Richard Stafford
Senior Specialist, Head of Research
LOT 26
1951-52 Alta Formula 2 Racing Single-Seater Chassis no. F2/2 Engine no. SB 1107
Sold for £97,750 inc. premium
Lot 26
The Ex-Gordon Watson/Bill Whitehouse/Rex Woodgate
1951-52 Alta Formula 2 Racing Single-Seater
1951-52 Alta Formula 2 Racing Single-Seater
The Bond Street Sale: Important Collectors' Motor Cars|15 December 2023, 15:00 GMT|London, New Bond Street
1951-52 Alta Formula 2 Racing Single-Seater
Chassis no. F2/2
Engine no. SB 1107
Chassis no. F2/2
Engine no. SB 1107
• Arguably the most original Alta in existence
• Impeccable provenance, patina and originality
• 49 years continuous ownership
• From a respected collector and former racing driver's stable
This remarkable 'time machine' Formula 2 racing car was offered - and sold - at the recent Bonhams Goodwood Revival sale in September for the first time after no fewer than 49 years in its current ownership. The buyer at that sale was unable to complete the purchase and it thus presents another opportunity to the many collectors who expressed an interest at Goodwood. The estimate of £60,000 - 120,000 remains the same and, apart from this disclosure, the catalogue description also remains the same.
Furthermore, this long ownership period has seen the car raced once only – back in 1975 - after which it was set aside pending more thorough preparation – which its still enthusiastic owner never got round to carrying out. Therefore, after only two properly active frontline seasons' use back in 1951-52, this fascinating example of the small but in so many ways renowned Alta marque's specialised output is in fact remarkably well preserved today.
Motor engineer Geoffrey Taylor was a practical-minded, truly hands-on racing enthusiast who founded his Alta Car & Engineering Company at Tolworth, Surrey, as early as 1929. He actually sawed, filed and fettled his very first Alta sports car engine virtually from solid stock on his home kitchen table, producing a simple yet effective 4-cylinder twin-overhead camshaft power unit displacing 1074cc.
Through the 1930s he built a small hand-to-mouth business producing sports cars powered by these engines, which he progressively enlarged from their original capacity intended for 1100cc racing, through 1500cc and on up to a 2-litre version. Alta sports cars quickly built a firm following amongst sporting-minded owner/drivers, and the Tolworth company became famous for punching way above its true weight.
From 1934, Geoffrey Taylor began building specialised single-seat racing Alta cars, initially with offset driving position and bodywork before, in 1937, a proper centre-seated Voiturette-class design emerged, featuring all-independent suspension by sliding pillars. Walton-on-Thames garage owner George Abecassis really put Alta on the map with this car through 1938-39.
Immediately postwar, Geoffrey Taylor completed another Voiturette Alta design, featuring all-independent torsion-bar suspension, and this machine was raced by the independent Cowell & Watson team. It was a partnership between ex-RAF Spitfire pilot Robert Cowell and a relatively moneyed enthusiast named Gordon Watson. Cowell & Watson Ltd, based in Camberley, Surrey, prepared ERA and Alta cars for the resumption of racing in the UK and Europe. They had some car rebodying carried out by panel-beater Bill Shaw's infant Leacroft Forged Sheet Metal Work Ltd. This company was a British pioneer in using Italian-style 'Superleggera' construction, replacing traditional ash-wood body framing with lightweight steel tubing, supporting sheet-aluminium panelwork. In 1947, Cowell & Watson bought Shaw's company and retitled it Leacroft of Egham, based there in Queen's Road.. Leacroft then bodied several competition Altas, a Healey, Jowett sports cars and the famous works-team HWMs.
Meanwhile, in 1945, Geoffrey Taylor had also announced ambitious plans to build a supercharged 1½-litre Grand Prix car, later raced with some success by the hard-charging 'Gorgeous George' Abecassis. Two other clients, Geoffrey Crossley and Joe Kelly bought similar cars from Taylor.
But since sale and service of the three GP cars hardly generated sufficient income to keep Alta Engineering afloat, in search of wider custom Geoffrey Taylor then turned to the new unsupercharged 2-litre Formula 2 category.
