On 23rd September 1961, Oulton Park witnessed a unique piece of motor racing history. Stirling drove the experimental 4-wheel drive Ferguson P99 to victory in the International Gold Cup event over 60 laps of the 2.7 mile circuit. This is the only occasion that a 4-wheel-drive car has ever won a Formula 1 race.

No less than 65,000 spectators turned out to watch the Grand Prix drivers of the era – of the big names only the Ferrari and Porsche teams failed to appear at the Cheshire circuit.

Back in the early ‘60s the quest for the World Championship was much less demanding than it is now with points being scored at just 8 events of which only the best 5 results counted.

This relaxed schedule made it possible for the top stars to take part in major stand-alone races, one of which was the Gold Cup at Oulton Park. Stirling said of the circuit “I would have to say that it was one of my favourites with a good mix of fast straights and challenging corners; particularly Knickerbrook. A visit to Oulton Park also meant a stay in Chester, which was a city I enjoyed visiting.”

Being front-engined, the Ferguson P99, entered by the Rob Walker Racing team, was in a minority when it lined-up on the grid as John Cooper had started the “mid-engined revolution” a few years earlier. Although being heavier than the mid-engined competitors, the P99 had four wheel-drive transmission and anti-lock brakes.

Drizzle fell throughout the day of the Gold Cup, the damp conditions playing straight into the hands of the P99 4-wheel drive system, which masked the weight disadvantage of the Ferguson. Although Stirling was slow away from the line he had took the lead from Jim Clark by lap 6 of the race and went on to take victory by a comfortable 46 seconds ahead of Jack Brabham in a Cooper after Clark’s Lotus suffered rear suspension failure.

Today Stirling recalls how the P99 had so much grip that he had to change his technique to get the best out of the car. “It required a different style of driving meaning you had to be accurate when entering a corner to find the apex. Unlike a rear wheel or front wheel drive car, you did not need to compensate for oversteer or understeer. It drove exactly where you pointed it.”

He also enjoyed executing passing manoeuvres in the Ferguson, “I could overtake on the outside of corners; the grip was such I could take one hand off the wheel to acknowledge the overtaken driver with a wave of the hand!”

Some years later in 1982, following various attempts to race 4-wheel drive F1 cars by BRM, Lotus and Mclaren in the 1960's and 70's, the Williams F1 Team built an experimental 6-wheeled car with 4 driven wheels at the rear. This prompted the FIA to change the regulations to specifically state that drive could only be routed through one axle. This effectively banned 4-wheel-drive and meant that Stirling’s victory in the 1961 Gold Cup will never be emulated.

Such is the extent of Stirling’s fan base that late last year we were sent some fantastic images of the 1961 Gold Cup Race, which show Stirling in the P99, Jim Clark in his Lotus, Graham Hill driving the BRM, as well as shots of the pits.

We are able to offer exclusive images for sale of Stirling in the Ferguson P99, produced from the original negatives. To purchase signed or unsigned historic and modern images of Stirling racing the P99, please click here

Our thanks to Mike Driver for the images and their use, which were taken using an Exakta Varex IIa camera with f2.8 Jena T lens. Mike took these shots when he was home on leave from the RAF in Germany. Please note that copyright is the exclusive to the Stirling Moss website, no reproduction without consent.

For the history of the Ferguson P99, see our monthly series of The Cars features, click here