Harry Ferguson Research Limited was a British company founded by Harry Ferguson 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 cas ...

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 in the 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 city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

, England.

History

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 pr ...

, 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 ...

. 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 Ch ...

. However the car won a non-championship race, the 1961 International Gold Cup 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 al ...

with Stirling Moss 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 subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

), 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 TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

. 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 in 1964, provided the 4WD system for the Lotus 56 turbine Indy car and 56B turbine Formula 1 car.

Ferguson Formula 4WD

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 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 re ...

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 w ...

, Lotus and McLaren, building 4WD cars. Only

used the Ferguson system. ( Cosworth 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, 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)

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 Drive
Bill Munro & Pat Turner. ISBN Earlswood Press 2019

External links

Massey Ferguson Tractor Web Site

Ferguson 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