It’s that time of the week again: time for us to look at the past teams that made an exit from the sport of Formula One, having scored no points. This week, we remember Connew.
After quitting his job in order to attend the 1969 Italian Grand Prix with a friend, Peter Connew found himself in need of work at the age of 24. He was as a draughtsman for the Surtees team. His position at the team was short lived following an argument with John Surtees.
Connew quit his job again and rented a garage in the UK to design his own Formula One car. With the help of a friend and his cousin, Connew began constructing their first chassis. The team used the wind tunnel of a local college to test the car’s design and drivers who had tested the car had praise.
The team planned to debut their new chassis at the Monaco Grand Prix, but a last-minute regulation change forced the team to redesign the chassis. The team purchased a used Cosworth engine from the McLaren team and signed François Migault to drive the car. The team originally intended to take part in the French Grand Prix and Migault provided the team was a truck to transport the car to the circuit. However, the truck broken down and the team instead ran some test laps around a different circuit.
The team was finally ready to race at the British Grand Prix, taking part in the practice. During practice, the suspension was doubted and the team took it back to the workshop to repair it overnight. When the team loaded the car on the truck the following morning, the rear suspension was damaged and the team was forced to withdraw from the event.
The team arrived at the following round in Germany, but was denied access because they had not competed in any other races that season. The team used that time to make some minor changes to the car in time for the Austrian Grand Prix.
The car suffered engine glitches during qualifying, but Migault was able to qualify at the rear of the field. The car was showing some potential by passing various cars, but the rear suspension failed, causing a near accident for Migault.
The car was entered in the John Player Challenge Trohpy event at Brands Hatch with David Purley, but his request for a kill switch led to an issue with the electronics and prevented the car from starting the race.
The team later modified the chassis for entry into the Formula 5000 championship in 1973, but also had no success in that series.
Points are a difficult thing to obtain in Formula One. In this weekly series, we will look back the past teams who gave it their all, but fell short.
Points are a difficult thing to obtain in Formula One. In this weekly series, we will look back the past teams who gave it their all, but fell short.
