Obituary: Kenneth McAlpine, GP racing's oldest-surviving driver who lived to 102

Obituaries

April 16th 2023 - Last updated: April 18th 2023

Kenneth McAlpine, the oldest-surviving grand prix driver, who first competed in 1952, has passed away at the age of 102

McAlpine's GP debut came in 1952

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Kenneth McAlpine 1920-2023

Kenneth McAlpine OBE, who has just died aged 102, was the oldest surviving person to have raced at grand prix level. He was the man who largely funded the Connaught Grand Prix team back in the 1950s, worked for the family civil engineering company started by his grandfather, established a successful helicopter business and was one of the founding fathers of the English wine industry with his vineyard at Lamberhurst in Kent. Yet he was an understated man who rarely sought the limelight.

Born in Cobham, Surrey into the major construction business founded by the man nicknamed “Concrete Bob”, Kenneth’s father was one of ten children. Kenneth was born in 1920 and soon had an interest in cars and motor racing. He went to America during World War II , where he was trained by the US Navy to be a pilot. He returned in 1944 and became an RAF Flight Instructor.

Once the war was over he quickly acquired a pair of Maserati 8CMs which he hill-climbed, sprinted and raced in 1947-49 to good effect with victories at Prescott, Luton Hoo and Goodwood. In 1951 he made a move to 500cc Formula 3 with a JBS Norton but also started to race a Connaught A1 Formula 2 car. His cars had been prepared by Continental Cars by Mike Oliver and Rodney Clarke at Shere in Surrey.

Kenneth McAlpine 2 — In the Maserati 8CM which he campaigned to some success

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A plan to be the British agent for Bugatti fell through when the French company decided not to continue production so after considerable thought Clarke and Oliver decided to became a sports car manufacturer in their own right initially using Lea Francis chassis. They turned to their customer Kenneth McAlpine to provide the funding and he became their first works driver. They chose the name Connaught as a shortened version of Continental Cars.

From the archive

The Formula 1 Connaught

A New 2 1/2-Litre Alta-engined British G.P. Car, with All-Enveloping or Normal Bodywork, to be Built for Private Owners At Goodwood during the afternoon of August. 12th a select assembly…

September 1954 Issue

By W.B.

The Connaught L2 proved a successful sports car and by 1950 the company had moved to single seaters initially with the Connaught A Formula 2 cars. Kenneth gave the car its debut at Castle Combe in Oct 1950 and finished second behind Stirling Moss in an HWM. The following year he gave the marque their first single-seater win at Ibsley. Other drivers like Ken Downing, Dennis Poore and Eric Thomson became early customers. Mike Hawthorn became an occasional driver for the team.

For the next three years, as well as racing in British Formula Libre and F2 event, Kenneth competed occasionally in the world championship. He made his debut in the 1952 British Grand Prix at Silverstone and finished 16th and the team also went to the Italian GP with three cars although Kenneth retired. The following year he took in four grands prix – Holland, Britain, Germany and Italy, retiring at all bar the Nürburgring where he placed 13th despite damaged rear suspension. His final grand prix was back at Aintree in 1955 driving the streamliner. Again he retired. However, despite his part in running the McAlpine Construction business, he helped build Connaught into a considerable force with sometimes as many as six cars competing at events like the International Trophy meeting.

His best result was third in Goodwood’s 1954 Glover Trophy in the Grand Prix car and second in the British Empire Trophy sports car race at Oulton Park the following year, behind Archie Scott-Brown in the Lister-Bristol but ahead of Reg Parnell in the works Aston Martin DB3S0.

Kenneth McAlpine at Goodwood 1954 — Competing for Connaught at Goodwood in 1954

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McAlpine, together with Eric Thompson, also raced at the 1955 Le Mans 24 Hours but their Connaught retired after six hours when the engine blew. His final race came a few months later at the Goodwood 9 Hours, as McAlpine fulfilled a promise to retire from racing ahead of his impending marriage in November 1955. Sadly the end of the road was near for Connaught, despite Tony Brooks’ sensational victory in the Syracuse non-championship race, where Motor Sport’s Denis Jenkinson was the only British journalist on hand to witness the first win in a grand Prix by a British car and driver since 1923.

McAlpine had been receiving considerable tax incentives to invest in Connaught but when the concession was rescinded by the government, he had little option to withdraw his funding and in May 1957 Connaught announce they would be closing their racing division. Nearly all the cars and equipment were sold at auction, Bernie Ecclestone buying two cars for his protégé Stuart Lewis-Evans to race.

Kenneth McAlpine moved on to his new business interests and in 1974 set up the Lamberhurst Vineyard on Kent/East Sussex border. It became Britain’s foremost a wine maker, winning many awards and setting a trend for the rise of English wine. McAlpine sold the company in 1995 and it is now owned by Chapel Down, Britain’s largest wine producer. His estate manager tells the amusing story of a photo shoot after Lamberhurst had won a wine-making trophy. The idea was the pair of them would be photographed with the Cup by the local Kent paper. However the day the photographer he came, the trophy was away being engraved. McAlpine said he could find a substitute, went into his office and returned with the silverware from the 1955 Syracuse victory.

Kenneth also established McAlpine Helicopters in 1988, a company he later sold to Eurocopter. His son James, who raced trucks and a Tiga sportscars for a couple of years, ran the business for a while. Kenneth latterly lived in Lamberhurst, Kent, and he continued to be a director of Sir Robert McAlpine Enterprises Ltd at the age of 102. He was a remarkable man: an industrialist, entrepreneur, F1 team owner and pilot who quietly, almost under the radar, made motor racing history.