1969 Cosworth 4WD F1 Prototype

I took this photograph on a visit to the Donington Park Museum in October 1989.

It's the 1969 Cosworth four-wheel drive F1 prototype and the book 'Great Racing Cars of the Donington Collection' has this to say about it:

"By 1969 BRM and Ferrari had spent many years racing in Formula 1 as the only manufacturers responsible for their own engines and gearboxes, as well as for the basic chassis of their cars. Cooper had introduced the successful ‘kit-car’ theme to Grand Prix racing, buying their engines from Coventry-Climax and making gearboxes in conjunction with Jack Knight Engineering and off-the-shelf Citroën parts as early as 1957.

During the early 1960s the ‘kit-car’ theme developed, and when Cosworth came along with their Super-successful engines it began to mushroom. In 1968 Keith Duckworth decided that he would have a car developed to make the ultimate use of his new Grand Prix engine, and so one of the most striking of the 1969 season’s crop of four-wheel drive cars came into being.

Robin Herd left McLaren to design the new car, which was put together in Cosworth’s Northampton works and which displayed superb workmanship. The cockpit was slightly offset to allow drive-lines to pass by its right-hand side. The DFV V8 engine was turned about-face in the chassis to power a centre differential, in the normal four-wheel drive manner, and the broad monocoque tub was extended to form flared aerodynamic sponsons between the wheels on either side. An unusual inboard suspension system was adopted, but as things developed, the Cosworth car was never raced.

Four-wheel drive offered a way of increasing the car’s traction, and during the latter part of 1968 developments with aerodynamic aids produced a lighter and simpler way of achieving similar ends. After some hair-raising accidents early in 1969, regulations were devised to limit these aids, but they still proved extremely effective and the complex and difficult four-wheel drive issue was effectively side-stepped.

All the 1969 four-wheel drive cars had a basic weight disadvantage, and when Mike Costin (the ‘Cos’ of Cosworth) and Trevor Taylor tested their car, many problems were found. Despite prodigious speed and acceleration, it quickly became just another ‘might have been’."