Harry Ferguson Research Limited was a British company founded by
Harry Ferguson
Henry George "Harry" Ferguson (4 November 188425 October 1960) was a British mechanic and inventor who is noted for his role in the development of the modern agricultural tractor and its three point linkage system, for being the first person ...
who was mostly known as "the father of the modern farm tractor". He was also a pioneer aviator, becoming one of the first to build and fly his own aeroplane in Ireland, and also went on to develop
four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...
systems for cars including pioneering their use in
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
racing cars. The company was based in Siskin Drive, in
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...
, England.
History
![Ferguson climax P99](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Ferguson_climax_P99.jpg)
In the 1930s, racing driver
Freddie Dixon
Frederick William Dixon (21 April 1892 – 4 November 1956) was an English motorcycle racer and racing car driver. The designer of the motorcycle and banking sidecar system, he was also one of the few motorsport competitors to have been success ...
began to develop the idea of producing a super-safe family car, with four-wheel drive and four -wheel steering. When Dixon was racing in the Ulster TT, he met Harry Ferguson, who garaged his car for him. Ferguson had developed the Ferguson System of tractor implements for reasons of safety and Dixon's ideas interested him. Army officer and racing driver
Tony Rolt
Major Anthony Peter Roylance Rolt, MC & Bar, (16 October 1918 – 6 February 2008) was a British racing driver, soldier and engineer. A war hero, Rolt maintained a long connection with the sport, albeit behind the scenes. The Ferguson 4WD p ...
, who had engaged Dixon to maintain his ERA racing car became interested in Dixon's ideas and between them formed Dixon-Rolt Developments Ltd.
After the war, Rolt and Dixon persuaded Harry Ferguson to invest money in their company. Ferguson had sold out Massey-Harris, which became
Massey Ferguson
Massey Ferguson Limited is an American agricultural machinery manufacturer. The company was established in 1953 through the merger of farm equipment makers Massey-Harris of Canada and the Ferguson Company of the United Kingdom. It was based in T ...
. He had also won a substantial law suit for patent infringement with the Ford Motor Company in the USA and now had money to invest.
In 1950, Harry Ferguson Research Ltd. was formed, with premises in Redhill, Surrey. Ferguson was chairman and Rolt and Dixon were directors. The plan was to design a four-wheel drive family car and sell the manufacturing rights to a big car maker. Ferguson moved the business to his premises in Coventry, a move which Dixon resisted and he left the company. Soon after, Ferguson broke with Massey Ferguson and eventually built new premises for Harry Ferguson Research Ltd at Siskin Drive, Coventry. Despite huge efforts, nobody was interested in the cars.
To promote the company's technology, Tony Rolt set in motion the development of a
Coventry-Climax
Coventry Climax was a British forklift truck, fire pump, racing, and other specialty engine manufacturer.
History
Pre WW1
The company was started in 1903 as Lee Stroyer, but two years later, following the departure of Stroyer, it was relocat ...
powered 4WD Formula One car in 1960.
Despite the death of Ferguson in 1961, the
Ferguson P99
The Ferguson P99 was a four-wheel drive Grand Prix car built by Ferguson Research Ltd. It was raced on behalf of the company by the Rob Walker Racing Team. Officially named as Ferguson Climax, it derived its P99 name from its Harry Ferguson Resea ...
was raced during the 1961 season in UK F1 races by
Rob Walker's team. The car raced only once in the World Championship at the
British Grand Prix
The British Grand Prix is a Grand Prix motor race organised in the United Kingdom by the Royal Automobile Club. First held in 1926, the British Grand Prix has been held annually since 1948 and has been a round of the FIA Formula One World C ...
. However the car won a non-championship race, the
1961 International Gold Cup
The 8th Gold Cup was a motor race, run to Formula One rules, held on 23 September 1961 at Oulton Park, England. The race was run over 60 laps of the circuit, and was won by British driver Stirling Moss in a Ferguson P99.
This was the only tim ...
at
Oulton Park
Oulton Park is a hard surfaced track used for motor racing, close to the village of Little Budworth, Cheshire, England. It is about from Winsford, from Chester city centre, from Northwich and from Warrington, with a nearby rail connection a ...
with
Stirling Moss
Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (17 September 1929 – 12 April 2020) was a British Formula One racing driver. An inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, he won 212 of the 529 races he entered across several categories of comp ...
as the driver. As of today, this is the only victory of a four-wheel drive car in F1 (and incidentally the last race won by Moss in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
), with the technology banned in
1983
The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call.
Events January
* January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...
. Despite its promising beginnings this front-engined car was soon made obsolete by mid-engined cars.
Ferguson Research went on in racing, supplying the
Novi-powered P104 to the STP team for Indianapolis. In 1964 the Ferguson P99, by then fitted with a 2.5 litre Climax engine, was lent to
Peter Westbury
Peter Westbury (26 May 1938 – 7 December 2015) was a British racing driver from England. He participated in two World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, scoring no championship points. In 1969 he raced a Formula 2 Brabham-Cosworth, driving ...
who used it to win the
British Hillclimb Championship
The British Hill Climb Championship (BHCC) is the most prestigious Hillclimbing championship in Great Britain. Hillclimbing in the British Isles has a rich history, for example, the hillclimb held at Shelsley Walsh, in Worcestershire, England is t ...
that year. Westbury built two 4WD sports racing cars cars, Felday 4, powered by a BRM V8 and Felday 5, powered by a 7-litre Holman Moody Ford V8. In 1964, Harry Ferguson research built a Novi-powered car for the Indianapolis 500 for Andy Granatelli's STP team, the 4WD Formula One
BRM P67 car for
BRM
British Racing Motors (BRM) was a British Formula One motor racing team. Founded in 1945 and based in the market town of Bourne in Lincolnshire, it participated from 1951 to 1977, competing in 197 grands prix and winning seventeen. BRM wo ...
in 1964, provided the 4WD system for the Lotus 56 turbine Indy car and 56B turbine Formula 1 car.
