Pierluigi Martini: the ex-F1 driver with a passion for Tyrrell’s six-wheeler

Having seen it race when he was younger, Pierluigi Martini developed a passion for the car that he nurtured through a racing career that encompassed 118 Grand Prix starts and a Le Mans victory. And he always had respect for the man behind it.

“I was close to driving for Tyrrell in 1983,” he explains. “Ken Tyrrell was a very impressive person. During my F1 career I spoke a lot with Ken. For me, he was like Enzo Ferrari.”

After retiring from racing and making a little money in business, in 2017 Pierluigi purchased a P34.

The quirky Tyrrell P34 F1 car captured enthusiasts’ hearts

Not content with that, the following year he bought another.

And while there are now more P34s around than were raced in period, he owns two examples with genuine history attached.

They sit side-by-side in a purpose-built, sunken garage in the garden of his house in the hills above the Imola circuit, and his eyes light up as he proudly shows them off.

Pierluigi’s love for the P34 developed in his teens.

Motor racing was in the family, and he spent a lot of time with his uncle Giancarlo, who picked up a couple of third places over a stop-start Formula Two career that ran from 1974-’79. 

The elder Martini also earned himself a footnote in F1 history at the 1976 International Trophy as the last man to race a private Ferrari, a 312T run under the Scuderia Everest banner by his friend Gian Carlo Minardi.

Pierluigi Martini always dreamed of experiencing the Tyrrell P34 from the cockpit

Just a few weeks after that, Pierluigi made a pilgrimage to Monaco.

Niki Lauda won the race, but, despite the family association with Ferrari, the younger Martini was not a typical member of the tifosi – instead he was captivated by the Tyrrells of Scheckter and Depailler that finished second and third that day.

“I was young, I was 15 years old and I went for the first time to Monaco with my friends,” he recalls. “And there was the six-wheeler. I followed every race the P34 did, because it was different from the other cars.

“And, for me, it was interesting to follow Jody, because he was one of my favourite drivers, and Depailler, because he drove in F2 with my uncle in ’74.”

Inspired by Giancarlo, who had bought him his first kart, Pierluigi was already pursuing his own racing dreams.

For a while, karting took a back seat to his schooling, but when he was deemed old enough he moved into Formula Abarth.

The six-wheeled Tyrrell P34’s Ford-Cosworth DFV engine

Helped by some backing from Parmalat – his father supplied lard to the dairy giant – he soon graduated to Formula Three.

In 1983, he won the European F3 title and finished second on his first and only F2 start in Misano, racing for his uncle’s friend Minardi.

That led to a test in a Brabham-BMW BT52B at Brands Hatch – on the same day Bernie Eccelstone gave the then 54-year-old Stirling Moss a run in the car.

A second test followed at Paul Ricard alongside Ayrton Senna and others.

Pierluigi was in the frame for a race seat, but it went to the experienced Teo Fabi.

After talks with Tyrrell came to nought in 1984, Pierluigi drove for Lancia in sports-car racing.

Pierluigi Martini in action at the 1990 Grand Prix of San Marino, Imola, driving the Minardi-Ford M190 © Getty

He also had an unsuccessful first F1 outing at Monza with Toleman, standing in for the temporarily suspended Senna – but after two turbo failures he didn’t qualify.

For 1985, he landed a full-time drive with Minardi as the outfit graduated from F2 to Grand Prix racing.

It was a difficult season for a novice team and driver, and at the end of it Pierluigi lost his seat.

“It was the first year for Minardi, and the first one for me,” he explains. “I was alone, with no teammate – and all the problems were the driver’s…”

He stepped back to Formula 3000 in ’86, won three races in a Ralt and finished a close second to Ivan Capelli in the championship.

However, he remained stuck in F3000 until recalled to F1 duties with Minardi in the middle of 1988, finishing sixth on his first outing in Detroit.

That led to three more years with the Faenza team, with a few decent results – especially when Pirelli was strong.

Pierluigi Martini on the grid for the 1993 Hungarian GP in the Minardi-Ford M193, with team owner Gian Carlo Minardi looking on © Getty

Highlights included qualifying third at Adelaide in 1989, and second at the Phoenix season-opener the following year.

