Hello fellow puzzlers.
Here's another puzzle for you to crack. There is a point on offer.
No reply, will the experts know more?
Ferguson R4 4WD prototype by Harry Ferguson, 1954.
Indeed!
Quote from: Carnut on January 07, 2011, 05:04:30 AM
Ferguson R4 4WD prototype by Harry Ferguson, 1954.
Many police Fords etc were converted to 4WD by Ferguson, as they understood the benefits of the all-weather traction it offered, but the first production car to have the Ferguson Formula 4WD was of course the Jensen FF in 1966, which also had Dunlop Maxaret anti-lock braking. Sadly few understood the benefits (or more likely, couldn't afford the car...) and very few were sold. The concepts are much more widely appreciated and available today of course, anti-lock braking now being compulsory in the UK and many other countries.
Ferguson research also worked with Ford on their production four-wheel-drive Sierra XR4X4 and a very good system it was, too. It recognised that what with weight transfer on acceleration (and going uphill) and the general characteristics of the car a front:rear torque/power split of 40:60 was best, a feature that has been retained in the (Ford) Jaguar X-Type.
May other 4WD cars (e.g. Subaru and Audi) use a 50:50 split and actually advertise it as an advantage! Since they come from front-drive it is an improvement, but more rear would be better.
Back to the Jensen FF it had only one Maxaret anti-lock unit which was driven by the centre diff and controlled all the wheels at once, the logic being that it preserved the side-to-side symmetry, the idea being that controlling each side separately would pull the car off the road when one side was on a more slippery surface. Seemed reasonable at the time, but we don't have that now - and it seems to work.
As Carnut says few were sold and the one man I knew who had bought a non-FF Interceptor new, could well have afforded the FF but preferred what we rather dismissively referred to as the "austerity version".
and what he fool he feels right now?
Quote from: DeAutogids on January 09, 2011, 09:28:16 AM
and what he fool he feels right now?
If you mean my friend who didn't buy the FF, he sold it on after ten years or so as you do with current cars. He died 4½ years ago at the age of 95 having won a motor race the year before and having his last race some four months before his death, so he's not feeling a fool (or anything) now.
That I could not know ;).
Quote from: DeAutogids on January 10, 2011, 04:14:25 AM
That I could not know ;).
Not the detail, of course, but not many people would worry too much about the decisions they made when buying a touring car 44 years ago.
Well, kind of that was what my remark was aimed at.
With hinsight, many a person feels like a fool for letting go X, Y or Z. I myself have that with certain things. The other side of it is true as well: If we would all keep everything what we once owned, much of the stuff that is valuable now would not be as valuable. Oh well, back to Ferguson, I suppose .
I'd be bordering on a millionaire today if I still had all the cars i once owned...!
A larger version of the puzzle pic