Initially he found greater interest in his engines than for his complete cars. The contemporary Abecassis-run HWM team used Alta power units to achieve really significant racing success throughout Europe 1949-53 with such drivers as Stirling Moss, Lance Macklin and Peter Collins amongst others. Their HWM cars proved Alta capability, and against this background Taylor was able to launch his own prototype Formula 2 car in 1951, first chassis 'F2/1' having been built to order for Australian private owner/driver Tony Gaze, while the second car – 'F2/2' now offered here – was completed for Gordon Watson. A third car – 'F2/3' – was completed for Tony Stokes, another associate of Robert Cowell - 'F2/4' to Oliver Simpson and in 1953 'F2/5' to the great British privateer Peter Whitehead.
The in-period racing career of 'F2/2' may be listed as follows:
1951
May 5 - BRDC International Trophy, Silverstone, Heat 2 - Finished but not classified, Final - race abandoned (torrential rain) - driver Gordon Watson
June 3 - ADAC EifelRennen, Nürburgring Nordschleife, West Germany – Watson - Delayed by first-lap incident, finished last, nose damage
Car repaired in France
July 8 - Grand Prix de Rouen-les-Essarts, France - classified 8th after gearbox failure (Watson)
July 15 - Grande Trophée Entre Sambre et Meuse, Mettet, Charleroi, Belgium – 11th after attention to gearbox (Watson)
August 11 - 'Daily Mail' Formule Libre 50 Guineas Trophy, Boreham aerodrome - 7th (Watson)
September 9 - GrenzlandringRennen, Wegberg, Munchen-Gladbach, West Germany - 11th (driven by Bill Whitehouse)
September 29 - Madgwick Cup, Goodwood. Engine fitted with twin SU carburettors - 8th (Whitehouse)
September 29 - Third September Handicap, Goodwood - 10th (Whitehouse)
October 6 - Bristol MC 2-litre race, Castle Combe, Wiltshire – 2nd (Whitehouse)
October 13 - Winfield aerodrome, Berwick, Scotland – 7th (Whitehouse)
October 27 - Snetterton inaugural sprints, Thetford, Norfolk - result unconfirmed (Rex Woodgate)
1952
April 14 - Lavant Cup Formula 2, Easter Monday Goodwood - 7th (Watson)
April 14 - Chichester Cup Formule Libre, Easter Monday Goodwood - Rtd (Watson)
April 14 - Richmond Trophy, Easter Monday Goodwood - 11th (Watson)
April 19 - Ibsley Formula 2 Race, Ringwood, Hampshire - 5th (Woodgate)
May10 - 'Daily Express' BRDC International Trophy, Silverstone – 10th in Heat 2 - 14th in Final (Watson)
May 31 - Half-Litre CC Formula 2 race, Snetterton - Lap 2 crash (Whitehouse)
July 7 - 'Daily Express' Formule Libre, Silverstone - 13th (Watson)
September 27 - Madgwick Cup, Goodwood - practised but non-started (Watson)
October 22-November 1 - Car exhibited at the Earl's Court Motor Show, London.
On February 27, 1953, Gordon Watson advertised 'F2/2' for sale via his Leacroft of Egham company - not least because his mother was said to have "turned off the money tap". In April, 1955, former RAF Squadron Leader Peter Wilson - who had previously driven Bristol and Frazer Nash cars in the RAC TT and at Le Mans ran it in the Formule Libre race at Ibsley before it passed to London gun and antique dealer Anthony Foley.
He sold it in 1964 to local newspaper man Ray Potter together with a Humber Super Snipe tow car. Mr Potter ran the car in VSCC historic events 1965-66, before selling it to Michael A. V. Adams who used it briefly in similar club events before advertising it for sale in the February 1969 issue of 'Motor Sport' magazine.
It was acquired by prominent ERA owner/driver Dudley Gahagan of Aldershot, apparently for a client; Horace Capauldi, local owner of the Top Hat Café. Within a year, Capauldi instructed Gahagan to re-sell it, the car later being offered for sale by auction in 1974.
The car's current owner was the successful bidder, intending to "have some fun" in it at contemporary VSCC/Historic racing level. At that time he had already enjoyed a successful 13-year racing career in cars ranging from a Gemini Formula Junior and Lotus 7 and 23 sports cars to Ford GT40 and multiple Chevron models. However, after competing in the Alta at Ingliston, Scotland, in 1975 the car was parked and its owner "just didn't get around to driving it again".
Today 'F2/2' survives in remarkably original unrestored condition, and it is offered here in historically unspoiled and for many tastes delightfully patinated order. It has 16-inch front wheels instead of the original 18-inch but overall it has been considered to be the most original of surviving Alta cars.
