depailler dropped back late on with engine trouble. Peterson took his first win in two years, with Regazzoni second, Laffite third, and Lauda an incredible fourth. The week-long North American tour started with the teams assembling at

1775-406: The advantage of offering more total brake area. The downside was increased complexity of the steering system and a physically larger suspension system. The steering complexity was solved by connecting only the front pair of wheels to the steering wheel and connecting the rear set to the front with a bell crank . Initially considered to be a problem area, Joel Rosinsky later declared that "The steering

1846-495: The back rather than at the front like the P34. The Williams FW07D and FW08B , and the March 2-4-0 , had tandem rear wheels, which reduced drag by using the smaller front wheels and tyres in place of the typical larger rear wheels. The Ferrari 312T6 featured the four rear wheels on a single axle. This was similar to how Auto Union increased traction with its Type-D Grand Prix cars in the 1930s. Despite extensive testing, neither

1917-567: The barriers while trying to avoid him. This left Hunt with a big lead ahead of Carlos Pace in the Brabham , the Brabham team showing some speed. Soon, Scheckter was up to second, and Pace was passed by a recovering Regazzoni. Hunt eased to victory ahead of Scheckter, and Mass completed the podium by passing Pace after Regazzoni spun off (again). With Hunt's crucial victory at this longest of racing circuits, and after 49 years of Grand Prix racing,

1988-649: The best seven results from rounds 9-16 were counted. Numbers without parentheses are championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored. Points were awarded in the following system: Two non-championship races for Formula One cars were also held in 1976. Avon Rubber Avon Protection plc is a British company that specialises in the engineering and manufacturing of respiratory protection equipment for military, law enforcement and fire personnel. Its corporate headquarters are 3 km (1.9 mi) south of Melksham in Wiltshire , England, at

2059-423: The brakes and made it struggle through the corners. Others have blamed Goodyear's failure to properly develop the small front tyres. Late in the season, an attempt to address the handling was made by increasing the track of the front suspension, but this moved the tyres out from their original hidden position, essentially eliminating the whole advantage of the concept. In November 1977, Tyrrell introduced his car for

2130-517: The burning car, and the race was stopped. It took the one helicopter (which was parked at the pits on one extreme end of the circuit) at the track an excruciating 5 to 6 minutes to get to the accident site, and Lauda was sent to hospital with serious burns and was fighting for his life. The race restarted, with the starting slots of Lauda, Ertl and Lunger left empty. Hunt led at the restarted race with Regazzoni up to second, but this did not last long as Regazzoni spun off and dropped back, and Depailler hit

2201-498: The cartoon The Transformers as the vehicle converted into the Decepticon Stunticon known as Drag Strip . The car, shown sporting a yellow livery with red accents, was depicted as still being active in automotive races, despite the fact that the episode wherein it was stolen was produced and set in the mid-eighties. The race car also made an appearance in the first episode of the 1993 anime series Moldiver and

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2272-410: The championship trophy. This was the last championship for a British driver until Nigel Mansell in 1992 . The 2013 film Rush is based on this season, focusing on the rivalry and friendship between Hunt and Lauda. Other noteworthy events include the introduction of the six-wheeled Tyrrell P34 , the last race by Chris Amon , regarded as one of the best F1 drivers never to win a championship, and

2343-596: The company to concentrate on its core businesses of automotive components, technical products and protective equipment. In March 2000, Avon moved its activities to a manufacturing and head office facility at Hampton Park West, south of Melksham . In June 2005, Avon purchased International Safety Instruments, Inc., based in Lawrenceville, Georgia , USA. Avon-ISI is a manufacturer of self-contained breathing apparatus and thermal imaging systems for fire, law enforcement and industrial applications. In August 2006,

2414-582: The decision to be overturned by the team's appeal. For the opening round of the season in Brazil at the 5-mile Interlagos circuit in São Paulo, James Hunt took pole position in his McLaren with reigning World Champion Niki Lauda alongside in his Ferrari (which set the tone for the season). Clay Regazzoni in the second Ferrari took the lead at the start. Regazzoni, Lauda, Hunt and Shadow 's Jean-Pierre Jarier battled. Regazzoni and Jarier collided, and

2485-543: The drivers decided to pit for dry tyres. This left Mass's McLaren leading from Gunnar Nilsson . On the second lap, Lauda lost control at high speed due to a suspected rear suspension failure and crashed into the barriers before bouncing back on to the track, and the car caught fire. The car was then hit by Harald Ertl 's Hesketh and Brett Lunger 's Surtees . The two drivers immediately got out of their cars, and soon Arturo Merzario stopped his Wolf–Williams as well and also Guy Edwards helped. The four pulled Lauda out of

