1958 British Saloon Car Championship season

1958 British Saloon Car Championship
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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 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]

Contents

Calendar

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

1Classes combined.

Championship results

Driver's championship
Pos. Driver Team Class Points
1 Jack Sears Jack Sears C 48
2 Tommy Sopwith Equipe Endeavour D 48
3 John Sprinzel Team Speedwell A 47
4 Doc Shepherd Team Speedwell A 41
5 Alan Foster Dick Jacobs B 40
6 Jeff Uren Jeff Uren C 36

References

  1. ^ http://www.btcc.net/html/history.php
  2. ^ http://www.btcc.net/html/history_standings.php?season_id=1 Official BTCC 1958 standings.
  3. ^ http://homepage.mac.com/frank_de_jong/Pages/1958%20BSCC.html
  4. ^ http://www.btcc.net/html/history.php Official BTCC history page

External links

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