A complete technical inspection and rebuild will plainly be necessary before it is run again in earnest. But what a wonderfully evocative (and affordable) introduction it could well provide to front-engined Historic single-seater racing for any enthusiast of the marque, or indeed of that classical era of early 1950s Grand Prix, Formula 2 and Formule Libre racing.
We recommend 'F2/2' here as meriting the closest consideration.
• Impeccable provenance, patina and originality
• 49 years continuous ownership
• From a respected collector and former racing driver's stable
This remarkable 'time machine' Formula 2 racing car was offered - and sold - at the recent Bonhams Goodwood Revival sale in September for the first time after no fewer than 49 years in its current ownership. The buyer at that sale was unable to complete the purchase and it thus presents another opportunity to the many collectors who expressed an interest at Goodwood. The estimate of £60,000 - 120,000 remains the same and, apart from this disclosure, the catalogue description also remains the same.
Furthermore, this long ownership period has seen the car raced once only – back in 1975 - after which it was set aside pending more thorough preparation – which its still enthusiastic owner never got round to carrying out. Therefore, after only two properly active frontline seasons' use back in 1951-52, this fascinating example of the small but in so many ways renowned Alta marque's specialised output is in fact remarkably well preserved today.
Motor engineer Geoffrey Taylor was a practical-minded, truly hands-on racing enthusiast who founded his Alta Car & Engineering Company at Tolworth, Surrey, as early as 1929. He actually sawed, filed and fettled his very first Alta sports car engine virtually from solid stock on his home kitchen table, producing a simple yet effective 4-cylinder twin-overhead camshaft power unit displacing 1074cc.
Through the 1930s he built a small hand-to-mouth business producing sports cars powered by these engines, which he progressively enlarged from their original capacity intended for 1100cc racing, through 1500cc and on up to a 2-litre version. Alta sports cars quickly built a firm following amongst sporting-minded owner/drivers, and the Tolworth company became famous for punching way above its true weight.
From 1934, Geoffrey Taylor began building specialised single-seat racing Alta cars, initially with offset driving position and bodywork before, in 1937, a proper centre-seated Voiturette-class design emerged, featuring all-independent suspension by sliding pillars. Walton-on-Thames garage owner George Abecassis really put Alta on the map with this car through 1938-39.
Immediately postwar, Geoffrey Taylor completed another Voiturette Alta design, featuring all-independent torsion-bar suspension, and this machine was raced by the independent Cowell & Watson team. It was a partnership between ex-RAF Spitfire pilot Robert Cowell and a relatively moneyed enthusiast named Gordon Watson. Cowell & Watson Ltd, based in Camberley, Surrey, prepared ERA and Alta cars for the resumption of racing in the UK and Europe. They had some car rebodying carried out by panel-beater Bill Shaw's infant Leacroft Forged Sheet Metal Work Ltd. This company was a British pioneer in using Italian-style 'Superleggera' construction, replacing traditional ash-wood body framing with lightweight steel tubing, supporting sheet-aluminium panelwork. In 1947, Cowell & Watson bought Shaw's company and retitled it Leacroft of Egham, based there in Queen's Road.. Leacroft then bodied several competition Altas, a Healey, Jowett sports cars and the famous works-team HWMs.
Meanwhile, in 1945, Geoffrey Taylor had also announced ambitious plans to build a supercharged 1½-litre Grand Prix car, later raced with some success by the hard-charging 'Gorgeous George' Abecassis. Two other clients, Geoffrey Crossley and Joe Kelly bought similar cars from Taylor.
But since sale and service of the three GP cars hardly generated sufficient income to keep Alta Engineering afloat, in search of wider custom Geoffrey Taylor then turned to the new unsupercharged 2-litre Formula 2 category.
Initially he found greater interest in his engines than for his complete cars. The contemporary Abecassis-run HWM team used Alta power units to achieve really significant racing success throughout Europe 1949-53 with such drivers as Stirling Moss, Lance Macklin and Peter Collins amongst others. Their HWM cars proved Alta capability, and against this background Taylor was able to launch his own prototype Formula 2 car in 1951, first chassis 'F2/1' having been built to order for Australian private owner/driver Tony Gaze, while the second car – 'F2/2' now offered here – was completed for Gordon Watson. A third car – 'F2/3' – was completed for Tony Stokes, another associate of Robert Cowell - 'F2/4' to Oliver Simpson and in 1953 'F2/5' to the great British privateer Peter Whitehead.
