Tag Archives: Flockhart

Plan B – Connaught Type-B #B9

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While Raymond May’s was busy pumping the British motor industry for patriotic cash to lubricate the wheels of the newly formed British Racing Motor’s, to ex RAF pilots Rodney Clarke and Mike Oliver, backed by Kenneth McAlpine went about there motor racing in a far more pragmatic understated way.

Setting up behind the Continental Autos Garage in Send, Guildford, Surrey, Connaught, notice the pun, Engineering was founded by Rodney and Mike to build a 2 litre / 122 cui sports car around proprietary Lea Francis chassis and motors for Kenneth and Rodney to race in 1949.

The immediate success of the L2 in Rodney and Kenneth’s hands led the team to try their hand at building an open wheel Type A for Formula 2 using their own development of the Lea Francis motor for the 1950 season.

By 1952 a series of Formula 2 races counted towards the world championship and Dennis Poore finished 4th in the British Grand Prix the teams highest finish in the 1952 season limited to 3 outings in Britain, the Netherlands and Italy.

More sporadic World Championship appearances in 1953 which included private Connaught entries from Ecurie Ecosse, and Ecurie Belge did not bring any further success nor did the final appearance of five 2 litre formula two Type-A’s in the 1954 British Grand Prix run to the new Formula One 2 1/2 litre formula.

Rodney and Mike had hoped to use the Coventry Climax Godiva V8 for their Type-B formula one car in 1954 but when that got cancelled they came up with a plan B to develop a 2.5 litre / 152 cui version of the 2 litre / 122 cui Alta Forumla 2 engine against which they had been competing since 1950.

The Type-B made it’s only 1955 World Championionship appearance at the British Grand Prix where four works cars appeared alongside the private entry for Leslie Marr, they all retired except Jack Fairman’s entry which did not start.

Connaught B-Type, Tony Brooks, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

At the end of the 1955 season there was a non championship event run at Syracuse in Sicily, with the withdrawal of the works Mercedes team in the aftermath of the 1955 Le Mans crash the organisers called up Mike Oliver at Connaught to see if he could be tempted with an offer of £1,000 per car start money to bring two cars to race against the five works Maserati’s on the entry list.

Short of funds this was an offer not to be missed and after briefly testing a stream lined car which was to be entered for Les Leston and open wheeler chassis #B1 entered for debutant Tony Brooks the cars were packed into the back of a pair of converted 1939 AEC 10T10 Regal Greenline buses and sent on their 2,000 mile journey to Sicily.

On the Monday before the race Mike flew his car to Le Toquet in France to find a message informing him that the two transporter had been impounded because their documents were not in order.

Having sorted out the paper work the Connaught convoy set off for Sciliy with the buses being driven non stop in 12 hour shifts by the two pairs of mechanics. By the time they got to the Calabrian mountains the fun really started, the buses needed to reverse back and forth to make it round the hairpins which slowed progress down to 11 mph and one of the buses needed to have it’s brakes relined.

Meantime Tony Brooks, who’s 42 race CV was topped by just three non championship starts in a Formula 2 Connaught Type-A and one start for Aston Martin at Le Mans, took timeout from his dental studies in Manchester and flew down to Syracuse.

With no team in sight he and team mate Les Leston hired a pair of Vespa motor scooters and set about learning the track, in so doing Tony acquired a sore between his throttle hand thumb and index finger.

Both transporters eventually arrived in time for practice on the Saturday before the race and with out any sleep the mechanics set about preparing the cars.

Tony Brooks WB Tribute, Brooklands,

Tony had not so much as sat in his open wheel Type-B before the event and the teams priority in order to at least recoup their travel expenses was to start the race so practice laps were limited.

It came as a great surprise to find that Tony easily qualified a competitive third and would start alongside the leading Maserati’s of Luigi Musso and Luigi Villoresi with Les Leston not far behind.

The 243 mile race was run over 70 laps where Tony observed that “there was none of this business of using a foot of grass, as on an English airfield circuit, then bobbing back’, and reliability would be a major issue, in their favour the tight track suited Connaught’s handling which was at a premium over the outright power advantage of the Maserati’s.

The Maserati’s of Musso and Villoresi and Harry Schell led the three opening laps but on Lap 4 Tony passed Harry and then passed Villoressi with 10 laps completed.

Tony then went into a terrific dice with Luigi Musso who was working hard in his drum braked Maserati to keep the disc braked Connaught of Brooks at bay after swapping the lead several times and raising the average lap record speed from 99 mph to 102 mph Tony was able to ease away to a 50 second lead without putting any unnecessary stress on his car.

The Grand Prix win was the first for an English driver in an English built car since 1924 when Sir Henry Seagrave won the San Sebastian Grand Prix driving a Sunbeam.