2556-513: The early stages until his engine failed. Hunt now led with Regazzoni close behind, but Regazzoni's Ferrari engine also failed. With the Ferraris out, any challenge to Hunt evaporated, and Hunt went on to win with Depailler second. Scheckter ran third until he faded away with engine trouble, giving John Watson third and Penske its first podium. The British fans had found a new hero in Hunt, but it

2627-399: The end of the race, Mass had to retire with an engine failure. Hunt took his first win of the season, with Lauda second and Gunnar Nilsson 's Lotus third. After the race, Hunt was disqualified because his McLaren was found to be too wide. McLaren appealed, saying this was due to the expansion of the tyres during the race, and two months after the race, Hunt was reinstated. The fifth round

2698-503: The favour a few laps later. Hunt took the lead again with 14 laps left and went on to win, and Scheckter had to settle for second. The Marches were again unable to keep up the pace, and it was left to Lauda to take an astonishing podium, just beating Mass in the second McLaren. The championship was to be decided in Japan at the fast Fuji Speedway near Tokyo, and Lauda was leading Hunt by three points. In qualifying, Hunt took second, but Lauda

2769-451: The first for the Tyrrell P34, with Mario Andretti 's Lotus second and Chris Amon an amazing 3rd on the grid in the Ensign . Andretti took the lead at the start, but went off with engine failure at around two thirds distance. The six-wheelers went on to dominate (much to the chagrin of some of the other teams) and finished 1–2, with Scheckter winning. Amon was robbed of a possible podium by

2840-483: The former had to pit for repairs. Lauda now led from Hunt and Jarier, but Hunt crashed out due to a sticking throttle, and Jarier did the same a lap later after driving on some oil in the track. Lauda thus started his title defence with victory, with Patrick Depailler second in the Tyrrell , and Tom Pryce completing the podium in the other Shadow. At the Kyalami circuit near Johannesburg, Hunt took pole position for

2911-599: The front, Hunt was leading but was soon challenged by Brambilla until the Italian spun out of contention. By mid-race, Mass had jumped up to second behind his teammate and acted as a protective buffer, but then crashed out. Hunt led from Depailler and Andretti, but then began to suffer from tyre wear, and both drivers passed with 11 laps left. This was still fine as Hunt was third and needed only three points to become World Champion, because he had more wins than Lauda. This became second when Depailler's tyres gave out, and he suffered

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2982-411: The lead on the 10th lap, but then Watson was back in front. Scheckter battled until he crashed due to a suspension failure, and Peterson ultimately began to drop back. Watson thus won, the result being his and Penske's first win, and the podium was completed by Laffite and Nilsson. Lauda had begun his recovery, and was planning to race later in the season, and as a result, Ferrari were back in business in

3053-484: The lead with 15 minutes left, sending the home fans wild. Hunt went on to win, with Lauda hanging on to second and Scheckter third. After the race, Ferrari, Tyrrell and the Fittipaldi team appealed against Hunt being allowed to take part in the spare car. Ferrari took the matter to the FIA (which was hypocritical since their own driver, Regazzoni had started in a spare, although he retired), and two months later, Hunt

3124-482: The mid-1970s, F1 stipulated that the maximum width of the front wing was 1.5 m. Considering the needed room for the driver's feet, the steering mechanism, suspension and the normal front tyre size, this meant the front tyres projected above and out to the sides of the wing. P34's basic concept was to use a tyre that would be small enough to fit entirely behind the wing. This would have two effects; one would be to lower overall drag and thus improve speed on straights and

3195-757: The mixing plant at Westbury was sold to ATR Compounding Ltd, a division of SPC UK, a compounder of rubber based in Whitby. The company, which had a long history of manufacturing respirators – including the S6 NBC Respirator , a gas mask used by the British armed forces from the 1960s, and the S10 from the 1980s – began to supply the M50 mask to United States forces in 2009. In January 2020, Avon purchased Ceradyne , Inc.'s advanced ballistic protection business and

3266-466: The modified Monza circuit, Laffite took pole in qualifying, with Scheckter's six-wheeler alongside and Pace third. Lauda was fifth, and Hunt along with Watson and Mass were penalised and sent to the back because of supposed fuel irregularities. At the start, Scheckter led ahead of Laffite and Depailler with Lauda down in the midfield, but soon Peterson was on a charge and took the lead after 14 laps. Peterson's charge also brought Regazzoni with him, and soon

3337-461: The next lap due to the same reason. This left Scheckter second and Depailler third but Regazzoni charged back and passed Depailler. He, however crashed out with 5 laps left while chasing Scheckter, thus ensuring that both the six-wheeled cars were on the podium behind Lauda. Lauda now had a massive 33-point lead in the championship over Regazzoni and Hunt. Scheckter took pole in Sweden at Anderstorp,

