Nowadays, marketing and sales promotion are considered to be a specialised field, almost a discipline. But many years before such techniques of image building were generally recognised, Ferguson was using them; he had an extraordinary gift as a promoter and salesman, an innate understanding of how to set about building up an image for a business. This understanding led him to take part in motor sport as a means of publicising his brother’s business, and as early as 1904 he began riding motor-cycles in various events in Ireland. In these ventures he had the advantage of being fearless to an apparently foolhardy degree, and such unpleasant experiences as having a motor-cycle fuel-tank blow up under him left him undeterred. Ferguson was not mad or wild in the conventional sense, however; indeed at first sight he appeared the most sane of young men – fresh, perhaps, but well restrained. He was always neatly dressed, often with a flower or leaf in his buttonhole, and his abundant fair hair was tidily brushed from his high forehead. But below the straight eyebrows lay the clue to his character; his gaze was of an unwavering firmness, and the keenness of those azure eyes, as well as the set of the slightly downturned mouth, betrayed a determination to be defeated by nothing, least of all by his own fear. Hence his calculated physical courage that others considered irresponsible madness. He won races and trials one after the other and each victory was used as a means of publicising J. B. Ferguson and Co. He even persuaded the more cautious Joe to enter a few events, but Joe eventually ran into a yokel on a bicycle and lost all further interest.
One particular event, the Muratti Trophy of 190