After the race while tightening a handkerchief around his hand, injured by the Vespa, with his teeth Tony lost an expensive dental bridge piece from his mouth in the crowd as he prepared to go back to the hotel upon the motor scooter.

He fitted a spare he carried that night for the celebrations but since it was not very secure he restricted his conversation which the Scilians interpreted as another example of the famous British stiff upper lip.

Tony went on to contend for the 1959 World Title with Ferrari, but ended up finishing second to Jack Brabham driving a Cooper, and retired from Formula One in after finishing third in the 1961 US Grand Prix driving for BRM with 6 career championship victories.

Connaught went into steady decline after Ron Flockhart scored the manufactuers best championship finish of 3rd in the 1956 Italian Grand Prix, by the end of 1957 Connaught was auctioned off piece meal and Rodney and Mike returned to running Continental Autos.

Bernie Ecclestone bought two cars which he ran for in 1958 at Monaco and the British GP without success, until the death of his lead driver Stuart Lewis – Evans died from burns received after crashing his Vanwall in the 1958 Morrocan Grand Prix.

The last person to race a Connaught in a World Championship event was Bob “father of Boris” Said who started 13th but pushed his car into the pits after an accident on the opening lap of the 1959 US Grand Prix.

Tony is seen in today’s photographs wearing the blue shirt being interviewed during the the William Boddy Tribute at Brooklands and at the wheel of chassis #B9 at Goodwood Festival of Speed.

#B9 was built up from an unnumbered spare with original Connaught parts by by long-time Connaught specialist Spencer Longland, the original #B1 which Tony drove in Syracuse belongs to Bernie Ecclestone having been damaged in a fire at Syracuse in 1957 and been repaired many years later.

My thanks to Tim Murray, Alan Cox and Peter Morley at The Nostalgia Forum for answering my questions.

Thanks for joining me on this “Plan B” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again for Maserati Monday tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now.

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King Of Brighton & The Hills – ERA R4D

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For reasons that are not yet entirely clear to me today’s featured car ERA R4D began life with the out of sequence identifier R4B apparently a year before R3B had been built.

R4B was a works apple green race car completed for Raymond Mays use in 1935. It is said to have used all three ERA engine sizes, 1.1, 1.5 and 2 litre, according to the demands of the regulations of the event’s it competed in.

ERA R4D, Goodwood Revival,

This chassis was shared by Raymond Mays and E Von Delius in the 1935 German Grand Prix, it started 9th but retired at half distance with low oil pressure.

R4B was predominantly used by Raymond for sprints and hill climbing and in 1936, mid way through the season R4B and the other works cars were all painted black.

ERA R4D, HGPCA Test Day, Silverstone,

No definitive reason is known for the change of colour, which coincidentally or not first appeared after the death of Marcel Lehoux at Deauville while driving R3B, the only pre war ERA not to have survived.

It is known that Raymond Mays had a Riley and Bentley painted black with silver / chrome wheels and that he detested green the British National racing colour in any shade.

ERA R4D, Mac Hulbert, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone,

It has also been pointed out that Dick Seaman’s successful R1B was painted black in 1935 and maybe after a run of bad luck the decision was taken to use Seaman’s preferred colour.

In 1937 R4B was upgraded to C specification with independent front suspension using torsion bars designed at great expense to ERA by Dr Ferdinand Porsche.

ERA R4D, Goodwood Revival,

R8B and R12B were also to receive this upgrade but R12C was converted back to B Spec after an accident in 1939.

Raymond Mays drove R4C to victory in the 1937 Picardy Grand Prix and in 1937 repeated the feat in 1938 when R4C was upgraded to R4D spec with a lighter fully box framed chassis.

ERA R4D, Goodwood Revival,

Arthur Johnson drove R4D in 1939 prior to Raymond Mays buying the car from the works to continue it’s development privately.

Raymond Mays continued to drive R4D winning the two British Hillclimb Championships in 1947 and ’48 and four Brighton Speed Trials, before selling her to Ron Flockhart in 1953.

Flockhart continued where May’s had left off by setting a record at the Bo’ness hillclimb.

In 1954 Ken Wharton bought R4D and won the RAC British Hill Climb Championship, he nearly repeated the feat in 1955, using R4D and a Cooper 500 Formula 3 car, but the title was awarded to new comer Tony Marsh after he and Wharton finished the championship on level points.

Wharton added three more wins at the Brighton Speed Trials to bring R4D’s total to seven, R4D is still the single most successful vehicle to compete in the event.

Today R4D is owned by Mac Hulbert and is seen with Julian Bronson at the wheel during the VSCC Spring Start Meeting earlier this year.

My thanks to Adam Wragg at facebook, Fuzzi and Vitesse2 at The Nostalgia Forum for informing why the works ERA were painted black in 1936.

