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Category | Formula Two | ||||||||
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Constructor | Connaught Engineering | ||||||||
Designer(s) | Mike Oliver Rodney Clarke | ||||||||
Successor | Connaught Type B | ||||||||
Technical specifications | |||||||||
Chassis | tubular ladder chassis supporting spaceframe with aluminium bodywork | ||||||||
Suspension (front) | Independent double wishbones with torsion bars | ||||||||
Suspension (rear) | De Dion tube, torsion bars | ||||||||
Engine | Lea Francis 1,960 cc (119.6 cu in) straight 4 naturally aspirated, front engine, longitudinally mounted | ||||||||
Transmission | 4 speed manual preselector gearbox | ||||||||
Tyres | D | ||||||||
Competition history | |||||||||
Notable entrants | Connaught Engineering | ||||||||
Debut | 1952 British Grand Prix | ||||||||
Last event | 1954 British Grand Prix | ||||||||
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Constructors' Championships | 0 (Note that the Constructors' Championship was first awarded in 1958) | ||||||||
Drivers' Championships | 0 | ||||||||
n.b. Unless otherwise stated, all data refer to Formula One World Championship Grands Prix only. |
The Connaught Type A was a Formula Two race car, designed, developed, and built by British manufacturer Connaught Engineering in 1950 and used until the late 1950s. [1]
Nine Type A units were built between 1950 and 1953. A tenth car was built up from a bare chassis in 1961. All A-Types had a conventional space frame and independent suspension with wishbones and torsion bars on all wheels. The rear suspensions were replaced with De Dion axles during the 1951 racing season. The cars were powered by Lea Francis four-cylinder engines that delivered 135 hp. [2]
This performance was not outstanding even for a Formula 2 car, so Lea-Francis improved the engine. When the world championship races were held in Formula 2 cars in 1952, the engine had an output of 165 hp according to the factory. The A-Types also got fuel injection. [3] One privateer car, chassis number A8, was converted to take an Alta 2.5 litre engine in an unsuccessful attempt to be competitive in Formula One category.
On the racetracks, the Connaughts were welcome additions to the starting grid. The racing cars were never capable of winning, even when top drivers such as Johnny Claes, Jack Fairman, Tony Rolt, Bill Whitehouse, and Roy Salvadori drove them. At the 1952 British Grand Prix, Dennis Poore and Eric Thompson finished fourth and fifth in the race. [4]
Allard Motor Company Limited was a London-based low-volume car manufacturer founded in 1945 by Sydney Allard in small premises in Clapham, south-west London. Car manufacture almost ceased within a decade. It produced approximately 1900 cars before it became insolvent and ceased trading in 1958. Before the war, Allard supplied some replicas of a Bugatti-tailed special of his own design from Adlards Motors in Putney.
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Ferrari America is a series of top-end Ferrari models built in the 1950s and 1960s. They were large grand touring cars with the largest V12 engines and often had custom bodywork. All America models used a live axle in the rear, were front-engined, and had worm and sector steering.
Lea-Francis was a British motor manufacturing company that began by building bicycles.
English Racing Automobiles (ERA) was a British racing car manufacturer active from 1933 to 1954.
Connaught Engineering, often referred to simply as Connaught, was a Formula One, Formula Two and sports car constructor from the United Kingdom. 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.
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The Maserati Tipo 151 is a racing car manufactured by Italian automobile manufacturer Maserati for the 1962 LeMans season to compete in the experimental GT car class. Three cars were built in total, one for Johnny Simone of Maserati France with a red exterior colour and white tri-stripes whilst two were built for Briggs Cunningham for his racing team. These cars had a white body with two blue stripes.
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The Cooper Mark IV was a Formula Three, Formula Two and Formula One racing car designed and built by the Cooper Car Company at Surbiton, Surrey, England, in 1950.
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The Cooper T39, nicknamed the "Bob-Tail", is a successful lightweight, mid-engined, sports car, designed and developed by Owen Maddock at Cooper Cars, for sports car racing in 1955. The car debuted in active racing competition at the Easter race in Thruxton in 1955, being driven by Ivor Bueb, and was later entered into the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans, being driven by John Brown and Edgar Wadsworth, but was unfortunately not classified, because even though the car managed to complete 207 laps around the 8.4-mile Le Mans circuit, it didn't manage to finish within 70% of the winners' race distance. However, between 1956 and 1962, it did manage to rack up and tally an incredible streak of domination and competitiveness, scoring 91 total wins and clinching 236 podiums finishes; an incredible record. It was powered by the 1,098 cc (67.0 cu in) Coventry-Climax four-cylinder engine.
The Ferrari 166 FL was a single-seat open-wheel race car, designed, developed and built by Italian manufacturer and team, Scuderia Ferrari, 1949 to 1952. Only three cars were produced. The designation 166 refers to the (rounded) displacement of a single cylinder, which corresponded to the nomenclature of the company at the time. The abbreviation FL stands for Formula Libre, which is the type of category and racing series that the car competed in. Since the car was mainly developed for racing in South America, it was also known as the 166 C America.
The Cooper T76 is an open-wheel Formula 3 race car, designed, developed and built by British manufacturer Cooper in 1965. It was powered by either a 1.0 L (61 cu in) Cosworth MAE or BMC naturally-aspirated four-cylinder engine, which drove the rear wheels through a Hewland Mk5/6 manual transmission. It also featured reworked front and rear suspension, as well as variable anti-roll bars. Chassis design and construction was a tubular space frame. The car was essentially a modified variant of the previous T72. The rocker arm leverage ratio at the front of the car was altered from 2:1 to 1:3 to aid in the location and life of the shock absorber. The "anti-squat" system out of the rear suspension, and variable Armstrong shocks were installed. Rear-facing radius rods were linked to the front rocker arms to mitigate the forces felt under braking.
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