F1: German GP Tyrrell preview

• mitchmcc@ultranet.com (Mitchell McCann)
• UltraNet Communications, Inc.
• Sat Jul 20 14:47:54 EDT 1996

TYRRELL IS AIMING FOR A TWO CAR FINISH

Following an encouraging performance at the British Grand Prix
where Mika Salo finished a strong 7th in the race and Ukyo Katayama
qualified a promising 12th, the Tyrrell Yamaha team is going to
Hockenheim with the aim of confirming the reliability improvements
shown at Silverstone and scoring a two car finish in the German
Grand Prix.

On Wednesday (17 July), test and reserve driver Emmanuel Collard
drove a 024 at Crowthorne, the Transport Research Laboratory Test
track, and said: "I had another good test with the team. We did a
lot of data acquisition for the telemetry on the main straight and
also practiced several starts. It was a bit tedious but an
interesting day."

Harvey Postlethwaite, Managing Director - Engineering, said: "We
had a good private test at Crowthorne. We are happy with the
results of the tests which were extremely useful and 'Manu' did a
very good job as usual. Mika and Ukyo will shake down their race
cars at Brands Hatch today [July 19] prior to their departure for
Germany.

"After the reliability problems we suffered in the races prior to
the British Grand Prix, it was a good reward for the entire team to
see Mika drive a strong race to finish in the top seven. And with
a little bit of luck he might have scored an extra point...
Hockenheim is a very challenging power circuit and we are looking
forward to confirming our improvements on reliability. It would be
nice to have a two-car finish on Sunday."

Mika Salo said: "The lay-out of Hockenheim is unique. You drive
flat out on long straights in the middle of the forest, with nobody
around, and at the end of the lap you enter the Stadium packed with
more than 100,000 fans! It is really a fantastic view with all the
flags and the fireworks."

Ukyo Katayama added: "Hockenheim is special because the driver does
not have much to do! Most of the time you are flat out on a
straight until a chicane and then you are flat out again on another
straight! It is not difficult to drive there but it is hard to find
a good set-up. It has to be a compromise."

Mike Gascoyne, Deputy Technical Director, commented: "Hockenheim is
one of the most specialised tracks of the Championship. It has long
straights broken by chicanes. Cars will be running minimum down
force to cut down drag and put the premium on straight line speed
for a good lap time. They will be difficult to drive in the Stadium
section and also difficult under braking. The circuit can also be
fairly bumpy , especially in some of the braking areas which make
it difficult to set the car up."

The German Grand Prix will be held on the 6.823 kms/4.240 miles
Hockenheim circuit near Frankfurt. The 45 lap, 307.022 kms/190.815
miles race will start at 14:00 hours local time on Sunday 28 July
and is expected to last around one hour twenty five minutes.


Chassis numbers:      Car 18, Ukyo Katayama:   05
                      Car 19, Mika Salo:       04
                      Spare car, Salo:         02
                      Spare chassis:           03



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