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Working on 4WD were Cosworth, BRM, Lotus, Matra, McLaren and Ferrari. Most integrated Ferguson’s proven system into existing chassis, but Northampton went its own way.
We reported: “Drive is taken from the engine, which is installed with the flywheel end forward, to a two-shaft gearbox with Hewland gears to give a wide choice of ratios.
An extra gear, mounted on the end of the second motion shaft, takes the drive sideways to an angled bevel differential from which it is taken to the front and rear final drives. The torque-split ratio is likely to be about 40:60 front to rear, with further adjustment possible by altering front and rear wheel diameters.
“The rear drive passes under the right-hand cylinder bank of the engine and is then taken sideways across the back of the engine by a pair of spur wheels, suitably cased, to the rear differential.
“The front driveshaft –which, like the rear, is a solid shaft with Hooke joints – is taken through a guard tube directly to the front differential, side-step gears being unnecessary [here].
“Two points in the layout of this drive stand out. One is that by arranging the fore-and-aft drive lines on the right-hand side of the car (Lotus and McLaren have theirs on the left), it has been possible to eliminate an idler wheel between the gearbox and the centre differential. This is necessary in the other designs to match the rotation of the engine and transmission.
