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1953 RAC Tourist Trophy

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The 1953 RAC Tourist Trophy was a motor race for sports cars, held on 5 September 1953 at the Dundrod Circuit in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It was the sixth round of the 1953 World Sportscar Championship, held just six days after the previous round, the 1000km of Nürburgring. The race was the 20th running of the RAC Tourist Trophy.

The race was won by Peter Collins and Pat Griffith, driving an Aston Martin DB3S.

Dundrod Circuit
Dundrod Circuit

Background

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The race took place on Saturday 5 September, with Practice taking place on the Thursday and Friday before the race. The race distance was set at 111 laps with two drivers taking part for each entrant, with each driver being required to drive at least a third of the car's eventual distance in the event in order to be classified. The overall winner of the event would receive the Tourist Trophy and £500 (equivalent to £17,634 in 2023). In each class, first place would receive £200 (equivalent to £7,054 in 2023) and second place would receive £100 (equivalent to £3,527 in 2023).[1][2]

Report

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The race was won by an Aston Martin DB3S, similar to the car pictured

Entry

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The event's entrants list should have been closed on 15 August, but due to a strike in France, the entry list couldn't be closed until 24 August.[3] A total of 45 cars were initially registered for the event on 24 August.[4] However, many teams decided to withdraw their registrations. These included the private Jaguar entrants of J. B. Swift and T. H. Wisdom,[5] the Porsche's due to recent crashes in races at the weekend before the event.[6] The Italian Stanguellini cars were withdrawn,[7] potentially due to a shortage of cars due to recent crashes.[3] Only 28 entrants arrived for practice and qualifying. None of the leading works teams made the trip across to Northern Ireland from mainland Europe. However, from England, the two works teams of Jaguar Cars Ltd. and Aston Martin took part. The team from Coventry arrived with three cars, Jaguar C-Types for the all British pairings of Tony Rolt/Duncan Hamilton, Stirling Moss/Peter Walker, and Peter Whitehead/Ian Stewart. Aston Martin also brought along three of their DB3S, with Reg Parnell pairing up alongside Eric Thompson. Roy Salvadori/Dennis Poore and Peter Collins/Pat Griffith made up the crew of the other two Astons. Also from England came three works entered Frazer Nash Le Mans Mk IIs and Kieft-Bristols.[8]

Going into this round, Ferrari were leading the Manufacturers Championship by just two points from Jaguar. With no representation in the race, Ferrari would be unable score any points, but due to the nature of the scoring system where only the best four results out of the seven races could be retained by each manufacturer, Jaguar would need to finish at least second to score any points, with only one race remaining in the championship- the Carrera Panamericana in Mexico some 2+12 months away.

Race

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Although World Championship points were awarded based on scratch order, this race was run as a handicap race. The race was run over 111 laps, but no cars started from scratch: the largest cars, the Jaguars, had a handicap of 4 laps and 5 minutes, 11.21 seconds. The race would end once any car completed 111 handicap laps.[9]

Conditions of the race were foggy. Despite this, Aston Martin would finish in first and second places, both cars on the same lap. Car number 20, driven by Collins and Griffith took an impressive victory, winning in a time of 9hrs 37:12 mins., averaging a speed of 81.715 mph. Second place went to Parnell and Thompson, in their DB3S, just 3:23 minutes behind. The podium was completed by the winner of the two previous Tourist Trophy races held at Dundrod, Moss, aided by his co-driver, Walker, in their Jaguar C-Type.[10][11][12]

Scratch Classification

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Class Winners are in Bold text.

