1963 Brands Hatch 6 Hours

The Motor 6 Hours was the third round of the 1963 European Touring Car Challenge, and was held at Brands Hatch on the Grand Prix circuit, on 6 July.^[1][2]

This, the second Motor-sponsored Six-Hour saloon car race, was run in appalling conditions, like the 1962 event. The large crowd of approximately 15000, witness the favourite, a 7-litre Ford Galaxie driven by Dan Gurney and Jack Brabham floundered in the wet and the Jaguar Mk II dominated the race. Victory went to Roy Salvadori and Denny Hulme from Peter Lindner and Peter Nöcker after the winners on the road, Mike Salmon and Pete Sutcliffe, were disqualified for engine irregularities.^[3]

Report

Entry

A fine entry of 39 cars were accepted for the event, across five classes. However, scrutineering meant trouble for those Ford Galaxies which had disc brakes; Gawaine Baillie was only allowed to start the meeting on the promise of photographic evidence of the brake mounting – otherwise he would be disqualified. John Willment Automobiles was not prepared for this and withdrew their Galaxie. Of the cars accepted, 37 cars practised.^[1][2]

Qualifying

Grid positions were determined by engine capacity rather than practice times. As a result, the record books show John Sprinzel on pole, in his 7-litre Ford Galaxie. However, the fastest record time in practise went the pairing of Dan Gurney and Jack Brabham, in their Galaxie.^[1][2]

Race

The start with the slow car of John Sprinzel on pole, brought Mike Salmon into second place in Jaguar Mk. II following the early leader, Gawaine Baillie’s Galaxie, ahead of the American Dan Gurney (Galaxie) and John Coundley (Jaguar Mk II). Handicapped by wrong tyres, Gurney spun at South Bank, but somehow the whole field avoided him. After two laps, Baillie had dropped to third, giving way to Salmon and Peter Lindner, while Gurney spun again. By the fourth lap, Gurney came in for a tyre change on the rear – before the start, he could only change the fronts.

The terrible conditions made for an interesting race; Lindner nearly lost his Jaguar Mk. II, and he was not the only one. Albert Powell hit a bank, but continued after repairs, and Mick Clare rolled his Mini. After the pit stops, at the three hour mark, the leaders were Roy Salvadori, Salmon, Lindner (all Jaguars), Jack Sears, Jimmy Blumer (both in Cortinas with Tom Trana in sixth, in his Volvo. The quick pit stop of the Atherstone Engineering Jaguar moved Salmon into the lead, its lead now over a lap. Salvadori/Denny Hulme were second, Sears fourth and Lindner/Peter Höcker fifth.

At 8:30pm, six hours after the race started and 166 laps of the Grand Prix circuit, the chequered flag dropped and the pairing of Salmon/Pete Sutcliffe won the race, with Salvadori/Hulme second, Lindner/Höcker completing the podium, just ahead of Sears/Bo Ljungfeldt with Trana/Carl-Magnus Skogh fifth. Once again scrutineering revealed problems for the winner: the Jaguar Mk. II was disqualified for having oversized inlet valves. The winner’s average speed was published as 73.477mph.^[1][2][3]

Classification

The Motor 6 hours

Class Winners are in Bold text. Please note that race winner, was not declared class winner.

