Connaught had originally planned to build a streamlined Grand Prix car powered by the 2.5-litre Coventry Climax FPE "Godiva" engine. When that project was abandoned, the team switched to the Alta straight-four unit. An early streamlined body was also trialled but rejected after drivers reported difficulties placing the car accurately at corner apexes — problems comparable to those experienced with the Mercedes-Benz W196 streamliner. The design was replaced by more conventional, close-fitting bodywork.
Seven Type B chassis were constructed between 1954 and 1958. Each was built on a conventional space frame on a tubular chassis, with independent front suspension by wishbones and torsion bars and a de Dion axle at the rear. Disc brakes were fitted at all four corners. The Alta 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine delivered 250 bhp through a four-speed preselector gearbox.
The Type B made its competition debut at the 1955 Glover Trophy, where Tony Rolt qualified fifth but retired after eight laps with a faulty fuel pump. Its World Championship debut at the 1955 British Grand Prix proved equally frustrating: all five Connaught entries failed to finish. Owner Kenneth McAlpine seriously considered winding up the team.
The pivotal moment came at the non-championship 1955 Syracuse Grand Prix. The offer of substantial starting money persuaded McAlpine to enter two cars for Tony Brooks and Les Leston. Against all expectations, Brooks won the race by 50 seconds from the works Maserati 250F of Luigi Musso. It was the first victory for a British car on a Continental European circuit since Henry Segrave won the 1924 San Sebastian Grand Prix in a Sunbeam.
The Syracuse result, however, proved exceptional. The team remained cash-strapped and generally unable to match the Maserati 250F and Vanwall in World Championship competition. Over the following three seasons Connaught entered just five championship rounds, with the best result being a third place for Ron Flockhart at the 1956 Italian Grand Prix. In domestic British events the Type B fared somewhat better: Archie Scott Brown won the 1956 BRSCC Formula 1 Race, and Stuart Lewis-Evans took victory in the 1957 Glover Trophy.
The car's final World Championship appearance came at the 1958 British Grand Prix, by which point the team was being run by Bernie Ecclestone. Both entries retired from the race.
The Connaught Type B occupies a significant place in British motor racing history not for championship points but for the Syracuse breakthrough — a result that demonstrated a small, underfunded British constructor could beat the established Italian works teams on their home ground. The win foreshadowed the wave of British constructors that would come to dominate Formula One in the following decade.
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