1955 Connaught B-Type

This is a photograph that I took at the Donington Park Museum in October 1989.

It's a 1955 Connaught B-Type, chassis B7, and the book 'Great Racing Car of the Donington Collection' says this about it:

The non-Championship Syracuse Grand Prix, held in Sicily late in 1955, forms an historic landmark in racing history. The amateur driver C.A.S. 'Tony' Brooks took on the might of the works Maserati team in his unrated 2½ litre Alta-engined Connaught, and beat them on their home soil!  It was the first time that a Continental 'Grand Prix' had been won by a British car and driver since Henry Seagrave had won the San Sebastian in a Sunbeam in 1924. Rodney Clarke and Kenneth McAlpine (of the famous building family) had founded Connaught Engineering in 1947, to build a sports car for McAlpine to race. In a small works at Send in Surrey, they built a prototype powered by a modified 1767cc Lea-Francis engine, and its results prompted a production batch of the cars, financed by McAlpine.

Engineer Mike Oliver drove one of the cars successfully, and in 1950 he assisted in building a prototype Formula 2 Connaught, using the existing engine in a modified form. For 1951 nine F2 cars were built with Connaught 1864cc engines - still 'Leaf'-based but now developed almost beyond recognition as such. Between 1952 and 1953 the Connaughts never achieved major success; they lacked power although their road-holding and handling were as good as any.

The B-Type Connaught was prepared for 1954 Formula 1 racing with a special 2½ litre  four-cylinder Alta engine and initially all-enveloping streamlined central-seat bodywork. This was replaced for practical rather than technical reasons by a more normal 'slipper' body and it was one of these cars which made history in 1955.

During 1956 Connaught were a force in Grand Prix racing, but success - and real power - still eluded them. A C-Type car of advanced design was laid down for 1957, but McAlpine decided that the financial strain was too much to be borne alone and, when outside sponsorship was not forthcoming, he withdrew, and Connaught tragically collapsed.