A six-wheel Ferrari!

What seems to be a six-wheeler Ferrari 312 T2 driven by Niki Lauda, is spotted testing at high speed on the Nardo test track close to Naples in Italy, sometime in 1977, with the Mediterranean sea in the background (picture-above).

Back in 1977 indeed, the year of Niki Lauda’s second World Championship, the Scuderia Ferrari, under the guidance of Mauro Forghieri, designed a 6-wheel car that was vastly different from the infamous Tyrrell P34 that had four wheels at the front.

Codenamed 312 T6, the boxer 12 engined car was derived from the T2 with which Lauda came close to win the 1976 title despite his life threatening crash on the Nürburgring.

The idea behind Forghieri’s project was probably the reduction of total aero drag and increase of top speed resulting, with front tires at the back, instead of the regularly sized rear wheels, which were enormous in the ’70s.

The T6 was tested at Fiorano and Nardo by Lauda and Reutemann, but never raced. It was never declared illegal as such, but its width was way beyond the permitted dimensions of a Grand Prix car, so it was never officially entered in a Grand Prix.

During a test at Fiorano, Reutemann (picture-below) crashed the only T6. The project was then abandoned, and all Ferrari F1 cars have remained on just four tires since then (the FIA banned six-wheel cars shortly after).