Connaught Type D
The Connaught Type D is a series of prototype sports cars, designed, developed, and built by British manufacturer Connaught Motor Company, between 2006 and 2007.
Overview
The Type D was first revealed in concept renderings on 3 September 2004 at the Goodwood Revival, with the first real images shown on 3 June 2005 ahead of a planned 2006 launch. A limited production run of 300 vehicles was planned, including 100 Syracuse Edition units to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Connaught Type B's win at the 1955 Syracuse Grand Prix, the first international grand prix won by a British car since World War 2. The car was engineered by former Jaguar engineers Tim Bishop and Tony Martindale, styling done by Coventry University, and manufacturing outsourced to EPM Technology based in Derby.It is a 2-door 2+2-seater with a chassis consisting of a steel tubeframe along with a Twintex inner tub and hand-formed aluminium body panels, with a target dry weight of for the base model. Kerb weight was eventually revealed to be. A convertible version named Eclipse was initially planned, equipped with a power hardtop convertible system. It uses a V10 hybrid engine mounted longitudinally and placed in a front-mid layout driving the rear wheels. It uses all-cast aluminium double wishbone suspension on all four wheels. Connaught claims the Type D is designed to receive a 5 star score in Euro NCAP crash testing. It was initially suggested that the Type D would be priced around.
Powertrain
The Type D was originally said to use a unique all-aluminium 2.11-litre naturally-aspirated narrow-angle V10 engine with a narrow bank angle of 22.5 degrees. The narrow angle allows the engine's two banks to both share the same single cylinder head, like Volkswagen's VR6 engines and Lancia's narrow-angle V4 engines. It had a compression ratio of 13.5:1, individual throttle bodies for each cylinder, and used a single overhead cam with two valves per cylinder and variable valve timing.The V10 was then augmented by a 48-volt electric motor hybrid system using a Lynch electric motor mounted to the crankshaft and a battery and a capacitor buffer system, for additional torque and allow the Connaught Type-D GT to achieve high fuel economy. Power was then routed through a proprietary five-speed manual gearbox supplied by Mitchell Cotts and an optional limited-slip differential, with a potential optional six-speed sequential transmission in the future.
Connaught claimed that the combined power output of this initial version is at 6,000rpm, while combined peak torque is from 1,0006,000rpm thanks to torque fill provided by the electric motor; the engine alone makes a peak torque of at 4,000rpm. Connaught claimed a 0 acceleration time of 6.2 seconds, a top speed of, and fuel consumption of. The engine is designed to pass Euro IV emissions standards with features such as engine start-stop, head-only coolant loop, and catalyst heaters, which along with the hybrid system achieves a claimed 150g/km of CO2 emissions.
Later, the engine specifications were changed to add supercharging, the displacement was revised down to 2.0-litres with a bore and stroke of, dual overhead cams with four valves per cylinder, and the addition of cylinder deactivation. As a result, output claims rose to at 7,000rpm and at 3,300rpm, with a top speed of and claimed 0 and 0 acceleration times of 4.3 and 4.5 seconds, respectively.