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The Alta Car and Engineering Company was a British
sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...
and racing car manufacturer, commonly known simply as Alta. Their cars contested five FIA World Championship races between 1950 and 1952, as well as
Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...
events prior to this. They also supplied engines to a small number of other constructors, most notably the
Connaught Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbhn ...
and HWM teams.


Early history

The company was founded by engineer Geoffrey Taylor (1903–1966) in Surbiton, Surrey, and produced its first automobile in 1929. Alta's first vehicle was a sports car powered by a 1.1L engine, featuring an
aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...
block, wet liners, and shaft-driven twin
overhead camshaft An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine where the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustion cha ...
s, which Taylor designed himself. It was offered in naturally aspirated or supercharged form giving . A choice of four speed non- synchromesh or pre-selector
gearboxes Propulsion transmission is the mode of transmitting and controlling propulsion power of a machine. The term ''transmission'' properly refers to the whole drivetrain, including clutch, gearbox, prop shaft (for rear-wheel drive vehicles), differe ...
was available. These were mounted on a low-slung chassis frame with open two- or four-seat bodies. Thirteen were made, of which five are thought to survive. This design, and its later 1.5L and 2L sister cars, sold steadily, but in limited numbers, right up to the outbreak of war in 1939. With the highest power option the car was capable of and 0–60 mph in 7 seconds. In 1937 the company introduced front independent suspension to the chassis. They became popular among club racers due to their ability to be converted easily from 1.5L to 2L or ''vice versa'', allowing drivers on a limited budget to contest more than one class without having to buy a second car. In 1934, Taylor produced the first Alta to be designed solely for competition. The resulting light-weight, off-set single seat
voiturette A voiturette is a miniature automobile. History ''Voiturette'' was first registered by Léon Bollée in 1895 to name his new motor tricycle. The term became so popular in the early years of the motor industry that it was used by many makers t ...
cars achieved quite a reputation in shorter events such as
hill-climb Hillclimbing, also known as hill climbing, speed hillclimbing, or speed hill climbing, is a branch of motorsport in which drivers compete against the clock to complete an uphill course. It is one of the oldest forms of motorsport, since the firs ...
s, sprints, and time-trials. Once again, Alta's keen pricing, in comparison to the expensive
ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...
models, resulted in many sales to amateur racers. However, a lack of reliability kept the Alta name out of the long distance Grand Prix events. A revised voiturette design appeared in 1937, with independent front suspension.
George Abecassis George Edgar Abecassis (21 March 1913 – 18 December 1991) was a British racing driver, and co-founder of the HWM Formula One team. Pre-1946 career Born in Oatlands, Surrey, Abecassis was educated at Clifton College. He began circuit racin ...
had some success with this design, winning a string of events before the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
interrupted. As war approached, Taylor was drafting designs for a new straight-8 engine and a third-generation voiturette, this time with fully independent suspension. This last prewar car was highly advanced for its time, and was very nearly complete in late 1939. However, as soon as war was declared, Alta's production capabilities were given over to the war effort, and production of the new designs was halted. In February 2018, a 1936 Alta 2-Litre Sports (chassis no. 64S) sold at
Bonhams Bonhams is a privately owned international auction house and one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. It was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son & Neale. This brought to ...
' Paris auction for 345,000€ inc. premium.


Post-war


Alta GP

Despite Alta's diminutive size, and their status as a primarily road car manufacturer, Alta was in fact the first British constructor to produce a new Grand Prix car following the end of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. Austerity limitations of raw materials did not stop Taylor beginning production of designs he had been developing throughout the war years, and the Alta GP car appeared in 1948. He also restarted production of the road-going sports cars, although without further development funding the popularity of these models rapidly dwindled. Prior to 1948, the last pre-war Alta was campaigned with varying degrees of success. The Alta GP car was a development of the pre-war design, but was powered by a supercharged 1.5L engine, developing approximately 230
bhp BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...
, and retained the 4-speed pre-selector gearbox of the prewar cars. Taylor developed the independent suspension design further, introducing wishbones and rubber linkage bushings. The first car was supplied to
privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
driver
George Abecassis George Edgar Abecassis (21 March 1913 – 18 December 1991) was a British racing driver, and co-founder of the HWM Formula One team. Pre-1946 career Born in Oatlands, Surrey, Abecassis was educated at Clifton College. He began circuit racin ...
, who campaigned it throughout 1948 and into 1949, but only finished once. Abecassis would go on to use Alta engines to power his HWM team from 1951 to 1955. Modifications were made to the bodywork and gearchange for the subsequent 1949 and 1950 GP2 and GP3 vehicles, GP3 also gaining a two-stage supercharger. Once again they were built to order, and supplied to Geoffrey Crossley and Joe Kelly respectively. Crossley took GP2 to the 1949 Belgian Grand Prix, but could only manage seventh place. In 1950 he set a number of speed records over 50 miles, 50 km and 100 km at the
Montlhéry Montlhéry () is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is located from Paris. History Montlhéry lay on the strategically important road from Paris to Orléans. Under the Merovingians, it was owned by the ...
circuit. Kelly concentrated mostly on Irish races, and his best finish was third in the 1952
Ulster Trophy Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: si ...
. Both drivers took their respective chassis to the
1950 British Grand Prix The 1950 British Grand Prix, formally known as The Royal Automobile Club Grand Prix d'Europe Incorporating The British Grand Prix, was a Formula One motor race held on 13 May 1950 at the Silverstone Circuit in Silverstone, England. It was the fi ...
, the first ever
Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
World Championship race. However, while Kelly finished, he was unclassified; Crossley retired with a transmission fault. Kelly later carried out extensive modification and rebuilding work on GP3, running it as the Irish Racing Automobiles (IRA) car during 1952 and 1953. His most significant change was to replace the Alta engine with a
Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
unit.


