Four-Play? F1’s Fling with 4WD

Formula 1 is a sport of fine margins. Teams will spend millions researching and developing new parts, systems and aero devices in the pursuit of a few tenths around a lap. Drivers must nail braking points, apexes and overtakes with unfaltering accuracy or risk sending their car spinning off track in a violent pirouette of shattered hopes and carbon fibre. Weight must be saved at every opportunity and components packaged with uncompromising efficiency. Precision is key.

When I think of four-wheel drive, I don’t think of precision. I imagine Delta Integrales being flung sideways through the mountains of Greece, or ‘Godzilla’ GT-Rs hammering up half-mile runways with the thrust of a Saturn V. Great for grip on loose surfaces and initial off-the-line acceleration, but the added weight of a 4WD system surely contradicts the philosophy of a Formula 1 car?

Well, it appears that several F1 teams from seasons past would disagree. First appearing in 1961, 4WD appeared sporadically across the paddock for over a decade before it was eventually outlawed in 1982.

The cars listed below are from a bygone era of experimentation in the sport that we are unlikely to see again. Whilst they may not have brought home any championships, we can still look back and admire the results of designers thinking outside of the box.

1. 1961 Ferguson P99

Harry Ferguson was an inventor, known for designing all sorts of machinery from monoplanes to tractors. It was his revolutionary 4WD system, however, that would find its way onto Grand Prix circuits alongside the likes of Ferrari and Lotus.

Wanting to prove the advantages of his new 4WD system, Ferguson assembled a team to design an experimental racecar for the 1961 F1 season. Rob Walker Racing ran the P99 with Stirling Moss behind the wheel for its debut at the British Grand Prix. As well as being the first car to enter a Formula 1 Grand Prix with 4WD, it was also the last to feature a front-mounted engine.

It was in contention to win its debut race but was later black flagged and disqualified. It would pick up its sole victory at the 1963 Outlon Park International Gold Cup, a non-championship race but still an important win for Ferguson and the 4WD drive system. Unfortunately, Harry Fergusen had passed away the year prior but his invention would live on, eventually making its way into the first road-going production car with four driven wheels, the Jensen FF.

FF, of course, standing for Ferguson Formula.

2. 1964 BRM P67

The 1966 F1 season would see engine capacities doubled, from 1.5 litres to 3.0 litres. Anticipating traction issues from the increase in power, BRM acquired Ferguson’s system and began experimenting with their own 4WD racecar.

A prototype was first entered into the 1964 British Grand Prix where it qualified plumb last, a vast seven seconds off Jim Clark’s pole time in his Lotus. BRM quite sensibly decided to pull the P67 from Sunday’s main event. Not the ideal start.

Unfortunately, things didn’t get much better for the P67. Clearly unimpressed with the performance, and distracted developing their wild H16 engine, BRM shelved the P67 and it would never see the chequered flag (or indeed the start flag) of a Grand Prix.

3. 1969 Lotus 63

The 1969 season saw no less than four different teams try their hand at designing a 4WD Formula 1 car. In order to counter rising power-to-weight ratios and lack of grip, Lotus looked to their turbine powered, 4WD Indycar experiment from the previous year, the 56. Whilst the turbine didn’t make it back across the pond, the 4WD system did.

The result was the Lotus 63; a combination of Cosworth DFV V8, aerodynamics inspired by its hugely successful predecessor, the 49, and four driven wheels. With Graham Hill and Jochen Rindt at the wheel, surely podiums were already in the bag?

Not that simple, I'm afraid. Hill and Rindt both tested the car and consequently refused to race it, arguing that it was simply too difficult and too dangerous to drive, Hill labelling it a “deathtrap”. Eventually, Rindt managed to wrangle the 63 to an impressive second place in the 1969 Oulton Park International World Cup, but it was swiftly retired at the end of the season.

4. 1969 Matra MS84

Like the Lotus 63, the Matra MS84 also appeared during the 1969 season. Those who are brushed-up on their F1 history will know that 1969 was the year that Matra took home the constructor’s trophy, so they clearly knew a thing or two about designing a fast car.

Unfortunately, this victory was not due to the success of the MS84 and its 4WD, but instead the more traditional, rear-wheel driven MS80 in the hands of Jackie Stewart and Jean-Pierre Beltoise. It was Sir Stewart who had encouraged the development of a 4WD car in an attempt to gain an advantage in the wet after the particularly rainy 1968 season.

Racing maestro he may be, but a meteorologist, Jackie Stewart is not. The 1969 season saw very little rain, essentially negating any advantage the MS84 would have had over its competition. It only entered four races, with the team opting for the lighter, faster MS80 instead. A decision that ultimately won them the constructors championship, and Jackie, the driver’s championship.

5. 1969 McLaren M9A

If you thought Matra’s four race entries were meagre, McLaren managed to give up on the 4WD experiment even faster. The M9A entered just one Grand Prix with Derek Bell taking the helm.

McLaren’s effort wouldn’t even see the end of the race, a rear suspension arm breaking and ending Bell’s run early. I’m sure he wasn’t too distraught - having qualified fifteenth out of seventeen, he was spared the embarrassment of running at the back of the field alongside the other 4WD entries mentioned above.

Bruce McLaren himself stated that driving the M9A was comparable to “writing your signature with somebody jogging your elbow.” With the skipper clearly unimpressed, the project was abandoned in favour of the lighter, faster and more reliable 2WD McLaren M7A.

6. 1969 Cosworth ‘Four-Wheel Drive’

If there was a hall of fame for Formula 1 engine builders, there would be a shiny, lightweight, magnesium plaque with the name ‘Cosworth’ etched across its surface, hanging on the same wall as Ferrari, Ford and Honda. Their DFV V8 dominated the grid in the late ‘60s and was still fighting its corner in a sea of sombrero-sized turbos of the early ‘80s.

Only once did Cosworth go the whole hog and build a car of their own. Their entry was the last of the 4WD experiments to appear during the 1969 season, however, also the shortest-lived.

The ubiquitous DFV V8 was placed behind the driver and mated to an entirely unique 4WD system. Jackie Stewart briefly tested the car and his feedback wasn’t exactly glowing: “It's so heavy on the front, you turn into a corner and the whole thing starts driving you. The car tries to take you over.” Hardly confidence-inspiring. This unusual wedge of aluminium survived just one official Formula 1 practice session before it was euthanised, never to see the start line of a Grand Prix.

7. 1971 Lotus 56B

Without question, the final 4WD Formula 1 car to race is by far the wildest of the bunch. Essentially a tweaked version of their 1969 Indy 500 entry, Lotus’s 56B used a 600 bhp Pratt & Whitney gas turbine to power its four wheels, without the need for a clutch and gearbox.

Even during this period of experimentation in F1, it was an utterly bizarre setup, compounded by its radical doorstop-esque styling. It raced three rounds of the 1971 season and proved formidable in wet conditions. Australian driver Dave Walker cruised up twelve places in five laps at a soggy Zandvoort only to eventually bin it, much to Colin Chapman’s frustration.

Whilst the powertrain and transmission never caught on, the aerodynamic shape of the 56B would chart the course for the next decade of racecar design. It was an outlandish yet fitting end to 4WD in Formula 1, an experiment that seemed unlikely to ever pay off and, ultimately, never did.

Will we ever see 4WD in Formula 1 again? Most likely not. Originally intended to improve traction, later tyre and aerodynamic advancements eventually rendered it pointless. But as a period of the sport when experimentation was at the forefront of design, we can look back and admire the teams that gave it a shot.