:: Ferret Industries

(Most Recent updates in maroon)

Mark 1 - Canada Class

Photos

Designed and built by Fred Wilken, Bill Brunt, and Doug Ferguson. After a successful career of racing, the Mark 1 lived at the back of B&W Motors for many years. Over the course of the past few years, the Canada Class car was restored by Al Fergusson and made a triumphant return to the track at the 2005 VARAC International Vintage Festival. More information to come shortly as we hope to have Al document his restoration project with pictures and further details.

1964 Aug 15 th. Great Lakes Trophy Races at Harewood Acres. Fred Wilken and Doug Ferguson both enter the Ferret in the Canada Class. Doug enters under the Ecurie Fiasco banner. Other notables in the Canada Class are Bob Long’s Anteater, and Oliver Clubine’s Mantis Austin.

Mark 2 - Formula A

Photos

A project contracted by Frank Salem. A McLaren Mark 1 Can Am car underwent a transformation that would make it eligible for the 1968/1969 Gulf Formula A Championship. While not a front runner, the Ferret Mark 2 shared the track with many of the great Canadian drivers competing in this prestigious series. Frank campaigned that car for 2 years and upon the completion of his stint, had Fred rebody the car with a Chinook sports racer shell. The car was sold and it present whereabouts are unknown. Hopefully more info to come on this interesting racecar.

Mark 3, 3b, 3c - Formula Ford

Photos

There were three Ferret MKIII's built. Eric Siegrist built one (Stu Lamont may have been involved during the build but certainly was after).

Chassis 1 - Stu raced it and crashed it into an ambulance in T1 at Mosport. This was the accident that saw the tragic death of renowned Canadian competitor Wayne Kelly. That car was written off and eventually cut up for scrap

Chassis 2 - Raced by Stu, Bill Hirst and John Scratch. Byron ?( last name unknown) crashed at T9 at Mosport and broke both ankles. Car was written off.

Chassis 3 - Eric scaled it down and made it an F4. The subsequent owner mover out west to Vancouver and took the car with him. It was then owned by someone that runs a racing book store in Vancouver(Wilken's Book Store?) They sold it to someone in Portland.

1971 Mosport, Sept 19 th Canadian Grand Prix. Stu Lamont finished 7 th in his heat. The feature race was cancelled due to an incident on lap 2.

1972 Mosport, April 23 rd. Stu Lamont entered in Team SRC Ferret. He DNF’d in his heat race. Scratch also entered with Triple J Racing in a Paliser.
1972 Mosport, April 30 th BEMC Spring Trophy Races. Bill Hirst and Stu Lamont are both entered in the Ferret. Bill in the novice class and Stu in FF. Bill finished 3 rd in both of his races. Stu finshed 3 rd in his first race ahead of Scratch’s Paliser, but for some reason was not in the second race.
1972 Mosport, May 28 th Burlington Trophy Races. Bill Hirst finishes 8 th and 12 th. This race featured a Gurney Eagle driven by Ludwig Heimrath.
1972 Mosport, October 15 th. Scratch is entered in the Player’s Race of Champions.

1973 Mosport, April 22 nd. Scratch finished 3 rd in his heat race. Purdy won his heat in his Purdy-Stewart Racing Lotus 61MX
1973 Mosport, May 20 th. Scratch won his heat race but DNF’d in the final.
1973 Mosport, June 9 th. DNF’d
1973 Mosport, August 19 th. Finished 6 th in feature.

Mark 4 - Formula Ford

Chassis #1 - Built for John Scratch during winter, spring and fall of 1973-74.

Photos

First raced in fall 1974 (Alec “I think its first race was at Lime Rock, driven by Craig Hill”). Subsequent information suggests that the first outing was actually to Nelson Ledges due to its proximity to Hanover and the Windsor/Sarnia border.

