This somewhat proved the potential of the system to further aid the Manta’s prowess in rallying. In comparison, a rear-wheel drive rally Manta achieved the same “wet grass” test in 13.5s – taking five whole seconds more. The setup was said to be able to propel the car from 0 to 100 kph (62 mph) in 6.3s on the tarmac, while the same test on “wet grass” wielded a time of 8.5s. Koch quickly came to the defence of the 4WD system by citing improper time to correctly set-up the car beforehand. The drivers quite enjoyed debunking Ferguson’s statement by spinning out the car multiple times thanks to harsh manoeuvres. The tests were performed under the supervision of then Opel Motorsport project head Erich Koch. The rally version of the 4WD prototype was delivered to the test drivers with a brash statement: “With this car you can no longer spin-out!“. However, it was reportedly re-tuned specifically for the 4WD system which resulted in a tamer 240 BHP to help favour better low-end torque. For the rally version, the engine was upgraded to the “phase 2” setup as used in the Group B rally Ascona B 400 at the time. Besides this, the engine of the road car prototype is said to have been a basic 144 BHP “phase 1” unit from the B 400 production model and was left untouched. The extra mass of the entire system was said to increase the weight of the car to around 1200 kg (2690 lbs). The particular system engineered for the Manta project was set up to distribute torque Front 36% / Rear 64%, which is typical for a car of this layout. It reacts almost instantaneously, maintaining traction and eliminating slippage.” When one axle starts to slip, torque is transferred to the other axle. This is dependent on the differential between the speeds of the front and rear driveshafts. This consists of inter-meshed vanes running in a high viscosity silicone guild that transmits torque in varying degrees depending on its temperature, which is varied according to friction generated between the sets of vanes. “The heart of the Ferguson system is the Viscous Control torque splitting device. However, no official documents were made available from Opel Motorsport (as it is expected of most prototypes) to confirm the actual number of prototypes built.īill Munro, author of the book “ Traction For Sale“ (FFD’s history), explains in detail the workings of the company’s flagship 4WD system: A second Manta was reportedly converted to 4WD and updated to the rally “wide” specifications for comparison purposes. For this, FFD raided their conversion parts bin and rigged up a system that is said to having used Triumph 1300 uprights and driveshafts for the front axle. It is said that it took the Ferguson team approximately six months to produce a driveable prototype. Homologation Modelįor this very special study project, Opel provided a basic, all white, “narrow body” road car which was reportedly driven straight from Rüsselsheim, Germany, to FFD in Coventry, England. The British company was already offering 4WD conversions on customer cars and were providing them for Opel Monza and Senator models and had engineered full-time 4WD systems for production for the AMC Eagle and aftermarket upgrades on Triumph 2000s and Stags and for the Range Rover. Tony Fall contacted FF Developments (FFD) for them to design a suitable 4WD system specifically for the Manta.
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