57 replies to this topic

[Tim Murray]

The Silverstone race was the British Empire Trophy on 8th July, one week before the British GP:

http://www.formula2.net/F161_14.htm

These results on Stefan's site list the cause of the Ferguson's retirement as 'Crash - gear selector'. Did the car really crash?

[cooper997]

The Ferguson isn't listed in the May 6, 1961 Silverstone International Trophy meeting programme.

There is a 3 page feature on the Ferguson in Autosport's 1961-62 High Performance Cars annual. The basics of this revolves around Moss winning at the Oulton Park Gold Cup. One of the 3 pages is devoted to a Theo Page cutaway.

The July & August 1961 issues of Automobile Engineer have extensive features on the construction of the car.

The January 19, 1963 Lady Wigram programme also has a feature on the car and Ireland. Peter Greenslade's Wigram report in February 1, 1963 Autosport mentions the following "Maggs lapped Ireland on his 36th tour and next time round the Ferguson, with steam billowing from it, cruised slowly into the pits."

The April 1963 Modern Motor gave G Hill and the Ferguson the cover for that issue. This issue also carrying the Lakeside and Warwick Farm Internationals event reports.

Stephen

[Allan Lupton]

These results on Stefan's site list the cause of the Ferguson's retirement as 'Crash - gear selector'. Did the car really crash?

No of course it didn't!
I was there, more or less because I hoped to see Moss in the P99 and I would have remembered any crash it had, even in Jack Fairman's hands!
The Motor Sport tells us the gear selector problems left Fairman with first and reverse gears only(!) after three laps. He stopped at Maggots but eventually got it back to the pits.

[Tim Murray]

Thanks Allan - I thought this was the case.

[Ray Bell]

Of interest to me is the fact that the car did far more racing in the Southern Hemisphere than it did at home...

Looking at the three races contested in England we have:

British Empire Trophy, Silverstone, July 8 - 2 laps before retiring with gearbox failure - 2.5-litre engine

British Grand Prix, Aintree, July 15 - 56 laps before disqualification

Oulton Park Gold Cup, September 23 - 1st place 46s ahead of Jack Brabham

Then, after over a year in hibernation, the car was sent to New Zealand for Graham Hill and Innes Ireland to drive:

New Zealand Grand Prix, Pukekohe, January 5 - G Hill retired while 2nd, gearbox failure after clutch failure, 74 laps (of 75)

Levin International Race, Levin, January 12 - Innes Ireland 3rd place 48.9s behind Brabham

Lady Wigram Trophy, Wigram, January 19 - Ireland retired overheating at 36 laps

Teretonga International, Teretonga, January 26 - Ireland 3rd place 18.6s behind McLaren

Australian Grand Prix, Warwick Farm, February 10 - Hill 6th place over a lap behind Brabham

Lakeside International 99, Lakeside, February 17 - Hill 2nd place 29s behind Surtees

In all, with two different drivers, the car started three races and completed 547.783kms of racing in England in 1961. It used two different engines there, first the 2.5-litre Coventry-Climax FPF and then the Mk 2 1.5-litre Coventry-Climax FPF.

In the 1963 New Zealand and Australian races, again with two different drivers, it had six race starts and completed 874.55kms of racing. Just one engine was used, the 2.5-litre Coventry-Climax FPF, which ran on Avgas generally against cars powered by the 2.7-litre version of the Coventry-Climax engine on more potent fuel mixes.

In The Design and Behaviour of the Racing Car, Pomeroy discusses it as possibly pointing the way forward in Racing Car design. Reproducing a cutaway drawing from The Motor the caption includes the comment:

...when S.M. won the Gold Cup at Oulton in 1961 on the Ferguson four-wheel car, and made a lap at 93.42m.p.h. to set up a new 1.5 litre record, he may have achieved something of an historic significance.

Indeed he did, but not quite in the way Pomeroy meant.

My apologies if I have taken some of the sources I've used as being correct and they haven't been. The remaining issue now is the actual detail about the disqualification at Silverstone.

I've seen 'outside assistance' quoted on one website, was the car perhaps push-started by crew from another car in the Silverstone pits? What does DSJ say?

Edited by Ray Bell, 10 July 2013 - 10:38.

[Roger Clark]

Motor Racing said that Fairman took to the grass at the start and he believed this could have been the cause of the gearbox problems. This could have been the origin of the crash story,

A long article on the car by DSJ (November 1961) says that the layshaft failed due to abuse in practice following persistent brake problems. I don't know why this would leave the car with first and reverse gears.

[Roger Clark]

The remaining issue now is the actual detail about the disqualification at Silverstone.

I've seen 'outside assistance' quoted on one website, was the car perhaps push-started by crew from another car in the Silverstone pits? What does DSJ say?

DSJ says that the Ferguson was disqualified when mechanics push started it following a pitstop while Fairman was driving. The organisers had indicated that Fairman could continue of the team wished but protests were made when Moss took over. DSJ thought this was a poor show and said so.

The Grand Prix was, of course, at Aintree, not Silverstone.

[Ray Bell]

Thank you, Roger, I've corrected the venue and the race distance... of course, I shouldn't have made that mistake!

I'm still mystified by the disqualification. Was it, perhaps, something to do with the unfamiliarity of the new F1 rules?

Starter motors were mandated with the new formula, and I'm sure switching drivers had some new ruling related to it. Could it be that the starter motor didn't work? Or that it wasn't there? Even if it didn't work, it only had to be there (and presumably working at the start of the race meeting) to qualify the car, but as it was a new rule, did someone become overly zealous about things?

The wording of DSJ's report could throw further light on this.