Mike Oliver applied to his engines the approach of a test pilot who is taking off in a prototype and who hopes the wings don't drop off.

When the 2.5 litre Formula One was announced, Clarke believed he would have the Coventry Climax FPE 'Godiva' engine. The Connaught J Type was to have been a monocoque design with the Godiva engine amidships and driving through a five speed transaxle. This was no pie in the sky, the chassis was close to completion and one of the transaxles still exists. The problem lay with Coventry Climax which feared its engine would not be up to scratch because they believed the horsepower stories spread by everyone else.

The Coventry Climax 'Godiva' was the best engine of its time. It was compact and light, and its 258 bhp was not only better than Mercedes Benz could manage with a very heavy unit, the 'Godiva' had a much wider power band. Mercedes Benz had a straight eight, Coventry Climax had a V8, when did you last hear of a straight eight?

For the first time, I reveal what Denis Jenkinson thought. Jenks told me, "The problem with the men at Coventry Climax is the fact they were all based in Coventry, which is a long way from anywhere, and they didn't get out much. Once a year they would get out to go to Le Mans and by the time they reached the boat at Dover, they were pissed out of their brains. They would believe anything anyone told them."

That is not my opinion, it is something Jenks told me, but I have never doubted his version. Coventry Climax had the world's best engine and had Connaught, Cooper, HWM and Kieft wanting to buy, and the guys in Coventry did not believe what they had. The history of motor racing would have been different had that jewel of an engine been released.

We know that the Godiva worked because one bank of the unit became the Coventry Climax FPF engine which was powerful and very reliable.

Rodney Clarke had a mid engined monocoque under construction and people still bang on about the Lotus 25. Drawings of the Connaught appeared in Autosport in 1955.

With Coventry Climax being very silly, Connaught had no engine for 1954 and so wasted a year while Mike Oliver sorted out an Alta design. Instead of a mid engined monocoque, the new car was pretty conventional, except it had an all enveloping streamlined body. The body worked very well on the track, in fact the Connaught streamlined body worked better then the one on the Mercedes Benz W196, which only worked in a straight line. The problem was what you did with the bodywork when you wanted to work on the engine. There was nowhere to put the body in the pitlane of the 1950s.

Kenneth McAlpine married in 1955 and his wife demanded that he give up his dangerous sport and you could not blame her after more than 80 people were killed at Le Mans. Connaught had shed many jobs and was about to close when the organisers of the Syracuse Grand Prix offered good money for entries.

Rodney Clarke contacted the usual suspects, but they all wanted to be paid. Eventually he came across the names of Les Leston and Tony Brooks.

Of the two, Leston had the better form, he was the 1954 British Formula Three Champion. Brooks was an amateur most of whose races had been in handicaps at Goodwood.

Tony had signed as a junior driver for Aston Martin in 1955 and he got one race, Le Mans, when so many died. Tony's partner at Le Mans, John Risely Prichard, had pressure put on him from his family and retired from racing. He owned a Connaught A Type and entered Tony in a couple of minor races, That is why Brooks was on Rodney Clarke's list.

He had signed for Aston Martin on an annual retainer of fifty pounds, plus expenses and £50 was the average Brit's monthly pay. Tony thought Santa had called. Aston Martin would not only give him a car to drive, but would put him up in a hotel. When Clarke made his offer, the expectations of Tony Brooks were not high. The trip to Syracuse has never been straight forward but in 1955 it was a major event involving many hops and aeroplanes with propellers.

On the flight(s) out Tony swotted for his dental finals. When he finally reached the circuit, he discovered that Connaught was so short of money that serious practice was not allowed, he had to hire a scooter to learn the circuit. He was allowed 15 laps in a car, but his revs were limited. If the car was not on the starting grid, Connaught did not get starting money. The story of how the mechanics got the cars there in a converted bus is a tale for another time, and it is an epic story.

Despite everything, Tony started the race from the front row, He knew he had to preserve the car so made a cautious start. He was fourth at the end of lap one, but took the lead on lap 22 of 70 and sailed away. Of the Maserati team, only Luigi Musso managed to finish on the same lap. Everyone else Brooks lapped twice.

On his flights home, Tony swotted for his finals and he remains the last graduate to win a World Championship Grand Prix (Germany, Avus, 1959).

Today, Brooks would have been greeted home as a sporting hero, but this was 1955 when motor racing barely rated a mention in the British press unless death was involved. Nobody noticed the return of Tony Brooks. Connaught should have been showered with money, but was not. Kenneth McAlpine supported the team for another year, but he had to call a halt. He had sunk a quarter of a million pounds into the team and you cannot put that into today's terms.