1974 Mosport, October 13 th. Scratch finished 7 th with fast lap of 1:35.14, more than 3 seconds off winners fast lap.
1975 Mosport, April 27th. Finished 2nd
1975 Mosport, June 14 th Labatt’s Blue 5000 Weekend. Started 7 th Finished 3 rd. Sits 2 nd in Bulova points.
1975 Mosport, June 29 th Dominion to Independence Day Sprints. Qualified 1 st with a new track record of 1:31.51 and DNF’d on lap 18 of 20. Set fastest lap of 1:31.88.
1975 Mosport, July 8th. Started 2nd but DNF’d with broken ignition on lap 12. Had fastest lap of 1:31.88
1975 Mosport, July 21st. Dave White spun on lap 8 in T10 taking out Scratch and Don McKnight. Don Sobering 1st, Nigel Gough 2nd, Richard Spenard 3rd.
1975 Mosport August 4th. Scratch wins Bulova feature race. This was the first feature win for the Ferret. Passed Spenard on lap 15 of 20. Spenard 2nd, Gough 3rd. Scratch sits third in points with 58, ten behind Nigel Gough after 6 of 7 events.
1975 Mosport August 16 th. Finished 3 rd.
1975 Mosport Sept 21 st. Qualifed 2 nd and finished 5 th. Sits 4 th in Bulova points with 61.
1975 Run-Offs St. Jovite Sept 28 th. Qualified 4 th and finished 1 st to Sobering and Spenard. 1975 CASC National FF Champion

1976 Opening race of Bulova Championship, Mosport. Scratch 1st, Purdy 2nd
1976 Mosport, May 23rd. Finished 3rd. Burritt 1st, McKnight 2nd. Scratch and Burritt tied for series lead with 32 points.
1976 Nelson Ledges, May 29 th. Qualified 14 th, finished 9 th.
1976 Mosport, June 20 th. Qualified 2 nd with a time of 1:31.56 and DNF’d in 15 th after 13 laps. Had fastest race lap of 1:31.928. Sits tied for 2 nd in Bulova Championship with 32 points.
1976 Mosport, July 3 rd, 1976(The infamous “Rain Race”) Finished 1 st after race is red flagged on lap 12 due to heavy rain. Fastest race lap of 1:30.89 which was a new track record.
1976 Mosport, August 28 th (BEMC). Qualified 3 rd, Finished 3 rd.
1976 Mosport, September 10 th. Finished 3 rd in Bulova F100 final.
1976 Canadian Run-Offs Sept 26th, Mont Tremblant. Qualified 4th, finished 1st in 23 car field

Mosport, Oct 4th. Started 1st to Purdy. Finished 1st to Purdy and essentially locked up 2nd place in the Bulova Championship.
1976 Quebec Championship. John competed in 2 races. July 11th at Mont Tremblant, finished 3rd to Danny Burritt and Doug Titus. Future Ferret driver John Nemy was 9th in a Lotus 69. Also, round 5 of the championship (no date), Scratch qualified 2nd and finished 1st in field of 26 ahead of Bob Armstrong and Howard Kelly.
1976 CASC National FF Champion
1976 Ontario Region Champion

1977 GP of Quebec, June 10th. Finished 1st, from 13th.
1977 Mont Tremblant, June 12th. Finished 19th
1977 Shannonville, Aug 5th. Finished 2nd

1978 Montreal, Sept 24th. (Weekend before GP) Qualified 5th and finished 2nd to Dave Weitzenhof in field of 27.
Canadian Grand Prix Weekend. Qualified 5th finished 6th. Jacques Villeneuve finished 1st in a Crossle

1979 Quebec GP, June 10th. Qualified 13th, finished 1st ahead of Vince Muzzin and Bob Armstrong and a 37 car field.
1979 Shannonville, Aug 5th. Finished 2nd.
1979 Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal Sept 29th. Finished 1st ahead of Bob Armstrong and Jacques Desjardins in 40 car field.
1979 Canadian Run-Offs Mosport . Finished 1st ahead of Ludwig Heimrath, Bob Armstrong and John Nemy in 2nd Ferret
1979 CASC National FF Champion

1980 Trois-Rivieres, Aug 24th. Qualified 3rd, finished 3 rd in 30 car field.
1980 Canadian Run-Offs, Sept 14 th, Mosport. Qualified 2nd, finished 3 rd to Goodyear and Cullen in field of 33
1980 Canadian Grand Prix, Sept 28th, Montreal. Qualified 4th, finished 2nd.

1981 July 12, Sanair. Qualified 9th, DNF in 17th out of 20. Race 2 DNS
August 23, Sanair. Qualified 15th, finished 3rd to Goodyear and Weitzenhof out of 28. Race 2, qualified 3rd, finished 3rd to Goodyear and Cullen out of 26.
Sept 5th, Trois-Rivieres. Qualified 2nd, Finished 2nd to Weitzenhof out of 36.
Sept 27th Canadian G.P. Qualified 4th, Finished 4th behind Goodyear, Michael Clifford and Cullen out of 38.
Finished 8th in Quebec 1600 points, starting only 5 of 12 races.
1981 Run-Offs at Gimli Manitoba, did not attend.

