Wikipedia

1958 British Saloon Car Championship

The 1958 BRSCC British Saloon Car Championship was the inaugural season of the championship. The series was open to four separate classes, up to 1200cc, 1201-1600cc, 1601-2700cc and 2701cc and above. Equal championship points were to be scored in each class, meaning any driver could win the championship without winning any races outright. The first ever round was actually held on 26 December 1957[1] at Brands Hatch. The final round of the year was held on 5 October back at Brands Hatch.[2][3]

Jack Sears and Tommy Sopwith ended the final race on the same number of championship points. With this a possibility going into the final round it was initially suggested the champion would be decided by the toss of a coin. The idea was very unpopular with both drivers, and it was decided two identical looking Marcus Chambers-owned Riley One-Point-Five works rally cars would be brought along for a five lap shoot-out. To make the race fair, they raced five laps, switched cars, then raced five laps again with the driver who had the quickest combined time being crowned champion. In extremely wet conditions, the first head to head was won by Sopwith by 2.2 seconds. The second race was won by Sears by 3.8 seconds. This meant that Sears was crowned the first ever BSCC champion.[4]

Calendar edit

 
The Austin A105 with which Jack Sears won the 1958 British Saloon Car Championship

Overall winners of multi-class races in bold.

Round Circuit Date Class A Winner Class B Winner Class C Winner Class D Winner
1 A Brands Hatch, Kent 7 April   John Sprinzel Not contested.   Jack Sears Not contested.
B Not contested.   Alan Foster Not contested.   Tommy Sopwith
NC Aintree Motor Racing Circuit, Liverpool 19 April Unknown.   Alan Foster   Peter Blond   Gawaine Baillie
2 A Brands Hatch, Kent 20 April   John Sprinzel Not contested.
B Not contested.   Tommy Bridger Not contested.
C Not contested.   Jack Sears   Tommy Sopwith
NC Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire 3 May   Graham Hill   Les Leston   Jeff Uren   Mike Hawthorn
3 A Mallory Park, Leicestershire 11 May   John Sprinzel Not contested.
B Not contested.   Les Leston   Jeff Uren   Gawaine Baillie
4 A Brands Hatch, Kent 18 May   John Sprinzel Not contested.
B Not contested.   Tommy Bridger   Jack Sears   Tommy Sopwith
NC Goodwood Circuit, West Sussex 26 May   John Sprinzel   Barney Everley   Duncan Hamilton1
5 A Brands Hatch, Kent 8 June   John Sprinzel Not contested.
B Not contested.   Tommy Bridger   Jack Sears   Tommy Sopwith
NC Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit, Norfolk 29 June   John Sprinzel   Les Leston   Edgar Wadsworth   Tommy Sopwith
6 Crystal Palace, London 5 July   George 'Doc' Shepherd   Alan Foster   Jeff Uren   Tommy Sopwith
NC Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire 19 July   Bob Gerard   Les Leston   Jack Sears   Walt Hansgen
7 Brands Hatch, Kent 4 August   John Sprinzel   Alan Foster   Jack Sears   Tommy Sopwith
8 Brands Hatch, Kent 30 August   George 'Doc' Shepherd   Les Leston   Jack Sears   Tommy Sopwith
9 Brands Hatch, Kent 5 October   George 'Doc' Shepherd   Les Leston   Jack Sears   Tommy Sopwith
NC Brands Hatch, Kent 26 December   George 'Doc' Shepherd   Les Leston   Jeff Uren   Gawaine Baillie

1Classes combined.

Championship results edit

Driver's championship
Pos. Driver Car Team Class Points
1   Jack Sears Austin A105 Jack Sears C 48
2   Tommy Sopwith Jaguar 3.4 Litre Equipe Endeavour D 48
3   John Sprinzel Austin A35 Team Speedwell A 47
4   Doc Shepherd Austin A35 Team Speedwell A 41
5   Alan Foster MG Magnette Dick Jacobs B 40
6   Jeff Uren Jaguar 3.4 Litre
Ford Zephyr 		Jeff Uren C 36

References edit

  1. ^ "History of the BTCC". BTCC. Archived from the original on 23 July 2013.
  2. ^ "Official BTCC 1958 standings". BTCC. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013.
  3. ^ "British Saloon Car Championship - 1958". Archived from the original on 2007-09-21. Retrieved 2010-09-17.
  4. ^ "Official BTCC history page". BTCC. Archived from the original on 23 July 2013.

External links edit

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