Connaught Engineering

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A 2007 Connaught Type A in Donington
A 2007 Connaught Type C in Donington
Connaught L3-SR

Connaught Engineering , or Connaught Cars Ltd. was a British manufacturer of automobiles and racing cars based in Send, Surrey .

Sports car

In 1948, Continenal Cars began manufacturing street-legal sports cars for private drivers. The vehicle was based on the Lea-Francis 14 hp Sports, the body was designed by Rodney Clarke. The first vehicle was completed in October 1948, two additional in the spring 1949. The Roadster Connaught L2 had a four-cylinder in-line engine with 1767 cc capacity, which - equipped with two SU carburetors - 98 hp (72 kW) at 5500 min -1 made. On request there was also a four-carburetor version that delivered up to 140 bhp (103 kW). The wheel suspension consisted of leaf-sprung rigid axles, the wheelbase was 2,514 mm.

In 1953 the Connaught L3 was also offered with a modified front suspension and torsion bar suspension.

In 1954 the production of street sports cars was stopped.

race car

In 1950 a Formula 2 car was built, with which Kenneth McAlpine mainly competed in smaller British races. In 1952 and 1953, when Formula 1 was held with the previous Formula 2 regulations, racing was also launched on the continent. At the 1952 British Grand Prix , Dennis Poore and Eric Thompson finished fourth and fifth in a Type A. Since the 1953 Formula 1 season was not very satisfactory, the focus was on building a successor model and a sports car, which was not very successful.

The B-Type appeared at the end of 1954, but was initially too prone to defects, so that the successes only emerged in the course of the 1955 season: With his victory at the Gran Premio di Siracusa in October, which was not part of the World Cup , Tony Brooks achieved the first ever success of a British Mark outside of Great Britain after 31 years ( Henry Segrave on Sunbeam at the 1924 San Sebastian Grand Prix ). The following season Ron Flockhart finished third in the 1956 Italian GP and Jack Fairman finished fourth and fifth in the same year.

1957 was similarly successful, Stuart Lewis-Evans finished fourth in Monaco and in a race in Goodwood that was not part of the World Cup , he even celebrated a victory for the team.

At this point, however, the team ran out of money, the company and the recently completed C-Type were sold. The Briton Bernie Ecclestone took over the team, managed it and also tried his hand at driving. However, Ecclestone failed to qualify for the Monaco Grand Prix . The cars last started at the 1959 US Grand Prix .

literature

  • David Culshaw & Peter Horrobin: The Complete Catalog of British Cars 1895–1975 . Veloce Publishing plc. Dorchester (1999). ISBN 1-874105-93-6

Web links

Commons : Connaught  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ [1] , accessed on May 6, 2010