- 1982 Walter Wolf Formula Ford Championship

Round 1, June 5, 1982. Mosport. Scratch qualified 7 th and finished 3 rd to Weitzenhof and Goodyear.
Round 2, June 13, 1982. Montreal Grand-Prix. Qualified 2nd, finished 5 th in 40 car field. 1st Goodyear, 2nd Cullen, 3 rd Wolf Hoffman.
Round 3, Mosport
Round 4, Mosport Aug 14 Labatt 50 GT Weekend.
Round 5, Trois-Rivieres Sep 4. Qualified 3rd, finished 2nd in 29 car field. 1st Goodyear, 3rd Weitzenhof.
August 1st, Sanair. Qualified 2nd finished 1st ahead of Weitzenhof and Serge Beaudin. Race 2, started 1st and finished 2nd to Weitzenhof.
Sept 3 rd, Trois-Rivieres. Qualified 3rd finished 13th.
Final standings (Walter Wolf). Goodyear 132, Cullen 94, Scratch 74, Weitzenhof 51, Brian Malcolm 51.

- 1982 Run-Offs at Gimli Manitoba, did not attend.

- 1983 Walter Wolf Formula Ford Championship

John is listed in several results for this season as driving a Ferret. However, he in fact had sold the car to Steve Wagland in the spring of 1983, and was driving a PRS FF2000. Steve obtained all of the jigs and fixtures that John Scratch had stored in his basement form Ferret Industries.

1986 Canadian Run-Offs at Mont Tremblant. Steve Wagland qualified 7th and finished 4th in a field of 22.
Ontario Formula Ford 1600 Champion

- Steve Wagland sold car to Gunter Schmidt in 1985

Gunter Schmidt modified the front and rear suspension to in-board. The front used bell- cranks and rocker arms. Gunter also removed the side pods, modified the frame to make the car narrower, and heavily modified the rear bodywork in an effort increase the speed of the car.
Gunter also inherited all of the body molds and suspension jigs for the Mark 4 Ferrets.
From Gunters Website :
- 1988/89 GSR Ferret Formula Ford 1600
  
  This is my home built Formula Ford 1600.
  
  Needless to say it used a lot of Volkswagen parts like the rear uprights which were made from Golf front wheelbearing housings, or the driveshafts which came out of a VW Fox. My old Scirocco donated the wheels and the radiator, and the Transmission housing came out of an old beetle.The engine of course must be as per the rule book a Ford pushrod, 1600 cc 4 cylinder. In this car I finished 9th in the Yokohama / Beckers Championship. To date the car is owned by a retired school teacher who eventually will take it out to race.
  
  1988 .....9th in Beckers FF1600 Series
  1989 .....10th in Becker FF1600
Gunter Schmidt sold car to George McCullough in the state of disrepair following an accident.
This car is currently with George McCullough and is stripped to the frame and is waiting to be rebuilt after an accident.
Keith Willis, George’s son in law and co-owner of AIM Autosport (Woodbridge Ontario) , helped build and develop the Arrow Mark 2 formula Ford, the most successful Canadian Formula Fords in the last 15 years. Keith is keen to restore the Scratch Ferret and campaign a team of “Championship” Formula fords with his wife Elaine driving the Ferret, and he in the Arrow.

Chassis #2 - Built for Alec Purdy winter 1974

Photos

1975 Mont Tremblant July 6 th. Purdy broke lap record by more than 2 seconds while chasing leader after early incident. Finished 2nd, 1 second back.
Finished 2nd, 1 second back with fastest lap of 1:49.414.

1975 Mosport Aug 16 th. Finsihed 2 nd.
1975 Mosport Sept 21 st. Arthur Beatty was entered in this car. He did not start due to a practice accident in turn 8.
1975 Run-Offs St. Jovite Sept 28 th. Qualified 2 nd and finished 11 th. Purdy also drove the Deflater Mouse to 5 th in the F4 race.

