1961 Ferguson P99

This car was in the Donington Park Museum for over 35 years, and this is a photograph I took of it in October 1989.

It's the 1961 Ferguson P99 and it's the first 4-wheel drive car to compete in a Formula 1 race. The car was produced by Harry Ferguson Research Ltd with a team led by Tony Rolt and Claude Hill who decided that an even distribution of weight and torque between the front and rear axles dictated that the engine must be at the front of the car despite Cooper and Lotus recent successes with mid-engined cars. A spaceframe chassis was built which could carry either a 2½ or 1½ litre Climax engine canted at 17 degrees from the vertical to allow for a propeller shaft to link to the front axle. The gearbox was mounted behind the engine from which drive was taken to a Ferguson differential, propeller shafts then leading to differentials at front and rear. A Dunlop Maxaret braking system was used, the disks being mounted inboard at front and rear, which would prevent wheels locking in difficult track conditions. The car was loaned to Rob Walker's team  and its first outing was in the 1961 British Empire Trophy race in which Jack Fairman crashed the car on the second lap. In the British Grand Prix the car was again driven by Jack Fairman but he was delayed by electrical problems and when the car was push-started by mechanics after a pit stop (which was against the rules) the car was disqualified but was allowed to keep running as it obviously wasn't going to figure in the race results. As Stirling Moss in the Rob Walker Lotus 18/21 had retired with brake failure the team decided to bring Jack Fairman in and let Stirling Moss take over, but when he started putting in some quick laps on a damp track some of the other teams (notably Ferrari) protested to the stewards and the car had to be withdrawn. In September of that year Stirling Moss won the Gold Cup race at a wet Oulton Park with the car which became the first - and so far only - 4-wheel drive car to win a Formula 1 race. The car's only track appearances after that were drives by Graham Hill and Innes Ireland in the Australian Tasman series in 1963, though it did win the British Hill-Climb Championship for Peter Westbury in 1964. After its stay in the Donington Museum the car was sold in 2010 by RM Auctions for £410,000 and is currently owned by Stuart Rolt, Tony Rolt's son.