FEBRUARY 13, 1995

Tyrrell unveils 1995 package

The Tyrrell team is to reveal details of its 1995 Formula 1 program this evening in the very apt surroundings of the Design Museum in London, England.

The Tyrrell team is to reveal details of its 1995 Formula 1 program this evening in the very apt surroundings of the Design Museum in London, England.

The team's Technical Managing Director Dr. Harvey Postlethwaite will unveil the Tyrrell-Yamaha 023, which is the work of a team of Mike Gascoyne's engineers at Tyrrell's Ockham factory, and of Jean-Claude Migeot's aerodynamicists at Fondmetal Technologies's half-scale windtunnel in Casumaro, Italy.

The car is expected to be fairly conventional in design but will feature an interesting new hydraulically-controlled front suspension system, which the team has been testing a great deal in recent months.

The team will use a 3-litre version of the Yamaha V10 raced last year, although an all new purpose-built 3-liter engine is currently being designed at John Judd's Engine Developments factory in Rugby, England. This will be designed by Japanese ex-Honda V10 expert Hiro Kaneda and will begin track testing in the autumn.

The team is not expected to announce any major new sponsorships - well-advanced negotiations with Finnish telecommunications company Nokia fell through recently - but it has retained all its 1994 backers: Mild Seven, BP, Fondmetal, Calbee, Club Angle and Zent; and these will be joined by Mika Salo's Japanese sponsors, the young Finnish driver rumored to be bringing US$3.5 million with him to the team.

In the days leading up the announcement the team refused to confirm Salo as Ukyo Katayama's partner and said that talks are still taking place with a couple of other drivers. Although the team refused to say who they were, our spies tell us that only JJ Lehto and Emmanuel Collard were in the running, but neither had the kind of money being promised by Salo.