1976 Opening race of Bulova Championship, Mosport, May 2nd. Purdy 2nd, Scratch 1st
1976 Mosport, May 23 rd. Finished 5 th. Burritt 1st, McKnight 2nd, Scratch 3rd.
1976 Nelson Ledges, May 29 th. Qualified 13 th, finished 6 th.
1976 Mosport, June 20 th, Labatt’s Blue 5000 Weekend. Qualified 1 st with a time of 1:31.29 and finished 1 st. Sitting first in Bulova Championship with 43 points.
1976 Mosport, July 3 rd, 1976(The infamous “Rain Race”) Finished 3 rd after race is red flagged on lap 12 due to heavy rain.
1976 Mosport, August 28 th(BEMC). Qualified 2 nd, Finished 1 st.
1976 Canadian Run-Offs Sept 26th, Mont Tremblant. Qualified 7th DNF in 19th after 12 laps of 15

1976 Mosport, Oct 4th. Started 2nd to Scratch. Finished 2nd to Scratch after letting him pass in turn 8. This essentially locked up a 1-2 finish in the Bulova Championship with one race remaining.
Winner of the 1976 Bulova National Formula Ford Championship

Sold to Larry Reaume of Windsor at end of 1976.
Larry had a new body made in orange gel coat. In talking to Steve Wagland, when he purchased Chassis #1 from John Scratch, it still had the orange body in the molds which was a spare set.

Sold to Jim Dobson in 1984
“ Car was run by the Roclar team (A collective including Chris Steer, Peter Hagens, and Jim Dobson) and Jim Dobson ended up with it.” Alec Purdy

1987 Canadian Run-Offs at Mont Tremblant. Chris Steer qualified 28th and finished 18th in a field of 33.
The chassis was damaged heavily and sent to AIM Autosport for repair.

Sold to George McCullough 1993 The car is currently being driven by George’s daughter Elaine Willis.
Elaine is married to Keith Willis, who is partners with his brother in founding and running AIM Autosport.

Elaine raced at BARC Regional and BEMC Indian Summer Event in 2003 PHOTOS

One of the featured chassis at the 2004 VARAC Vintage Festival celebrating Canadian built racing cars.

Raced at final round of 2004 Ontario F1600 Challenge. Backed into T3 during the Sunday event. Some damage to the rear frame and suspension. Car is to be fixed, return date TBD.

Chassis #3 - Build for Manfred Henning 1977, initial campaigned by Arthur Beatty

Cars #3 and 4 were built together over the winter of 1976-77. They were 2 inches longer to allow more leg room in the cockpit. Most people had difficulty getting into the original wheelbase cars. Alec Purdy “Dan Gurney tried and couldn’t get past sitting on the roll hoop.”

Built for Manfred Henning, financial complications resulted in it initially being campaigned by Arthur Beatty on Manfred’s behalf..

Car stamped with a Chassis number “05 77” which corresponds to the month and date of the first event the car was entered. These chassis numbers are not coincident with the order in which the chassis were completed. See chassis #4 details for more information.

1977 Mont Tremblant, June 12th. Beatty finished 16th.

1980 Canadian Run-Offs at Mosport. Wayne Spencer qualified 26th and finished 9th in a field of 33 including 3 Ferrets (It’s thought that Wayne may have rented the ride from Manfred).

Sold to Fred & Susan Nicholson March 1981 from Manfred Henning (This info came from Fred Nicholson). Fred spent 1981 preparing the car and raced the Walter Wolf series in 1982.
June 5, 1982. Mosport. Fred qualified 36th and finished 28th in 35 car field.
Fred has had the car in storage since the end of the 1982 season.