Thanks for joining me on this “King Of Brighton” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for Maserati Monday. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Pressure and Success – BRM Type 25 #258

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By 1954 Alfred Owen of the Rubery Owen Group had taken over the running of BRM from the British Motor Racing Research Trust which had been set up nine years earlier to build a British World Beater. The 1.5 litre / 91.5 cui supercharged V16 cars were updated to a short wheel base spec since there were few races for them to compete in that required large capacity fuel tanks necessitated by Championship Grand Prix race distances.

The World Championship started running to 2.5 litre regulations in 1954 and the first two races of the season were won by Juan Manuel Fangio who was entering what turned to be his prime driving a six cylinder Maserati 250F. Fangio then moved as agreed pre season to the Mercedes Benz team who were embarking on their third blitzkrieg on the top echelon of the sport in 60 years. Fangio won the ’54 and ’55 World drivers championships with the German team who successfully applied desmodromic valve and fuel injection technology to their straight eight W196 cars.

Fangio joined Ferrari, who were running V8 powered D50’s gifted from Lancia, in 1956 to win a third straight title and then rejoined Maserati in 1957 to win a forth straight and record fifth title with the Maserati 250F. Fangio retired midway through ’58 and his championship records stood for nearly 50 years until a German called Micheal Schumacher came along and broke them early in the 21st century.

BRM Type 25, BRM Day, Bourne, Lincs

Meanwhile Chez BRM things were progressing at a more leisurely pace a new Type 25 car was being designed with a simple 4 cylinder engine with large valves and an interesting three disc braking system with the rear disc being mounted on the back of the transaxle. Despite being much simpler than the V16 the car did not make it’s first public appearance until September 1955 by which time the Owen Racing Organisation had bought a Maserati 250F and entered it into a couple of World Championship events for Ken Wharton who finished a best 6th in the 1954 Swiss Grand Prix. Peter Collins drove the car in two World Championship events in 1955 but retired from both.

The Type 25’s, chassis type P25 and engine type P27, were supposed make their World Championship debut at the 1956 Monaco Grand Prix but were with drawn after the valves were damaged. Three cars were entered for the 1956 British Grand Prix but none finished however Mike Hawthorn led a BRM 1-2 followed by Tony Brooks for a while before retiring with a suspension problem. Brooks crashed out with a sticking throttle, his car ended up a completely burnt out right off, while Ron Flockhart retired with valve trouble after completing just 2 laps.

BRM Type 25, BRM Day, Bourne, Lincs

The Type 25’s did not appear in the championship again until Monaco in 1957. Nothing substantial was achieved by way of championship results but the Type 25’s did start winning non championship races, Jean Behra scoring the first at Caen.

1958 saw Jean Behra and Harry Schell compete in most of the races with the Type 25. Behra finished a seasons best third in Holland one place behind team mate Schell.

BRM Type 25, BRM Day, Bourne, Lincs

Jo Bonnier replaced Jean Behra who had moved to Ferrari in 1959 and with team owner Alfred Owen having agreed to hand over two cars to the BRP team to run for the remainder of the season prior to the ’59 Dutch Grand Prix the pressure was really on BRM to deliver going into the race. Bonnier arrived at Zandvoort with the disappointment of having almost won the Targa Florio in a Porsche having led most of the way.

The Type 25’s were quick in practice much easier to handle on their 15″ wheels than on the original 16″ with the benefit of much less tyre wear. After a great race with the works rear engined Cooper Climax’s driven by Marsten Gregory, champion elect Jack Brabham and the Rob Walker entered car of Stirling Moss all of whom experienced gearbox issues the smoothly driven BRM Type 25 #258 of Jo Bonnier crossed the line first to win the BRM team’s first Grand Prix 14 years after the team’s announcement in 1945. BRP headed by Stirling Moss’s father offered to reverse the agreement with Alfred Owen and settled for just one car #2510 which they ran in distinctive light green with white wheels livery.

Despite the BRM finishing 3rd in the World Constructors Championship the writing was on the wall that front engined cars were obsolete as the Coopers of Moss and McLaren convincingly won the last three races of the season and Jack Brabham won the first of two consecutive world championships.

Chassis #258 was purchased by Spencer Flack from The Hon. Amschel Rothschild in 2001 for an alleged £1.5 million. The following year while racing the car at Philip Island Spencer sustained fatal head injuries when he was thrown out of it. The car which had split in two and caught fire was rebuilt at the insistence of his widow and now belongs to John Pearson who is seen at the wheel in these photo’s taken at last years BRM Day.

Thanks for joining me on this “Pressure and Success” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

09 07 13 Errata I originally posted Roy Salvadori won the 1957 Caen GP in fact, as Tim has kindly pointed, out Jean Behra drove BRM Type 25 #253 to victory beating Roy Salvadori.

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