Later in 1990, Flavio Briatore asked him to replace the injured Alessandro Nannini at Benetton, but he stayed loyal to Minardi – mainly because the team had a Ferrari V12 coming, and the works outfit was watching.

At the end of 1991, Pierluigi faced the biggest sliding-doors moment of his career: at the Spanish GP in September he signed to join Jean Alesi at Ferrari for 1992, but within weeks there was a shake-up at Maranello, and Piero Lardi Ferrari, who did the deal, fell out of favour.

Pierluigi was called to a meeting with the company lawyer, and was surprised to be joined by the management of Scuderia Italia, the de facto Ferrari B-team at the time.

He was told yes, you have a contract, but Ivan Capelli is driving – you can either race for Scuderia Italia or fight. He was given an hour to decide.

“All the other teams were closed,” he recalls. “And I decided to stay in Scuderia Italia, for less money and for a lot of things. But this is the life. For a long time I have thought that maybe it was better to make a legal operation…”

Pierluigi Martini heading to victory at Le Mans in 1999 in the works BMW, partnered by Yannick Dalmas and Joachim Winkelhock © Getty

History relates that Capelli had a dire time with the difficult F92A and was dropped before the end of the season. 

However, Pierluigi still wishes he had been given the chance.

He says: “The car was bad, but for me my race was with Alesi. He was good, but I was fast and maybe it could have been possible to stay there.”

Pierluigi twice made the points in 1992, but Scuderia Italia’s Dallara wasn’t competitive.

At the start of ’93 he was without a drive, but once again Minardi came to the rescue, and he was called back to replace the sacked Fabrizio Barbazza.

He would remain with the team until the middle of 1995, when Minardi’s need to take pay-drivers led to him being ousted.

This time there was no way back to F1. However, there was a still a future in sports-car racing.

Pierluigi Martini with the Ralt RT20 he raced in F3000

In 1996, at the behest of Michele Alboreto’s sponsor, Count Gughi Zanon, Pierluigi was invited to test Reinhold Joest’s Porsche WSC-95 at Paul Ricard, with a view to racing at Le Mans.

Joest barely knew who he was, but he passed the audition – and duly took pole for the 24 Hours.

Alas the car retired in the race, and the sister machine won.

Pierluigi returned to the Circuit de la Sarthe in ’97 to finish fourth with a Scuderia Italia-run Porsche 911 GT1, then he landed a seat with BMW’s LMP1 team in ’98 – he won the following year, driving with Yannick Dalmas and Joachim Winkelhock.

It was his last Le Mans and, apart from a couple of Grand Prix Masters outings in 2006 and a campaign with a Zakspeed-run Chrysler in the 2009 Italian Superstars series, that was it for Pierluigi’s racing career.

Pierluigi Martini’s historic collection includes the ex-Michele Alboreto Ferrari 126 C4

It was around 2012 that he first turned his attention to historic cars, inspired in part by his friend Paolo Barilla, who had bought his old F3 Chevron.

Pierluigi duly tracked down cars he had raced – a Ralt RT20, March 88B F3000, Minardi M189 and the RT3 F3 title winner. 

He expanded his horizons with an ex-Alboreto 1984 Ferrari 126 C4, but the car he had really set his heart on was the Tyrrell P34.

Handily, there was an example in Italy. Chassis 05 had been a spare at Monza in 1976 and was then campaigned by Peterson in ’77. 

It later became successful in historic racing in the hands of Martin Stretton, before passing to textile magnate Pietro Ratti, who entered it for Mauro Pane. Except Ratti didn’t want to sell.

Pierluigi persisted, however, and when he got to see the car in person, in 2017, his passion impressed the owner, who finally relented. “We discussed the price,” says Pierluigi, “and for one night, I never slept! But I took a decision with my heart, and I bought the car.”

Pierluigi Martini in the pits, in Tyrrell P34 chassis 02

Remarkably, that wasn’t enough. The chassis he really wanted was 02, the only survivor that was actually raced in 1976, with both 03 and 04 lost to accidents at the 1977 Brazilian GP.