Jonathan Hirst <quote:> January 2005. Rumours of the missing Ferret “in Cottage Country”, "with a tree growing though it" had been floating around the racing community for years although there were few that really knew where the car was or the actual condition. With the encouragement of prospective buyer Tony Cove of Oshawa, investigations as to the whereabouts of the car began in earnest.
I contacted a number of people in an effort to pinpoint a location of the elusive owner. Eventually an owners name was confirmed and the only additional information was the name of a road and the instruction to drive down the road until we found the name on a mail box. Tony and I set off with this information in hand to track down the car.
January in Muskoka is a snowy time to say the least and navigating the cottage road ( mercifully plowed) wasn’t easy. At last the name was spotted on a mail box but the first name did not match that given to us. Some helpful year round residents out for a winter walk confirmed that the name on the mail box was in fact the father of the current Ferret owner.
We approached the cottage and spotted the homemade enclosed trailer parked in the trees on the way – a quick check revealed the trailer was locked but our spirits were certainly on the rise.
The father of the car owner was at home and was glad of the company . He quickly found the keys to the trailer and donned a large furry heat to make the trip back up the path with us. When the door was cracked open and the sunlight filled the trailer, it took a minute to understand what we were looking at. As our eyes adjusted to the darkness of the interior of the trailer, if was obvious that over the years the car had been increasingly covered with oars, life jackets, and other unidentifiable odds and ends. There was no doubt however; there was a Ferret under there.
Unable to move the majority of the items on top of the car, the tarp was pulled back sufficiently that a cursory inspection indicated that the car underneath was complete, original, and very desirable. Tony and I had accomplished what we had set out to do and as such, we headed south again with a contact phone number and very excited about the prospect of Tony buying this car.
In celebration, we decided on a quick bite of lunch in a local establishment to discuss our findings and our plans going forward. Being the off season unfortunately, our quick bite took well over an hour to complete and by now, I was really late for a function my wife had organized at our home..
It took 6 weeks of phone negotiations with Fred Nicholson, before a deal was struck. The difficulty in arriving at an agreeable price was the vast amount of spares that Fred had for the Ferret. Fully inventoried, there were 4 pages of spares including a number of proprietary fabrications which would be very expensive to have re-created. Alec Purdy confirmed that it was possible that Fred had inherited the major components of what would have been the 5 th Mark 4 chassis that Alec was planning to use to develop a FF2000 chassis.
February 18, 2004. PHOTOS It had snowed in Muskoka and there was a fresh layer on the ground. Tony had rented an open trailer to bring the car back and had the support of his father Mike, his brother Chris, myself and my brother in law, Brendan Colven.
Many hands made light work of loading the boxes and boxes of spares but the real challenge would be getting the car up the very steeply sloped, snow covered driveway.
With the car loaded on a lightweight open trailer, Fred Nicholson’s truck was parked at the top of the hill and a bumper mounted electric winch was used to draw the trailer slowly up the hill. It took all available hands to keep the trailer pointed up the hill and out of the deep snow filled ditches on either side of the driveway.
Once at the top, the transfer from the light trailer to the U-Haul was fairly straightforward and the “hunting party” was on its way home with a planned pit stop in Gravenhurst . Based on out last exit strategy from Cottage country, small local establishments were avoided. Tim Horton’s beckoned for hot drinks and traveling sustenance.

February 2005 postscript. Tony’s initial inspection of the chassis back on home ground revealed some very interesting revelations.
It was revealed that a combination of preservation oil, acorns, and squirrel dung appeared to work well together as a rust prohibition formula. You heard it here first. After a wipe down and a through sanitation, Chassis #3 was in much better condition than anyone imagined based on our first glimpse of the car in its forest home some 7 weeks earlier.. With so few events in it racing history with no major incidents, the layout of the chassis was essentially as it came from Ferret Industries Hanover garage. The frame paint was original and was in good enough condition that it is still undetermined whether it will need to be repainted as part of the restoration. The body is for the most part, in excellent condition showing little sign of repairs over its short racing career.
There are many other smaller details that remain on the car which make its invaluable as a resource for the other owners of this Chassis and as such, the restoration is being directed towards maintaining as much originality in layout and level of finish as possible.
Restoration planning is underway for the winter of 2005 and the goal is to be able to compete in the 2006 Ontario F1600 Challenge, Monoposto F70, and possibly the popular SCCA Central Division East West Challenge Series.

CASC Vehicle Log Book:

# 3 196

Ferret Mark IV

Manufacturers Identification Number 77 05

Category F Ford

Record of Vehicle ownership[

Ferret Industries May 1977

Manfred Henning November 1977

Fred Nicholson March 1980

Tony Cove February 2005

Event - Date - Entrant - Comments

Mosport Pro Ford May 22, 1977 Arthur Beatty OK

Mosport Can Am June 12, 1977 Arthur J. Beatty Safety OK

Nelson Ledges Pro Ford June 24, 1977 Arthur J. Beatty Trans Catch Can to be installed-OK

DAC Mosport Trillium July 16, 1977 OK

Nelson Ledges OK

Mosport Can AM August 21, 1977 Arthur J. Beatty Safety OK

Open Practice April 28, 1978 Gayle Henning OK Safety

BARC Spring Sprints May 13, 1978 Gayle Henning Very Good

Mosport Pro Ford May 19, 1978 Arthur J. Beatty

OTLCC May 27, 1978 Gayle Henning OK

BAC June 24, 1978 Gayle Henning OK

DAC July 15, 1978 Gayle Henning Safety OK Nicely Done!