The in-period racing career of 'F2/2' may be listed as follows:
1951
May 5 - BRDC International Trophy, Silverstone, Heat 2 - Finished but not classified, Final - race abandoned (torrential rain) - driver Gordon Watson
June 3 - ADAC EifelRennen, Nürburgring Nordschleife, West Germany – Watson - Delayed by first-lap incident, finished last, nose damage
Car repaired in France
July 8 - Grand Prix de Rouen-les-Essarts, France - classified 8th after gearbox failure (Watson)
July 15 - Grande Trophée Entre Sambre et Meuse, Mettet, Charleroi, Belgium – 11th after attention to gearbox (Watson)
August 11 - 'Daily Mail' Formule Libre 50 Guineas Trophy, Boreham aerodrome - 7th (Watson)
September 9 - GrenzlandringRennen, Wegberg, Munchen-Gladbach, West Germany - 11th (driven by Bill Whitehouse)
September 29 - Madgwick Cup, Goodwood. Engine fitted with twin SU carburettors - 8th (Whitehouse)
September 29 - Third September Handicap, Goodwood - 10th (Whitehouse)
October 6 - Bristol MC 2-litre race, Castle Combe, Wiltshire – 2nd (Whitehouse)
October 13 - Winfield aerodrome, Berwick, Scotland – 7th (Whitehouse)
October 27 - Snetterton inaugural sprints, Thetford, Norfolk - result unconfirmed (Rex Woodgate)
1952
April 14 - Lavant Cup Formula 2, Easter Monday Goodwood - 7th (Watson)
April 14 - Chichester Cup Formule Libre, Easter Monday Goodwood - Rtd (Watson)
April 14 - Richmond Trophy, Easter Monday Goodwood - 11th (Watson)
April 19 - Ibsley Formula 2 Race, Ringwood, Hampshire - 5th (Woodgate)
May10 - 'Daily Express' BRDC International Trophy, Silverstone – 10th in Heat 2 - 14th in Final (Watson)
May 31 - Half-Litre CC Formula 2 race, Snetterton - Lap 2 crash (Whitehouse)
July 7 - 'Daily Express' Formule Libre, Silverstone - 13th (Watson)
September 27 - Madgwick Cup, Goodwood - practised but non-started (Watson)
October 22-November 1 - Car exhibited at the Earl's Court Motor Show, London.
On February 27, 1953, Gordon Watson advertised 'F2/2' for sale via his Leacroft of Egham company - not least because his mother was said to have "turned off the money tap". In April, 1955, former RAF Squadron Leader Peter Wilson - who had previously driven Bristol and Frazer Nash cars in the RAC TT and at Le Mans ran it in the Formule Libre race at Ibsley before it passed to London gun and antique dealer Anthony Foley.
He sold it in 1964 to local newspaper man Ray Potter together with a Humber Super Snipe tow car. Mr Potter ran the car in VSCC historic events 1965-66, before selling it to Michael A. V. Adams who used it briefly in similar club events before advertising it for sale in the February 1969 issue of 'Motor Sport' magazine.
It was acquired by prominent ERA owner/driver Dudley Gahagan of Aldershot, apparently for a client; Horace Capauldi, local owner of the Top Hat Café. Within a year, Capauldi instructed Gahagan to re-sell it, the car later being offered for sale by auction in 1974.
The car's current owner was the successful bidder, intending to "have some fun" in it at contemporary VSCC/Historic racing level. At that time he had already enjoyed a successful 13-year racing career in cars ranging from a Gemini Formula Junior and Lotus 7 and 23 sports cars to Ford GT40 and multiple Chevron models. However, after competing in the Alta at Ingliston, Scotland, in 1975 the car was parked and its owner "just didn't get around to driving it again".
Today 'F2/2' survives in remarkably original unrestored condition, and it is offered here in historically unspoiled and for many tastes delightfully patinated order. It has 16-inch front wheels instead of the original 18-inch but overall it has been considered to be the most original of surviving Alta cars.
A complete technical inspection and rebuild will plainly be necessary before it is run again in earnest. But what a wonderfully evocative (and affordable) introduction it could well provide to front-engined Historic single-seater racing for any enthusiast of the marque, or indeed of that classical era of early 1950s Grand Prix, Formula 2 and Formule Libre racing.
We recommend 'F2/2' here as meriting the closest consideration.
Revs
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