Traction for Sale: The Story of Ferguson Formula Four-wheel Drive

Until the 1970s, four-wheel drive was almost exclusively found on utility vehicles like the Land Rover and the Jeep. And almost nobody considered four-wheel drive, especially full-time four-wheel drive as a major safety feature to be built into any type of car. That is, unless you were tractor millionaire Harry Ferguson or former racing driver Tony Rolt. Ferguson shared the dream of Rolt and his original business partner, fellow racing driver Freddie Dixon by investing in their fledgling company, and giving it his name. The Ferguson Formula, as the product of Harry Ferguson Research Ltd eventually became known, incorporated full-time four-wheel drive, anti-skid braking and a fully automatic transmission. Starting in the days before Harry Ferguson became involved, to 1994, when Ricardo acquired the successor company, FF Developments Ltd, Traction for Sale tells the story of the companiesand the people behind them and covers all the well-known vehicles in the Ferguson Formula saga, including the Jensen FF; the Ferguson-Climax F1; the Ferguson-Novi, Paxton Turbine and Lotus 56 Indianapolis racing cars; the Lancia Delta, Peugeot 205 T16, Metro 6R4, Ford RS200 and Escort Cosworth rally cars; the AMC Eagle and the Schuler and Overfinch Range Rovers. And it covers those models less well known for FFD technology, such as the Chevrolet Safari 4x4, VW Golf Synchro, Ford Scorpio and Sapphire 4x4 and the Jaguar X-Type as well as those for which FFD supplied essential transmission components, such as the McLaren F1 and Jaguar XJ220