Connaught factory torn down

Andrew Frankel
July 7, 2014

Connaught’s racing car factory at Send, Guildford, from whence the first all-British winner of a post-war continental Grand Prix emerged, has been demolished, a new Connaught House office development will rise in its place.

The developers last month marked Connaught’s achievements with a lunch on site, and while Tony Brooks – winner of the 1955 Syracuse GP – could not be present, Les Leston and former Connaught staff enjoyed the celebration co-ordinated by Allan Robinson and Duncan Rabagliati.

Numerous Connaughts, from early sportscars to the Formula 2 A4 were present and while the Syracuse winning chassis B1 was destroyed by fire (ironically at the Sicilian track in 1957), its engine was present. The contemporary Connaught story spanned just seven years, but it is a tribute to its engineering abaft)/ that they are still winning today, In historic events. Never was so much achieved in top line motorsport by so few with so little.

Andrew Frankel

Senior Contributing Writer

After an inglorious stint in the City convinced him that he could handle cars better than he handled money, Andrew joined Autocar many years ago as a junior tester. Since then he has become one of the industry’s senior figures. Editor of Motor Sport for five years, he now runs our road test section.

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