Pete05
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- 7,147
- Melbourne, Australia
The only victory scored by a four-wheel-drive car in a Formula 1 race came 53 years ago at Oulton Park. Stirling Moss won the non-championship Oulton Park Gold Cup at the wheel of the Ferguson P99.
Harry Ferguson built the car in co-operation with 1953 Le Mans 24 Hours winner, Tony Rolt. Best known in Britain for designing tractors, Ferguson wanted to transfer the safety benefits he saw in four wheel drive to road cars. He seized on motor racing as the way to promote the technology.
Four wheel drive aside, the P99 was a conventional car - even a slightly backward-looking one, as it bucked the trend for rear-engined cars begun in the late 1950's with a front-mounted unit.
This was intended to spread the weight evenly between the front & rear of the car.
It was originally built to accommodate a 2.5-litre engine, but in F1 guise it used a 1.5-litre Coventry Climax four cylinder unit.
There were obvious shortcomings to the design; the more complicated transmission of the four wheel drive system sapped the power of the engine.
At that year's British Grand Prix at Aintree, Moss started the rain-hit race in a Lotus but pulled into the pits with a brake problem. Shortly afterwards, he took over the Ferguson which up to that point had been driven by Jack Fairman. Moss was later disqualified as Fairman had received a push-start in the pits earlier on, but not before he began to appreciate the car's qualities in poor conditions.
Two months later, Moss was at the wheel of the car again; this time for the start of the race, at Oulton Park Cup. The prestigious but non-championship race was entered by a host of top drivers of the time including Jack Brabham, Bruce McLaren, Jim Clark, John Surtees, Innes Ireland, Graham Hill, Jo Bonnier and Dan Gurney.
Ferrari were absent having won the championship in dire circumstances at Monza two weeks earlier. One of their drivers, Wolgang Von Trips, was killed along with 14 spectators, leaving his team mate Phil Hill to win the title. Porsche were also not present.
A damp circuit offered the best condition for the P99 to show it's potential. But Moss suffered a poor getaway when the race began. Starting from 2nd on the grid, Moss couldn't engage first gear and had to pull away in second gear, falling to eight place. Clark led, but Moss was rapidly making up places. On lap 6, Moss was through into the lead. And, 54 laps later, the Ferguson P99 came home first, with Brabham's Cooper 46 seconds adrift. Sadly, the man who conceived the project didn't get to see it's greatest success: Harry Ferguson had died a few months earlier.
Moss was fascinated by the car's unusual handling properties: "If I backed off, the Ferguson didn't instantly tighten into the corner, it would simply decelerate. I therefore realized that one had to consciously steer this car, not merely using the steering to set it up before the corner as one would with conventional rear wheel drive to present the car in a certain attitude upon a certain line."
ENGINE
Configuration
Coventry Climax FPF Mk.II Straight 4
Location
Front, longitudinally mounted
Displacement
1498 cc / 91.4 cu in
Bore / Stroke
81.2 mm (3.2") x 81.9 mm (3.2")
Valvetrain
2 valves per cylinder, DOHC
Fuel feed
2 x Weber carburettors
Aspiration
Naturally aspirated
Power
151 bhp / 113 kW @ 7500 rpm
DRIVETRAIN
Chassis
Steel spaceframe with GRP body panels
Suspension
Double wishbones, coil springs over Armstrong shock absorbers, anti-roll bar
Steering
Rack and pinion
Brakes
Dunlop discs, all-round
Gearbox
5 speed manual
DIMENSIONS
Weight
660 kg / 1455.1 lbs
Wheelbase
2286 mm / 90"
Front track
1321 mm / 52"
Rear track
1270 mm / 50"
http://www.conceptcarz.com/z19869/Ferguson-Climax-P99.aspx
http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/the-ferguson-p99-1533901799
http://www.stirlingmoss.com/articles/feature/cars-ferguson-p99-race-car
http://www.thepetrolstop.com/2011/03/ferguson-p99-4wd-f1-car.html?m=1
http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/2911/Ferguson-P99-Climax.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-wheel_drive_in_Formula_One
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