TYRRELL REVEALS 1996 GRAND PRIX CHALLENGER

Nicholas Frankl, London Bureau, The Auto Channel

On Tuesday, January 30 the Tyrrel Racing: Organisation revealed its all new Tyrrell Yamaha Grand Prix car. Powered by a brand-new ultra compact 3 liter Yamaha V-10 inline, the 200 mph Tyrrell also features a new chassis, new gearbox and new suspension system-all designed and manufactured at the team's Ockham, Surrey headquarters.

"Whilst the Tyrrell Yamaha 024 is all new, it is not revolutionary in any major way and that is quite deliberate" commented Harvey Postlethwaitc, Tyrrell's Director of Engineering. The new car was designed by a 13 man, 2 woman team and apparently they made big steps forward in three areas, aerodynamies, structural integrity and transmission design.

This will be Ken Tyrell's 29th year of Formula One competition and whilst there are some wonderful years to look back upon. l somehow doubt that they will win a single race in 1996 unless there is a major pile-up at the front .In my opinion neither Mika Salo, nor Ukyo Katayama are race winners, especially when they are up against the likes of Schumacher, Hill, Villeneuve and Alesi.

There were halcyon days for the team which started way back in 1968. There have been world championships with Jackie Stewart and occasional victories with Cevert, Alboreto and others. In recent years the team has had financial problems and this meant less development and lesser drivers.

It is a vicious circle and quite frankly I don't see how they are going to break it. Apparently what Tyrrell are trying to do is to finish as many races as possible and pick up points on the way. This, with Mika Salo at the wheel is a distinct possibility but victories, unless a miracle happens will stay with Williams, Benetton and Ferrari. Don't get me wrong, nothing would give me more pleasure then to see the Tyrrell win but I can't see it.