1952 Connaught A-Type

This is a photograph I took at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies Meeting at Oulton Park in July 1987.

It's a 1952 Connaught A-Type which was designed and built by Connaught Engineering's Rodney Clarke and Mike Oliver with a 1,960cc engine based on the Lea Francis 4-cylinder 1,767cc unit. There's no race number on the car and there are three Connaught listed for the the Cheshire Building Society Allcomers Race and a later Allcomers Scratch Race in the programme of the event, but two of them are B-Type Connaughts the only A-Type being the number 36 of Gerry Porter. It was shown a a reserve for the second of those races, but I don't remember it taking part in either of them. Only eight A-Type cars were produced in the 1950s, a further car being built from Connaught parts in the early 1960s, but this is the only occasion I can recall seeing one painted red - and I can't find any photographs or any mention of such a car. The Italian driver Piero Scotti bought a Connaught B-Type in 1956 with which he took part in the Belgian Grand Prix and several minor races, but I don't know if he had it painted red and he doesn't seem to have raced one of the A-Types.