Friday,

6th of February - The Ferguson P99, pictured above with Sir Stirling Moss at the wheel during the 2005 Goodwood Revival, is the only four wheel drive car ever to have won a Formula 1 race. This visionary car, also the first to have disc brakes and a anti-skid braking system, debuted at the 1961 British Grand Prix at Aintree with Jack Fairman at the wheel. Stirling Moss later wrote history by winning in the Gold Cup at Oulton Park at the wheel of the P99. Despite the promissing performance in the wet, it should remain its only major success. The P99 finally excelled on hill climbs, winning the 1964 British Hill Climb Championship with Peter Westbury at the wheel. Tony Rolt, who passed away a year ago today, was the mastermind behind the 4WD concept paired with Claude Hill’s chassis design and backing from Harry Ferguson Research.

6/2/1997, Roger Laurent dies.

Five times Belgian motorcycle champion, Roger Laurent switched to racing cars in the 1940s, took part in a couple of non-championship Grands Prix and, during 1952, in 2 World Championship rounds at the wheel of a Ferrari 500. His best result remained a 6th place in the German GP at the Nürburgring that year. His last F1 race came 1954 in Syracuse before concentrating on sports car racing finishing in 4th place twice at the 24 hours of Le Mans.

Born: 21st of February 1913 in Liège, Belgium;
Died: 6th of February 1997 in Uccle, Belgium, aged 83.

6/2/1999, Umberto Maglioli dies.

An accomplished and versatile sports car racer and endurance race specialist, Magioli only raced occasionally in Formula 1 as a reserve driver for Maserati, Ferrari and Porsche. In the 1954 Italian Grand Prix he shared a Ferrari with Froilan Gonzalez finishing 3rd and in the 1955 Argentine GP, this time sharing with Giuseppe Farina and Maurice Trintignant, he repeated what would be the result of his career again with the Scuderia Ferrari. Being a member of the Porsche works-team in sports car racing, he got a last chance in 1956 to participate in a World Championship round as the Germans entered him one of their 1.5 liter F1 cars at the 1956 German GP. After retiring from the sport he ran a business in Lugano making luxury watches. Umberto Maglioli died after a long illness.

Born: 5th of June 1928 in Bioglio, Italy;
Died: 6th of February 1999 in Monza, Italy, aged 70.

6/2/2008, Anthony Peter Roylance Rolt dies.

Major Tony Rolt MC was a British war hero who took part in the first ever F1 World Championship race at Silverstone in 1950 sharing a car with Peter Walker and later adding another 2 Grands Prix starts to his tally. He also won the 1953 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race with Duncan Hamilton in a works C-Type Jaguar, nearly reapeting the result the following. Aside being an accomplished race driver, Tony was an engineer with a vision of making four-wheel drive work for performance cars. He retired from racing in 1955 and, with his mechanic Freddy Dixon, formed Dixon Rolt Developments which pioneered the viscous coupling.

Tractor manufacturer Harry Ferguson became the main backer of the project, hence the first 4WD race car they produced was called Ferguson P99, the only 4WD car to win a Formula 1 race with Stirling Moss taking it to victory in the Gold Cup at Oulton Park. The 4WD concept was also quite successful in America and in 1966 was built into the Jensen FF road car. After Ferguson’s death Rolt he founded FF Developments in 1971, a huge success with its technology being used throughout the motor industry and later sold to Ricardo Consulting Engineers. Tony Rolt retired a wealthy man and when he died early in 2008 after a spell of ill-health, he had been the last surviving driver from the inaugural World Championship Grand Prix held at Silverstone.

Born: 16th of October 1918 in Bordon, UK;
Died: 6th of February 2008 in Warwick, aged 89.