This man built a six-wheeled, Hayabusa-engined Formula One car... in his shed

There are some historic cars that will sadly never pass through the hands of common folk like you and I. These rare, historically significant and radically experimental cars will forever remain unobtainable, squirrelled away by museums and manufacturers as mementos of bravery and madness. Unless, of course, you’re Yuji Watahiki from Mito, eastern Japan. He’s built one out of aluminium. In his shed.

Easily qualifying for ‘mad rare old-timer’ is the Tyrrell P34 six wheeler Formula One car, an oddity so bizarre it only raced for two years. “The Tyrrell is the most unique of all F1 cars, so I challenged myself to build one,” says Yuji flippantly, as if justifying today’s choice of T-shirt. “I love F1 cars from the 1970s because they were all different. Today’s grid is basically all the same.”

Only six P34s were ever built. Two are currently in Japanese museums, two are owned by ex F1 driver Pierluigi Martini and two were destroyed. There are, however, two more replica Tyrrells. They’re built by CGA Race Engineering, based in Warrington, using original blueprints and plans obtained from the Tyrrell family. That’s about as close to the real thing as you’ll ever get, and only if you’ve got a spare £1,750,000.

Words & photos: Toby Thyer

Coming up short? Us too. Turns out you can still get pretty close using photos and eyeballing the original cars in Japanese museums, as Yuji has with his pretty convincing replica. “I usually only use the anvil and hammer, I’ll bring out the English wheel for bigger curves, but most of the work is done by hand right here,” he says as he points to a space on the floor of his workshop next to a Lamborghini LP400.

The bodywork is impressive, but his execution of the steering mechanism and drivetrain is inspired. Although it has slightly less power than the real Tyrrell’s Cosworth DFV, Yuji has repurposed a Hayabusa bike engine mated to a Suzuki Cappuccino rear diff to power his creation. A few cut up diff housings have been geared and act as chain tensioners.

Of course, there are six teeny tiny problems with running a Tyrrell... I asked him, where on earth do you get F1 wheels that size? “I was lucky and found one for sale at an online auction, badly damaged. I drew up a design based on the measurements and had it machined. I bought the tyres from a supplier in Japan four years ago, but they’ve since gone out of production. I’ll switch to Hoosier next time,” explains Yuji.

A couple of hours drive north of the Tokyo metropolis in Ibaraki prefecture, I find Yuji pushing a BMW 320i into the paint booth for a respray. The sun is roasting and he beckons me to take shelter in the log cabin/office where his Jack Russell Dino greats us with a woof and a lick. I’ve met Yuji and Dino a couple of times before – his main business is building aluminium wide bodies for old Porsches, but this is the first time we’ve sat down seriously for a chat.

“When my father ran this garage, we would just replace damaged car panels with new OEM parts, but I was interested in fabrication so I used to practise on the beaten up old panels in secret.” From the age of 18, Yuji worked alongside his father, honing his skills as a mechanic, fabricator and restorer on classic cars. They worked alongside each other until Yuji took over the operation.

Building a Tyrrell is not Yuji’s first foray into automotive construction. “I made a Lamborghini Miura shell for a customer in Japan who wanted a display piece for his exotic car showroom. Then an acquaintance suggested it should be displayed at an event in Italy, where Lamborghini Museum got wind of the car and offered to display it there.” If you’re in the area, it’s still there to this day.

“Then I made a Dino 246 to display at a local event. I’ll happily make them to order if anyone’s interested,” he says with a chuckle. Chances are, if there are photos to go off and it ran on four (or more) wheels, Yuji can build it.