3408-455: The next longest circuit on the calendar and 7 times longer than the Monaco street circuit and its size meant it was nearly impossible to manage it safely to 1976 regulatory standards- the organizers were not willing or able to provide up to 5 times the marshals, medical services and firefighters needed at this circuit than at any other F1 circuit. Ultimately, all the drivers decided to race, and it

3479-400: The other was to clean up overall aerodynamics so the rear wing would receive cleaner airflow. However, given the space limitations, such a tyre would have to be quite small; in the final design it was 10 inches (250 mm) in diameter. This had too small a contact patch to offer reasonable cornering performance, which led to the use of four wheels instead of two. Adding more wheels also had

3550-482: The race was to be restarted. In controversial circumstances McLaren, Ferrari and Ligier had Hunt, Regazzoni and Laffite all take part in the restarted race in spare cars. There was no trouble in the restart, as Lauda led from Hunt and Regazzoni into the first corner. The top three were unchanged till mid-race until Regazzoni retired with a gearbox problem, promoting Scheckter to third. Lauda led comfortably until he too suffered from gearbox troubles, and home hero Hunt took

3621-866: The rival company of George Spencer, Moulton & Co. in 1956, bringing with it Abbey Mills and Kingston Mills in Bradford on Avon, and a jointly owned plant in Paris. The company name was shortened to Avon Rubber in 1963. In June 1958, an advertisement appeared in the British Sub-Aqua Club journal Triton to publicise the "Typhoon dry diving suit manufactured by the Avon India Rubber Co. Ltd. exclusively for E. T. Skinner Co. Ltd. ". For many years, Avon Rubber also produced back-entry dry diving suits for military use. The company also moulded lined "Stonehenge" brand wellington boots at

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3692-530: The scenic Mosport Park track near Toronto for the Canadian Grand Prix . Hunt's disqualification from the British GP came after the Italian race, and as a result Hunt had only 47 points to Lauda's 64 with three races left. The Englishman took pole, with Peterson also on the front row ahead of March teammate Vittorio Brambilla . As usual, Hunt did not start well, and Peterson took the lead. But it

3763-402: The second time in two races, with Lauda alongside again. It was Lauda who led into the first corner, with Hunt dropping down to fourth behind McLaren teammate Jochen Mass and Vittorio Brambilla in his March . Hunt was waved through by Mass, and passed Brambilla to take second after five laps. Lauda led from start to finish to win again, with Hunt second and Mass third for McLaren. Well after

3834-471: The track at Silverstone on 8 October 1975, and, after more tests, Tyrrell decided to build two more examples with a slightly longer wheelbase to race in the 1976 season. The stretched versions first ran in the Spanish GP in 1976 and proved to be very competitive. Both Jody Scheckter and Patrick Depailler produced good results with the car, but while Depailler praised the car continually, Scheckter

3905-456: The winter, but before the 1976 Spanish Grand Prix , a restriction was placed on the height of the air box to no more than 850 mm (33 in). This eliminated many eye-striking designs seen in the past years. It was also stipulated at that time, that an F1 car could not be wider than 215 cm (85 in). This caught out the McLaren team and James Hunt was disqualified, only for

3976-404: Was Lauda who took pole at Brands Hatch , beating the home hero Hunt into second, and Andretti showing Lotus's pace with third. At the start, Regazzoni began like a rocket and was immediately up to second, and was challenging Lauda. The two touched, and Regazzoni spun. He was hit by Hunt and Jacques Laffite but the rest of the field were away safely. However, there was too much debris on track, and

4047-580: Was a big talking point as the Tyrrell team entered a new P34 six-wheeler for Depailler. Depailler was on the pace and qualified third, behind Hunt and Lauda. Lauda once again beat Hunt off the line at the start and led for the first third of the race. Depailler, after a slow start, was running fourth behind Mass when he spun off and crashed with brake problems. Just before mid-race, the McLarens of Hunt and Mass found another gear and drove past Lauda, but towards

4118-599: Was at the Zolder circuit near the Dutch-Belgian border. Ferrari locked out the front row, with Lauda on pole from Regazzoni. Lauda motored away as the start, with Hunt up to second but, soon Regazzoni took the place back. The Ferraris raced away, and Hunt dropped to sixth, behind Jacques Laffite 's Ligier and the two six-wheeled Tyrrells, before eventually retiring with a transmission failure. Depailler also retired when his engine blew up. Lauda won, and Regazzoni completed

4189-485: Was disqualified and Lauda was given the win. Scheckter was promoted to second, Watson had another podium, and Two-time champion Emerson Fittipaldi got sixth place and a point. There were concerns by the drivers in the German GP held at the legendary Nordschleife about the safety of the track. The mountainous Nordschleife section of the Nürburgring was 14 miles (23 km) long – almost 3 times longer than Interlagos,

