Marlboro Masters 1998:

Historic Grand Prix Cars (3/7)

In the same class and era as the Cooper and the Connaught is this Alta. This make is far less known than the other two, but it's not less interesting. The factory was founded in 1928 by Geoffrey Taylor and its main fame is building the engine that provided the first British Grand Prix victory since 1920. That was in 1955 when Alta engines powered the Connaught type B Grand Prix cars. Alta by then was already bankrupt, the factory closed its doors in 1954.
The car on the picture, raced by Ian Nuthall, is one of two F2 cars built by Alta in 1952, the last formula cars to leave the factory.

This pre-war Alta of Martin Redmond has a 2 litre aluminium engine with twin overhead camshafts.
This car was built for the voiturette category, the pre-war version of formula 2 in a way. German domination of Grand Prix racing led to growing popularity of that class in which mostly Italian cars were very successful.

Alta was famous for building its own engines, something that wasn't very common in the formula 2 class. Starting 1945 a Grand Prix car was developed with a 1458cc supercharged engine. In 1948, 1949 and 1950 a Grand Prix car was built every year, the last one even with a two-stage supercharged engine producing 230 hp. The design of the Alta Grand Prix car was inspired by the 1939 Mercedes GP-car and its engine design followed the example set by Maserati.
All this didn't lead to great achievements, the chassis was to heavy and the suspension unreliable. A few seventh place finishes was the best the car could do.

Paul Jaye leaning into the corner in his Alta. Most Alta's had elegant designs, certainly in comparison to their opponents. The cars were custom made and often unique. In later years the factory also made road cars that were converted racing monopostos fitted with lights and even an second seat next to the driver.

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