1953 Connaught Formula One Car

1953 Connaught Type A

Offered by Silverstone Auctions | Stoneleigh Park, U.K. | February 23, 2013

1953 Connaught Type A

Old race cars can be quite interesting. Especially when they competed at the highest level of motorsport and in the “heyday,” as it were – Formula One in the 1950s. Connaught Engineering was founded by Rodney Clarke and Mike Oliver in Send, England, in 1950.

They made their debut at the 1952 British Grand Prix with a four car effort. In total, the team competed in 18 races over eight seasons, contesting every British Grand Prix and other assorted races. 1953 was their hallmark season, the one where they entered the most races (4).

The Type A was run for four seasons (1950-1954). The cars used a 2.0-liter Lea Francis straight-four making 145 horsepower. With the right gearing, it could do 160 mph. I’ve really tried to do some research to find out who drove this car and in what races, but I’m just not finding what I want. Silverstone lists it as having been driven by Roy Salvadori, John Coombs, Kenneth McAlpine, Ron Flockhart and Bill Whitehouse, with Whitehouse having the most success as a privateer. It has been active in historic racing for some time.

Packaged with a bunch of spares, this historic race car is expected to sell for between $315,000-$395,000. It is one of nine built. Click here for more info and here for the rest of Silverstone’s lineup.

Update: Sold $296,400.

2 thoughts on “1953 Connaught Formula One Car

  1. Pingback: February Auction Round-Up | Classic Car Weekly

  2. It’s an awesome car; I appreciate it. The drivers of this car were
    Kenneth McAlpine
    Stirling Moss
    Roy Salvadori
    Jack Fairman
    Jonny Claes
    Andre Pilette
    Ian Stewart
    Tony Rolt
    According to my knowledge this car had participated in 18 Grand pix and 52 other races.

Tell Us What You Think!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.