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Cast your mind back to 2004. Michael Schumacher was still on top of his game, racing for Ferrari. Jeremy Clarkson was still on Top Gear and still funny. Tesla barely existed, the autonomous car was a far-off dream, and I was still just reading about cars as a scientist rather than writing about them for my favorite online publication. Flicking through the November issue of Car, a short article about a reborn Connaught caught my eye—and my imagination.

A tiny V10 and a hybrid system, years before they came to Formula 1

The idea would still be on the cutting edge today. Under the hood would be a 2.1L gasoline V10 working in conjunction with a Lynch electric motor to fill in the torque curve. The combined output of 162hp (120kW) and 144ft-lbs (195Nm) wasn't earth-shattering, but, with a dry weight of just 1,653lbs (750kg), performance would be more than adequate: 0-60mph in 6.5 seconds and a top speed of 140mph. The photos of the test mule showed a number of batteries, but it would also feature a capacitor to feed the electric motor, with then-uncommon stop-start and different driving modes (the now-ubiquitous Sport, Normal, and Eco).

All of this was to be wrapped in a GT body that was a little polarizing. Plenty thought it ugly, but something about it spoke to me, like a modern-day Gordon Keeble GT. The construction was to be a mix of tubular steel and composites to hit the weight target, which was ambitious even back then, before cars got quite as heavy as they all are now. And all for just $63,000 (£35,000) in mid-Aughties money.

Even the way it was being designed was advanced for 2004. Per Car:

"We are a virtual car company," enthuses Connaught's vehicle engineering director Tim Bishop. "The Type-D will be built by EPM Technology in Derby, which supplies 30 percent of the car's content, and controls all the manufacturing and procurement."

Connaught talked up this virtual strategy and low overheads as the reason it would avoid the fate of so many other low-volume British car companies that promised so much and delivered so little—names like Panther and Strathcarron. (10 car nerd points if you've heard of either of those. Leave a comment to claim your non-prize.)

You know how this story ends

Car's piece ended with an open mind, telling us we'd find out if Connaught would make it in May 2006, when the car was supposed to be ready. Fast forward two years and things weren't looking quite so good. The price had jumped to $81,000 (£45,000), but the hybrid version was actually on hold. To raise money the company was going to build the Type-D GT Syracuse first, now with a 300hp (224kW) supercharged V10, sans electric motor. It was heavier at 1,874lbs (850kg) and cost more, a hefty $116,000 (£64,500). This one never materialized either, although there is some footage on YouTube of the engine being tested, as well as a few seconds of the car moving under its own power.

Some government grants tried to help things along, as did relocating the company to South Wales, but none of this really helped, and the proposed hybrid version never turned a wheel in anger. (Jalopnik's Raphael Orlove wrote a fine piece on the car in 2016, including some details on the hybrid test mule vans that were meant to prove the technology.)

And yet, I can't help thinking what life would be like in the parallel universe where Connaught had succeeded, ushering in the idea of a performance hybrid years before the McLaren P1, Ferrari LaFerrari, and Porsche 918 Hybrid came along and rewrote the game. Maybe in that world we also got a production version of the Yamaha OX99-11—but that's a story for another day.