BARC July 21, 1978 M. Henning OK

HMSC August 12, 1978 M. Henning OK

BARC Gayle Henning OK Clean

L.A.S.C. September 2, 1978 Gayle Henning Clean & Neat

BEMC September 16, 1978 Gayle Henning Safety Fine

BARC October 14, 1978 Gayle Henning Safety OK

HMSC August 11, 1979 M. Henning OK

LASC August 25, 1979 M. Henning OK

CRDA September 8, 1979 M. Henning Very Good

BEMC September 15, 1979 M. Henning Very Good

BARC October 13, 1979 M. Henning OK

Labatts Can AM WWFF June 5, 1982 F. Nicholson OK for Competition

GP Labatt du Canada June 11, 1982 F. Nicholson OK

WWFFC Mosport July 10, 1982 F. Nicholson OK

Labatt 50 GT WWFFC August 13, 1982 F. Nicholson Safety very good!

Chassis #4 - Built for Alec Purdy winter 1976-77

Photo - Outboard Suspension (Purdy)
Photo - Inboard Suspension (Purdy)

First event was in April 1977. Car was a longer wheelbase model similar to Chassis #3. This allowed the driver to sit lower in the vehicle and thus increase the distance between the drivers head and the underside of the roll bar which was becoming an issue with some organizing bodies.
Based on the month of the first event, the chassis was stamped with “04 77”, which creates confusion and this chassis was completed after Chassis #3 (for customer M. Henning) yet it was stamped “05 77”.
It is unknown if this numbering convention applies to the first two Mark 4 chassis’.

1977 GP of Quebec, June 10th. DNF’d in 36th from 5th.
1977 Mont Tremblant, June 12th. Finished 6th.
1977 Shannonville, Aug 5th. DNF’d in 25th.

Car was originally built with outboard suspension, but Alec converted it to inboard during 1978 as an experiment. Rocker arms were an economic and popular option but Alec designed a pushrod system that tucked the shocks out of the way of the driver. Unconfirmed information indicates that this was the first pushrod application in a Formula Ford anywhere.

A number of other changes were implemented over the winter of 1977 as a result of time spent in the wind tunnel with a ¼ scale model of the car at the National Research Council facilities in Ottawa, Ontario Canada. This was breaking new ground not only for a Formula Ford but also for car racing in general. Today, the N.R.C. facility tests more ground vehicles then it does aviation. A large number of NASCAR teams, ALMS, and automotive manufacturers are recurrent customers.

Changes implemented as a result of the tunnel time was elimination of the air intake above the roll bar (the intake was moved underneath the bar, made possible with the lower seating position of the longer chassis), fairing in of the lower A arms, and a tall windscreen.

The faired in A-arms were put into production and the subsequent rear bodies were modified to delete the air scoop. The taller windscreen was implemented onto Chassis #4 and run for the remainder of the season despite initial protests from fellow competitors.

Alec commented that the noise level in the cockpit dropped dramatically as a result of its fitment. Alec could hear all his cars squeak and rattles yet more importantly; he could not hear the competitor’s engines as well. This became increasingly apparent when Alec realized how significant the audible component of his sensory input was in addition to the visual input. It was more difficult to detect when his competitors lifted for corners making it challenging to respond appropriately in order to complete a pass.

Also, the fabricated lightweight aluminum rear uprights were replaced with cast aluminum units. Although slightly heavier than the fabricated parts, there were significantly stronger and less prone to being tweaked as a result of minor contact.

1978 Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal, Sept 24th (Weekend before GP). Qualified 7th and finished 5th. John Nemy 6th in a Crossle.
Grand Prix. Qualified 8th, finished 5 th.

