Team story
Origins
Geoffrey Taylor personally made even the engine components for his early sports cars. That experience led to the Alta Car and Engineering Company in 1931. After the war, the work expanded to Grand Prix single-seaters: a supercharged four-cylinder engine, a tubular chassis and suspension with rubber springing distinguished the Alta GP cars.
The Formula 1 journey
Joe Kelly and Geoffrey Crossley were at Silverstone in 1950 for the opening race of the World Championship. Crossley is listed ninth in the subsequent Belgian Grand Prix, the constructor's best World Championship placing. When the championship adopted Formula 2, Alta also had a naturally aspirated two-litre version: Graham Whitehead was twelfth in the 1952 British Grand Prix.
Historical timeline
Three chapters in the story of Alta
Three episodes to revisit the people, cars and races that shaped this journey.
First appearance · British Grand Prix
Joe Kelly · British Grand Prix 1950. The recorded outcome is NC. This is the first recorded race start, or the first entry if the team never started a race.
Sporting landmark · Belgian Grand Prix
Geoffrey Crossley · Belgian Grand Prix 1950. The recorded position is P9; this number alone does not show whether the driver completed the race distance. This marks the first win or podium where one exists, otherwise the highest recorded placing for this constructor.
Latest recorded appearance · British Grand Prix
Graham Whitehead · British Grand Prix 1952. The recorded position is P12; this number alone does not show whether the driver completed the race distance. This is the last race start attributed to this constructor in the archive, not necessarily the end of the organisation behind it.
A distinctive way of racing
Taylor built both chassis and engine, but his influence spread primarily through the supply of engines. HWM used Alta four-cylinder engines in Formula 2, while Connaught adopted the 2.5-litre version. These were cars from other constructors: their appearances and results do not add to the World Championship career of Alta chassis.
What remains
In 1955, Tony Brooks won at Syracuse in an Alta-engined Connaught, in a non-championship race. That episode illustrates Taylor's contribution beyond the few appearances of his own single-seaters. Production ceased during the 1950s; his son Mike's later attempt to revive the name in Formula Ford was a different project, not a return to the World Championship.