Alta F2

Lacking the funding necessary to develop a Formula One successor to the GP design, Taylor decided to move into the junior
Formula Two Formula Two (F2 or Formula 2) is a type of open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009– 2012 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship. The name ...
category. The engine produced was a 1970 cc inline 4-cylinder, naturally aspirated unit, developing around . Unfortunately, Alta's own chassis design followed the preceding GP car very closely, and this resulted in an overweight car considering the greatly reduced power available from the unsupercharged motors. Tony Gaze and Gordon Watson took F2/1 and F2/2 on a tour of European races, but good results were hard to come by. Although according to Dennis Jenkinson's book ''Historic Racing Cars'' the uncompleted GP4 machine was converted and became F2/3 this was not correct and chassis GP4 was sold to Bobbie Baird in Ireland and eventually became a Jaguar engined 2 seater sportscar. It competed in this form and still exists as a Jaguar 2 seater sportscar. F2/3 was no more successful than its siblings. F2/4 followed in construction and was sold to Orlando Simpson before Peter Whitehead placed an order for what was to become the last Alta car built: F2/5. This F2 Alta was entered for World Championship Grands Prix events, first driven by himself in the 1952 French Grand Prix, and then by his half-brother Graham Whitehead at the
1952 British Grand Prix The 1952 British Grand Prix was a Formula Two race held on 19 July 1952 at Silverstone Circuit. It was race 5 of 8 in the 1952 World Championship of Drivers, in which each Grand Prix was run to Formula Two rules rather than the Formula One regu ...
. Neither run produced a points finish, but this was not to be the last time that the Alta name appeared in Formula One.


Alta the engine supplier

While the F2 engine might have been overwhelmed by the chassis' bulk, tweaks made by Peter Whitehead to the unit in his car showed that the design had tuning potential. Alta engines had already been used by the HWM team since 1949, and from 1953 many more mechanics would come to know the Taylor-designed power plant. Peter Whitehead led the way by removing the engine from F2/5 and installing it into a
Cooper T24 The Cooper T24 is a Formula 2 racing car, built, designed and developed by the British manufacturer Cooper Cars in 1953. It was used in Formula 2 racing between 1953 and 1960, and briefly used in Formula One racing A Formula One Grand Prix is ...
chassis, which he ran in the
1953 British Grand Prix The 1953 British Grand Prix was a Formula Two motor race held on 18 July 1953 at Silverstone Circuit. It was race 6 of 9 in the 1953 World Championship of Drivers, which was run to Formula Two rules in 1952 and 1953, rather than the Formula One re ...
. Also present at Silverstone that day were no fewer than four Alta-powered HWM cars. HWM had, the previous year, scored what was Alta's only significant victory, when
Lance Macklin Lance Noel Macklin (2 September 1919 – 29 August 2002) was a British racing driver from England. He participated in 15 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 18 May 1952. He was infamously involved in the 1955 Le Mans disaste ...
won the
1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...
BRDC International Trophy The International Trophy is a prize awarded annually by the British Racing Drivers' Club to the winner of a motor race held at the Silverstone Circuit, England. For many years it formed the premier non-championship Formula One event in Britain, ...
race at Silverstone. Over the next few years 1.5L and 2.5L Alta engines would find their way into many British-built F1 hopefuls, the most successful of which were Connaught and Cooper. Ultimately the engine would prove to be capable of approximately . With the collapse of Connaught in 1959, the Alta name disappeared from Formula One for good.


Recent history

Geoffrey Taylor died in 1966 at the age of 63. In 1976, his son Michael attempted to revive the Alta name with a
Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula For ...
car but was not successful. A handful of the pre-war sports and single seat cars survive, all in private ownership. GP101, which was originally owned by
George Abecassis George Edgar Abecassis (21 March 1913 – 18 December 1991) was a British racing driver, and co-founder of the HWM Formula One team. Pre-1946 career Born in Oatlands, Surrey, Abecassis was educated at Clifton College. He began circuit racin ...
, was rebuilt for Phil Scragg as a hill climb car and is still in use. F2/5 has been reunited with its original powerplant and has participated in a number of Historic race meeting in recent years, including the 1999 Goodwood Revival meeting.


Complete Formula One World Championship results

( key) n.b. Prior to there was no Constructor's World Championship, hence constructors were not awarded points.


See also

* List of car manufacturers of the United Kingdom


References

*Felix Muelas, Mattijs Diepraam and Terry Walker ''Geoffrey Taylor's brainchild''
8W
''November 1999''. *Felix Muelas, ''Complex mind, complex output''

''November 1999''. *Felix Muelas, ''A stylist on tarmac and paper''

''February 2000''. *Jikku George, ''The very first World Drivers Championship''

''January 2005''.


External links

{{F1 cars 1952 Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of England Formula One constructors Formula One engine manufacturers British racecar constructors Companies based in Surrey Formula Two constructors 1929 establishments in England 1959 disestablishments in England Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1929 Engine manufacturers of the United Kingdom