The ex-Depailler car had spent a long time in Tom Wheatcroft’s Donington Grand Prix Collection prior to being bought and raced by Roger Wills.

It was then in California with Bruce Canepa. Having been turned down by Bruce earlier in his quest, Pierluigi tried again in 2018.

This time he agreed a deal, and the car was flown to Italy to join its slightly younger sibling.

At Bruce’s suggestion, Pierluigi then went to Wills to purchase various parts the Kiwi still held.

Pierluigi then had two cars with the bulbous 1977 bodywork, one of which had raced the previous year. 

Tyrrell P34 chassis 05’s longer chassis helps with high-speed corners at Imola

What he was missing were the glassfibre panels with which to convert it. He recalls: “It was important for me to decide to bring the car back to 1976 spec.”

And that’s where I come into the story. In my garage I had an original 1976 nose, a side pod and the actual cockpit cover from Scheckter’s Swedish winner.

Having heard about my hoard, Pierluigi promptly bought the lot.

He scanned everything in order to make replicas, to ensure that 02 looked immaculate when it went on public display, and that he could use the car on track without worrying about damaging original parts.

Pierluigi thus owns the only genuine 1976 racing car, which, given the slightly blurred history of the P34, makes it very special.

While chassis 06, which is owned by Richard Mille, and 07 (now in Japan) both raced in 1977, the prototype 01 – today in the Technik Museum Sinsheim in Germany – never saw action.

Original bodywork from Jody Scheckter’s race-winning Tyrrell P34 brought chassis 02 back to its 1976 configuration

The 1976-specification 08 once owned by Jody Scheckter that was built in the 1990s with old parts has no period history, and nor does the unnumbered example Ken Tyrrell sold to the modelmaker Tamiya. 

There are also two authorised continuation cars built by CGA Race Engineering.

“I think it is important to understand that this car has made results,” Pierluigi says of 02. And it’s the six-wheeler that made the first race, chassis number two, because it started in Spain.

“The first and the last, because it also raced in 1977, although not all of that season. But it made big history.”

Pierluigi is a regular at Imola’s annual Historic Minardi Day festival, and he had a run at last year’s Emilia-Romagna GP.

He has been to events at Suzuka and Estoril, and he took both chassis to this year’s Austrian Grand Prix – with his pal Barilla joining him.

Pierluigi Martini behind the wheel of his 1976-spec Tyrrell P34

“The P34 is a pleasure to drive,” says Pierluigi. “It’s a very gentle car, and it’s very precise at the front.

“When you go on the throttle, you can push the power, and you can control the power of the car very easily.

“I never drove the car with old tyres, but I think that on Avon tyres, with the new construction, it is perfect.

“Number two is a little bit different, because it is shorter and the chassis is more reactive.

“Number five is a little bit longer, and you feel the car better in quick corners. But both are very easy to drive.

“Some people write that the P34 wasn’t competitive. It’s stupid, because the car was competitive in ’76, and I think that now it could be competitive in historic races.”

Pierluigi Martini with one of his two cherished Tyrrell P34s – chassis 05 – at home in the hills above the Imola circuit

There is no doubting Pierluigi’s passion.

When 02 was displayed behind the grandstands at last year’s Imola GP he enjoyed seeing the interest from fans, and he’s always happy to talk to former team members to learn more.

He smiles: “I’m the Wikipedia of the Tyrrell P34!”

The one thing he would like to do is race a P34 – although he concedes he’d have to buy or build a replica.

The fact that, even with no history, Scheckter’s 08 was sold by RM Sotheby’s for more than €1million in 2024 suggests that you can’t blame him for being cautious.

“I think that with original cars, it is better not to use them for racing,” he concludes.

“This is my philosophy. I like to enter a parade, because the people must see these cars again. But I don’t want to take a risk.”

Images: GP Car Story

Enjoy more of the world’s best classic car content every month when you subscribe to C&SC – get our latest deals here

READ MORE

Hesketh Racing: shaking up the F1 establishment

Williams F1’s Heritage collection: a Grand Prix dynasty

Andy Wallace: Le Mans, F1 and becoming a record-breaker