Pos.	No.	Class	Drivers		Entrant	Car - Engine	Laps	Reason Out
DISQ	6	9	Mike Salmon	Peter Sutcliffe	Atherstone Engineering	Jaguar Mk II 3.8	166	inlet valve size
1st	5	9	Roy Salvadori	Denny Hulme	Tommy Atkins	Jaguar Mk II 3.8	165
2nd	7	9	Peter Lindner	Peter Nöcker		Jaguar Mk II 3.8	162
3rd	23	6	Jack Sears	Bo Ljungfeldt	John Willment Automobiles	Ford Cortina GT	162
4th	16	7/8	Tom Trana	Carl-Magnus Skogh	Volvo AB	Volvo 122 S	161
DISQ	14	7/8	Peter Sargent	Peter Lumsden	REC Parkes	Mercedes-Benz 220SE	159	Non-homologate gear ratios
6th	28	5	John Whitmore	Paddy Hopkirk		BMC Mini Cooper S	159
7th	2	9	Gawaine Baillie	Peter Jopp		Ford Galaxie	159
8th	29	5	John Rhodes	Rob Slotemaker	Cooper Car Co.	Morris Mini Cooper S	158
9th	1	9	Dan Gurney	Jack Brabham	Alan Brown	Ford Galaxie	157
10th	24	6	Jimmy Blumer	Henry Taylor	Alan Andrews Racing	Ford Cortina Super	157
11th	30	5	Christabel Carlisle	Denise McCluggage	Don Moore	Morris Mini Cooper S	158
12th	9	7/8	Edward Harrison	John Manussis	John Willment Automobiles	Ford Zodiac Mk 3	155
13th	20	6	Piero Frescobaldi	Leo Cella	HF Squadra Corse	Lancia Flavia Coupé	155
14th	17	6	Peter Harper	Chris Amon	Alan Fraser Racing Team	Sunbeam Rapier	155
15th	32	4	John Aley	Rauno Aaltonen	Cooper Car Co.	Austin Mini Cooper S	154
16th	25	6	Ernst Furymayr	Hans-Dieter Dechent	Squadra Tartaruga	Alfa Romeo Giulia TI	153
17th	21	6	Franco Patria	Romolo Rossi	HF Squadra Corse	Lancia Flavia Coupé	153
18th	33	4	Elizabeth Jones	Timo Mäkinen	Alexander Engineering Co.	Austin Mini Cooper	153
19th	18	6	Bill Blydenstein	Chris Lawrence	Lawrencetune Engines	Vauxhall VX4/90	153
20th	27	5	Alan Foster	Andrew Hedges	Dick Jacobs	MG 1100	153
21st	26	5	Anita Taylor	Anne Hall	John Willment Automobiles	Ford Anglia Super	151
22nd	11	7/8	Luigi Cabella	Giorgio Pianta	HF Squadra Corse	Lancia Flaminia 3B coupé	146
DISQ	4	9	John Sprinzel	Merton Lucia	John Sprinzel Racing	Ford Galaxie	145	Loose bonnet
24th (DNF)	4	9	Albert Powell	Ken Baker	Zenith Films	Jaguar Mk II 3.8	143	Clutch
25th	35	4	Edward Lewis	Julien Vernaeve	Westover Racing	Morris Mini Cooper	142
26th (DNF)	8	9	Chris McLaren	John Couldley	Chris McLaren	Jaguar Mk II 3.8	140	Oil Leak
27th	34	4	Loek Nerden	Alexander Roell	Ecurie Lonertex	Austin Mini Cooper	76	Engine
DNF	12	7/8	Piero Frescobaldi	Carlo Facetti	HF Squadra Corse	Lancia Flaminia 3B coupé		Accident
DNF	10	7/8	Roy Pierpoint	Alan Mann	Alan Andrews Racing	Ford Zodiac Mk 3		Lost wheel
DNF	38	9	John Sparrow	Neil Dangerfield	D. M. Racing	Jaguar Mk II 3.8		Overheating
DNF	15	7/8	Jochen Neerpasch	Peter Scherrer	Squadra Tartaruga	Volvo 132 S	59	Accident
DNF	31	5	Mike Clare	Tony Rutt	Alexander Engineering Co.	BMC Mini Cooper S	34	Accident
DNF	36	4	Peter Clarke	John Anstead	Peter Clarke	Abarth 1000 Berlina Corsa	4	Misfire
DNF	22	6	Les Leston	David Haynes	John Willment Automobiles	Ford Cortina GT	3	Clutch
DNQ		9	Jack Sears	Bo Ljungfeldt	John Willment Automobiles	Ford Galaxie		Withdrawn after homologation dispute re disc brake fitting
DNQ	23	6	John Uren	Peter Bolton	John Willment Automobiles	Ford Cortina GT		Car taken over by Sears/Ljunfeldt
DISQ	19	6	Alan Hutcheson	Bob Anderson		Riley 1.5		Rejected at scrutineering
Source:[2][4]

• Fastest lap: Denny Hulme, 2:04.000secs. (77.375 mph)

^[2][4]

Class Winners

Standings after the race

Pos	Championship	Points
1	Luigi Cabella	29
2	John Aley	27
3	Ernst Furtmayr	26
4=	Peter Linder	24
	Peter Nöcker
	Björn Rothstein
	Tom Trana

• Note: Only the top five positions are included in this set of standings.

Championship points were awarded for the first seven places in each race in the order of 12-10-8-7-5-6-4.^[5]

References