Ferguson Formula 4WD
![1952 Ferguson R4 Prototype 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/1952_Ferguson_R4_Prototype_2.0.jpg)
Soon after Ferguson's death, his son-in-law Tony Sheldon took over the chairmanship of Harry Ferguson Research and changed the company policy to one of developing 4WD systems that could be adopted by car makers for their own models.
Jensen Motors
Jensen Motors Limited was a British manufacturer of sports cars and commercial vehicles in West Bromwich, England. Brothers Alan and Richard Jensen gave the new name, Jensen Motors Limited, to the commercial body and sports car body making busi ...
took up the idea, stretching the
Interceptor
Interceptor may refer to:
Vehicles
* Interceptor aircraft (or simply "interceptor"), a type of point defense fighter aircraft designed specifically to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft
* Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, a police car
* ...
by 5 in (130 mm) to create the
FF (for ''Ferguson Formula'', Ferguson's term for 4WD). It appeared in 1966. The high cost of its hand-built 4WD system kept it from being a commercial success. The company also converted a number of Ford Mustangs to 4WD with the aim of getting Ford in the USA to make them as a production model. In 1969 the company converted a fleet of
Ford Zephyr
The Ford Zephyr is an executive car manufactured by Ford of Britain from 1950 until 1972. The Zephyr and its luxury variants, the Ford Zodiac and Ford Executive, were the largest passenger cars in the British Ford range from 1950 until their r ...
MkIV police vehicles for assessment by the UK government, with interests in possible military use.
In 1968, GKN took a stake in the company, with the intention of mass-producing 4WD systems for production cars. The first company to be interested was Ford of Britain, who. examined the idea of a 4WD Capri. Production issues prevented a 3-litre 4WD model from being manufactured.
In 1969, there was a 4WD boom in F1 with the top teams of the era, with
Matra
Matra (an acronym for Mécanique Aviation Traction) was a French industrial conglomerate. During its years of operation, it was engaged in a wide range of business activities, primarily focused around automobiles, bicycles, aeronautics and we ...
,
Lotus and
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...
, building 4WD cars. Only
Matra
Matra (an acronym for Mécanique Aviation Traction) was a French industrial conglomerate. During its years of operation, it was engaged in a wide range of business activities, primarily focused around automobiles, bicycles, aeronautics and we ...
used the Ferguson system. (
Cosworth
Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream automotive industrie ...
also built a 4WD car but using their own system). The 1968 seasons had seen many wet races and the constructors were searching for means to increase the grip of the cars. The
1969 British Grand Prix
The 1969 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Silverstone Circuit on 19 July 1969. It was race 6 of 11 in both the 1969 World Championship of Drivers and the 1969 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. Jackie St ...
, saw a record number of four 4WD cars entered, with
John Miles in a
Lotus 63
The Lotus 63 was an experimental Formula One car using four-wheel drive, designed by Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe for the 1969 season. Chapman's reasoning behind the car was that the 3 litre engines introduced in 1966 would be better served ...
achieving the best finish of 10th. Tyre technology had vastly improved and 1969 also saw the introduction of wings in F1 and as there was no wet race that year, all the competitors ceased developing 4WD F1 cars as wings appeared as an easier way to increase grip. 4WD no longer presented any advantage in F1, if it ever did. Team Lotus made a last attempt with the Ferguson system on the gas turbine powered
Lotus 56
The Lotus 56 was a gas turbine-powered four-wheel-driven racing car, designed by Maurice Philippe as Team Lotus's STP-backed entry in the 1968 Indianapolis 500. All three cars entered retired from the race, Joe Leonard's car expiring while lead ...
B in 1971, but the car was uncompetitive. Eventually, in 1971, Tony Sheldon decided that too much money had been pumped into research with no real result and closed down Harry Ferguson Research Ltd
Tony Rolt was convinced of 4WD's future in road cars and in 1971 formed a new company called
FF Developments
FF (Ferguson Formula) Developments Limited (FFD) was a British company founded by Major A.P.R. (Tony) Rolt to exploit the 4WD technology begun originally at Dixon-Rolt Developments in partnership with Freddie Dixon and, from 1950 at Harry Fergus ...
to develop Ferguson's four-wheel drive systems.
Complete Formula One World Championship results
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
)
See also
*
Ferguson Company
The Ferguson-Brown Company was a British agricultural machinery manufacturing company formed by Harry Ferguson in partnership with David Brown.
Ferguson-Brown produced the Model A Ferguson-Brown tractor incorporating a Ferguson-designed hydr ...
References
Citations
Bibliography
*Lyons, Pete. "10 Best Ahead-of-Their-Time Machines", in ''Car and Driver'', 1/88
Ferguson P99: The only four-wheel-drive F1 winnerResults from Formula1.comTraction for Sale - the Story of Ferguson Formula Four-wheel DriveBill Munro & Pat Turner. ISBN Earlswood Press 2019
External links
Massey Ferguson Tractor Web SiteFerguson Family Museum
{{Formula One constructors
Formula One constructors
Formula One entrants
British auto racing teams
British racecar constructors
Auto racing teams established in 1961
Auto racing teams disestablished in 1961