1979 Quebec GP, June 10th. Qualified 5th, DNF in 36th.
1979 Shannonville, Aug 5th. DNF’d in 25th place.
1979 Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal Sept 29th, DNF in 36 th.
1979 Lime Rock, Oct 13th.
1st in final event of the American Formula Ford Association series.
Said Purdy “I hadn't really made up my mind until the last race of 79, the AFFA professional Formula Ford race at Lime Rock CT. That sounds like a pretty high-class name for the event, but there were only maybe a dozen cars, and mostly not very good. I raced for the lead with someone I hadn't seen before and was moving slowly away from him (ahead, not behind) when I noticed that my engine was starting to overheat. The radiators we used weren't the best things on earth and often at the end of the year they lost enough efficiency from dirt and stone damage that they were marginal. Anyway I had to slow down and let him by, and I figured that since this was only about lap 8 of a 40 lap race he was going to get plenty bored by the end, and if I backed off and left a gap he'd slow down too, which he was kind enough to do. By the time we got to the 39th lap we were just cruising around and my engine was healthy enough for two hard laps so I took the 39th lap getting myself up to speed and passed him going into the last lap while he was still sound asleep and won the race. He was so mad he wouldn't talk to me! He finished 4th at the US runoffs at Atlanta a few weeks later. At that point I figured that was about as good as it was going to get so I called it quits.”

John Nemy rented the car at the 1979 Canadian Run-Offs and as a result, purchased it.
1979 Canadian Run-Offs Mosport. Finished 4th.

John Nemy driving with CV100 sponsorship:
Under the ownership of John Nemy, the officials finally won and they forced John the remove the tall windscreen.
1980 Trois-Rivieres, Aug 24th. Qualified 13th, finished 10th
1980 Canadian Run-Offs, Sept 14th, Mosport. Qualified 6th, finished 14th one lap down

1981 Winner of BEMC Indian Summer Trophy Race
1981 August 23, Sanair. Qualified 13, finished 11th. Race 2: qualified 11th, finished 23rd.
1981 Sept 5, Trois-Rivieres. Qualified 3rd, finished 30th.

John Nemy sold car to Peter Hagens (Oakville) in 1983
Peter and Jim Dobson were part of a team and shared shop space. Although the details are not entirely clear, it appears as though Jim acquired the car from Peter in lieu of some form of payment owing.

1987 Canadian Run-Offs at Mont Tremblant. Jim Dobson qualified 22nd and finished 16th.
Jim won the 1991 Regional FF1600 Championship and the 1991 Club Ford Championship .
Club Ford and overall Ontario champ in ’92.
Ontario F1600 champ in ’93 .
Jim Dobson transferred the car to Robert Wager of Uxbridge Ontario in 1994 It is unclear whether the car was transferred for a specific sum of money that Jim required at the time or whether the car was the interest on the loan to Jim. Either way, Robert Wager came to be the next owner of Chassis #4.
Dave Gold was requested by VARAC Festival organizers to contact present owners of Ferrets to contribute to the planned display of Canadian Manufacturers. Robert Wager was contacted and he presented the car for display. The car was shown at the Festival with a For Sale brochure in the seat.

June 2004. Car was on display at the VARAC Vintage Festival representing Ferret Industries on Hanover Ontario. The 2004 Festival was celebrating Canadian manufacturers and their successes over the past 50+ years. At the conclusion of the weekend, the car was purchased by Brian Graham of Barrie Ontario.
As presented, the car no longer had a logbook, some spares, a rocker jig for the front suspension, and various suspension spares.
Five days later the car was sold to Jonathan Hirst of Brooklin Ontario.

August 2004. Car was checked over and ran the test day at the CRDA Mosport Regional. Two simultaneous component failures on the car resulted in a minor incident in Turn 9.

The incident damage was repaired but the car was parked until a frame up restoration can be completed and everything could be thoroughly checked over. Timeline to complete the restoration is winter 2005.

August 2005. Restoration to include adding a SCCA/CASC legal front roll hoop and front crush box. Robert Wager did install a new ATL fuel cell and LEAF 5 pt belts. Intention is to return the car to its original “Purdy” livery in yellow with a black stripe.

Intention is to target 2006 Ontario F1600 Championship, Monoposto F70, and potentially the popular SCCA Central Division East-West Challenge Events

Quarter Midget -

I need to find out more on this car.
Designed by Alec and built in Hanover, I do not know who commisioned the build.
The photos were talken in 1981 I believe.

Photo - 1

Photo - 2

"The Deflater Mouse"

"Deflater Mouse" F4 car built for Doug Barthels of Kitchener. Doug had
started building an aluminum monocoque car using a BMW motorcycle engine,
brought it to Ferret for design completion and building. It was very
light, 505 lbs complete with Hewland Mk8 transmission but had much less
power than the other F4 cars. It used 13" tires while others used 10" mini
tires so it was faster in the corners. Raced at the runoffs at Mt. Tremblant by Alec Purdy.

Photos

This is my home built Formula Ford 1600.