A rare and historic Grand Prix car from the early 1950s once raced by Stirling Moss for the Works team will be offered in the RM Sotheby’s Paris sale next February.
In 1952, all Grand Prix races were run under Formula 2 rules with 2-litre naturally aspirated engines, meaning the cars were smaller and lighter and new marques were encouraged to enter because of the lower build and running costs of these machines. This Connaught Type A was built in 1952 as a Works car, weighing in at a very sprite 554 kg thanks to the Lea-Francis aluminium four-cylinder engine.
Chassis A-6 debuted at the 1952 British Grand Prix with Eric Thompson behind the wheels and came away with a 5th place finish. Later in the year, A-6 found itself in the hands of a young Stirling Moss racing in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Even though Moss qualified at 9th out of 35 entries, the race didn’t go smoothly and the future legend was forced to retire on lap 60. A-6 was then transferred to yet another legendary race team – Ecurie Ecosse after two more races with Works. In the two years with Ecurie Ecosse it appeared in around 30 races including the 1953 and 1954 British Grand Prix, and was piloted by other prominent drivers such as Jimmy Stewart — Jackie Stewart’s older brother — and Ian Stewart.
Today, A-6 is ready to race again after a full rebuild by its current owner in 2005 and having participated in historic races such as the Goodwood Revival and the Monaco Historique Grand Prix.
