Connaught

Full name	Connaught Engineering
Base	Send, Surrey, United Kingdom
Founder(s)	Rodney Clarke Mike Oliver
Noted staff	Kenneth McAlpine
Noted drivers	Stuart Lewis-Evans Stirling Moss Prince Bira Kenneth McAlpine
Formula One World Championship career
First entry	1952 British Grand Prix
Races entered	18
Constructors' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	0
Race victories	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
Final entry	1959 United States Grand Prix

Connaught Engineering, often referred to simply as Connaught, was a Formula One, Formula Two and other sports car divisions constructor from the United Kingdom.^[1] Their cars participated in 18 Grands Prix, entering a total of 52 races with their A, B, and C Type Formula 2 and Formula 1 Grand Prix Cars. They achieved 1 podium and scored 17 championship points. The name Connaught is a pun on Continental Autos, the garage in Send, Surrey, which specialised in sales and repair of European sports cars such as Bugatti, and where the cars were built.^[2]

History

In 1950, the first single-seaters, the Formula 2 "A" types, used an engine that was developed by Connaught from the Lea-Francis engine used in their "L" type sports cars. The engine was extensively re-engineered and therefore is truly a Connaught engine. The cars were of conventional construction for the time with drive through a preselector gearbox to a de Dion rear axle. In 1952 and 1953, the Grand Prix races counting towards the World Championship were to Formula 2 rules so drivers of these cars could take part in those events as the table below shows.^[3]

Connaught designed a new car for the 2½ litre Formula 1 of 1954 which was to have a rear-mounted Coventry Climax V8 engine (the "Godiva"), but when the engine was not proceeded with, a conventionally arranged "B" type was designed using an Alta engine developed into 2½ litre form. The first cars were built with all-enveloping aerodynamic bodywork but later rebodied conventionally (as the photos below show). In 1955, driving a Connaught in this form, Tony Brooks scored the first win in a Grand Prix by a British driver in a British car since 1923, in a non World Championship race at Syracuse. Thereafter the "B" type has been known as the "Syracuse" Connaught and the name was used for the car presented in the 2004 revival.^[3]

In 1962, Jack Fairman attempted to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 in a Connaught race car, but failed to find the necessary speed to make the field.

Sports cars

Prior to the single-seat racing cars they built a small number of road going sports cars developed on the Lea-Francis Sports Chassis, which achieved considerable competition success. These were of types L2 and L3, and three examples of the stark Cycle Winged L3/SR Sports Racer. Two sports cars, based on the A Type Formula 2 cars, the ALSRs were also built for competition work.

In 2004, the Connaught name was revived by Connaught Motor Company for their Type D Syracuse and Type D-H hybrid sports cars.

• 
  An ex-Rob Walker Racing Team Connaught Type B Formula One car
• 
  Connaught Type B, 1955, at the National Motor Museum
• 
  A Connaught Type D Syracuse

Complete Drivers' World Championship results

(key)

*Constructors points not awarded until 1958
± = Indicates a shared drive