4260-485: Was eventually disqualified after an appeal from Ferrari. Lauda became the official race winner. Lauda had a massive crash at the Nürburgring in West Germany and appeared likely to die from his injuries, but managed to return after missing just two races. Going into the final race in Japan , Lauda led Hunt by three points. In the appalling weather conditions, Lauda withdrew from the race and Hunt finished third to take

4331-453: Was in the US at Watkins Glen, New York, a circuit similar (and close by) to Mosport Park in that it was fast and scenic with a number of long, sweeping corners. Hunt took his eighth pole of the season, with the six-wheeler of Scheckter alongside, and Peterson third. As expected, Scheckter took the lead at the start, with Hunt and Brambilla following. The front two pulled away and battled, with Hunt passing Scheckter mid-race and Scheckter returning

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4402-576: Was initially disqualified from first place, handing the race win to Lauda, only for the decision to be overturned on appeal months later. Ferrari did not enter the Austrian Grand Prix out of protest. Hunt won in France and, it seemed, in Britain , but the race had been restarted after a first lap pile-up and Hunt drove on an access road returning to the pits, which was against the rules. He

4473-472: Was made by Minichamps . • 1/20 scale and larger 1/12 scale model kits based on the different specifications were made by Tamiya . A 1/10 scale remote controlled model car is also available. 1976 Formula One season The 1976 Formula One season was the 30th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1976 World Championship of Drivers and the 1976 International Cup for Formula 1 Manufacturers . The two titles were contested over

4544-623: Was named The Avon India Rubber Company Limited . Products at this time included solid tyres , conveyor belts and components for railways. By 1900, pneumatic tyres for bicycles were being produced, and by 1906 the first car tyres were advertised under the Avon brand. The company acquired the Sirdar Rubber Works at Greenland Mill in Bradford on Avon in 1915. The company was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1933. It acquired

4615-412: Was no surprise that Hunt and Lauda were on the front row, the British driver on pole, with Depailler heading the second row. At the start, on a damp but drying track, once again it was Regazzoni who started off best, whereas Lauda was slow and lost a lot of places. Regazzoni was leading from Hunt but he spun and dropped to fourth. At the end of the first lap, over eight minutes after the race started most of

4686-480: Was not for long as Hunt retook the lead on lap 10, and soon both Marches dropped way back, and so Depailler was second and Andretti third. The top three of Hunt, Depailler and Andretti were unchanged for the rest of the race. Lauda was running fifth until handling issues dropped him out of the points, and Hunt had closed the gap to 8 points. The penultimate round and the second leg of the North American tour

4757-509: Was redesigned for cleaner aerodynamics, and some redesign was done on Peterson's car to accommodate his height. The P34B was wider and heavier than before, and, although Peterson was able to string some promising results from the P34B, as was Depailler, it was clear the car was not as good as before. Tyrrell blamed the problems on the increased weight, now 190 pounds (86 kg) over the 1,268 pounds (575 kg) F1 minimum. This placed more strain on

4828-481: Was right behind in third as Andretti took pole for Lotus. On race day, it rained heavily, and the weather was dreadful with the track full of water and the rain pelting down. Hunt got a good start for once, and took the lead from Andretti. Some of the drivers protested, saying it was too dangerous to race. At the end of the second lap, Lauda came into the pits and withdrew, saying that the conditions were too dangerous. Emerson Fittipaldi and Carlos Pace also withdrew. At

4899-421: Was that Lauda's condition was no longer life-threatening, but there was a low attendance with Lauda not racing; and Ferrari were so shaken by Lauda's crash that they did not compete at all. Hunt meanwhile took pole, ahead of countryman Watson and Ronnie Peterson . Watson took the lead at the start ahead of Peterson and Hunt, but soon Peterson was in the lead. Scheckter was on a charge from the mid-field, and he took

4970-686: Was the F1 World Champion of 1976. The 1976 World Championship of Drivers and the International Cup for Formula 1 Manufacturers were contested concurrently over a sixteen race series. Points were awarded to the top six classified finishers. The International Cup for F1 Manufacturers only counted the points of the highest-finishing driver for each race. For both the Championship and the Cup, the best seven results from rounds 1-8 and

5041-501: Was unimpressed. The P34's golden moment came in the Swedish Grand Prix . Scheckter and Depailler finished first and second, and to date Scheckter is the only driver ever to win a race in a six-wheeled car. The car seemed to be particularly good down the straights and through long corners, like at Anderstorp, Watkins Glen, Mosport Park, Fuji and the Österreichring, but it struggled on bumpy circuits like Brands Hatch, Jarama and

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