Pos No Class Driver Entrant Chassis Laps Reason Out
1st 20 S3.0 United Kingdom Peter Collins United Kingdom Pat Griffith Aston Martin Aston Martin DB3S 9hr 37:12, 106
2nd 18 S3.0 United Kingdom Reg Parnell United Kingdom Eric Thompson Aston Martin Aston Martin DB3S 9hr 40:35, 106
3rd 7 S5.0 United Kingdom Stirling Moss United Kingdom Peter Walker Jaguar Cars Ltd. Jaguar C-Type 9hr 37:39, 103
4th 22 S3.0 Australia Tony Gaze United Kingdom Graham Whitehead Graham Whitehead Aston Martin DB3 102
5th 21 S3.0 United Kingdom Bob Dickson United Kingdom Desmond Titterington Bob Dickson Aston Martin DB3 101
6th 25 S2.0 United Kingdom Ken Wharton United Kingdom C. Ernie Robb Frazer Nash Ltd. Frazer Nash Le Mans MK II 101
7th 12 S5.0 Republic of Ireland Joe Kelly United Kingdom Jack Fairman Joe Kelly Jaguar C-Type 98
8th 27 S2.0 United Kingdom Bob Gerard United Kingdom David Clarke Frazer Nash Ltd. Frazer Nash Le Mans 95
9th 36 S1.5 Republic of Ireland Pierce Cahill Republic of Ireland Redmond Gallagher Redmond Gallagher Gordini T15S 86
10th 40 S1.5 United Kingdom Peter Jackson United Kingdom Peter Lane Peter Jackson Lester-MG T51 86
11th 28 S2.0 United Kingdom Rodney F. Peacock United Kingdom Gerry Ruddock Roy Peacock Fraser Nash Le Mans 82
12th 44 S1.5 United Kingdom Raymond Flower United Kingdom George Phillips Gregor Grant MG TD 81
13th 35 S1.5 United Kingdom Peter Reece United Kingdom Gil Tyrer Peter Reece Singer SM1500 81
14th 49 S750 France Georges Trouis United Kingdom Alfred Hitchings Ecurie Jendy Bonnet D.B. HBR Panhard 74
DNF 33 S2.0 United Kingdom C. P. Hazelhurst United Kingdom P. H. Thompson Kieft Cars Kieft-Bristol 62 Accident
DNF 50 S750 France M. Pousse[13] United Kingdom Jeff Sparrowe Ecurie Jendy Bonnet Panhard Dyna Junior[14] 59 DNF
DNF 8 S5.0 United Kingdom Peter Whitehead United Kingdom Ian Stewart Jaguar Cars Ltd. Jaguar C-Type 51 Gearbox
DNF 34 S2.0 United Kingdom Ian Burgess United Kingdom Austen Nurse Kieft Cars Kieft-Bristol 46 DNF
DNF 32 S2.0 United States John Fitch United Kingdom Peter Wilson Frazer Nash Ltd. Fraser Nash Le Mans Replica Mk II 44 Lost Wheel
DNF 30 S2.0 United Kingdom Lawrence Mitchell United Kingdom Peter Scott-Russell Lawrence Mitchell Fraser Nash High Speed 42 Accident
DNF 19 S3.0 United Kingdom Roy Salvadori United Kingdom Dennis Poore Aston Martin Aston Martin DB3S 33 Accident
DNF 43 S1.5 United Kingdom Brian McCaldin United Kingdom Charles Manusell Brian McCaldin MG TD 29 Bearings
DNF 41 S1.5 United Kingdom Ted Lund United Kingdom William Robinson Ted Lund Jowett Jupiter 15 Suspension
DNF 32 S2.0 United Kingdom David J. Calvert United Kingdom Richard Green Kieft Cars Kieft-Bristol 10 Accident
DNF 6 S5.0 United Kingdom Tony Rolt United Kingdom Duncan Hamilton Jaguar Cars Ltd. Jaguar C-Type 5 Gearbox
DNF 39 S1.5 United Kingdom Horace Gould United Kingdom I.D. Lewis Horace Gould Cooper-MG T21 2 Steering
DNF 14 S5.0 Kenya John Manussis United Kingdom Gerry Dunham Ecurie Kenya Jaguar C-Type 1 Accident
DNS 17 S5.0 United Kingdom George Abecassis United Kingdom Lance Macklin H W Motors HWM-Jaguar 108 Axel shaft

[11][15][14][16]

Class Winners

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Class Winners
Class C – Sports 5000 7 Jaguar C-Type Moss / Walker
Class D - Sports 3000 20 Aston Martin DB3S Collins / Griffith
Class E – Sports 2000 25 Frazer Nash Le Mans Mk II Wharton / Robb
Class F – Sports 1500 36 Gordini T15S Cahill / Gallagher
Class H – Sports 750 49 D.B. HBR Panhard Trouis / Hitchings

[10]

Standings after the race

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Pos Championship Points
1 Italy Ferrari 26 (27)
2 United Kingdom Jaguar 24 (28)
3 United Kingdom Aston Martin 16
4 United States Cunningham 12
5 Italy Alfa Romeo 6
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included in this set of standings. Championship points were awarded for the first six places in each race in the order of 8-6-4-3-2-1. Manufacturers were only awarded points for their highest finishing car with no points awarded for positions filled by additional cars. Only the best 4 results out of the 7 races could be retained by each manufacturer. Points earned but not counted towards the championship totals are listed within brackets in the above table.

References

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  1. ^ "Regulations for Tourist Trophy race in Ulster". Larne Times. 9 July 1953. p. 5. Retrieved 25 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  2. ^ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Entry list for Dundrod T.T closes to-day". Northern Whig. 24 August 1953. p. 6. Retrieved 25 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. ^ "Entries include four teams from continent". Northern Whig. 25 August 1953. p. 6. Retrieved 25 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. ^ "French team's plans for the Dundrod T.T.". Belfast Telegraph. 28 August 1953. p. 7. Retrieved 25 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. ^ "German cars out of Tourist Trophy race". Belfast Telegraph. 1 September 1953. p. 1. Retrieved 25 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ^ "Stanguellinis out of T.T race". Northern Whig. 3 September 1953. p. 5. Retrieved 25 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ^ "Tourist Trophy 1953 - Entry List". Racing Sports Cars. Retrieved 2014-07-22.
  9. ^ Hough, Richard (1957). Tourist Trophy: The History of Britain's Greatest Motor Race. pp. 219–224.
  10. ^ a b "Tourist Trophy 1953". Racing Sports Cars. Retrieved 2014-07-22.
  11. ^ a b "1953 Tourist Trophy". Teamdan.com. 1953-09-05. Retrieved 2014-07-22.
  12. ^ "SPAM protection / Ochrana proti SPAMu". Wsrp.ic.cz. Archived from the original on 2014-08-09. Retrieved 2014-07-22.
  13. ^ "15-minute wait earns 4th place for Moss". Northern Whig. 7 September 1953. p. 3. Retrieved 25 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  14. ^ a b "Tourist Trophy 1953 - Race Results - Racing Sports Cars". www.racingsportscars.com. Retrieved 2021-11-25.
  15. ^ a b "SPAM protection / Ochrana proti SPAMu". Wsrp.ic.cz. Archived from the original on 2014-08-09. Retrieved 2014-07-22.
  16. ^ "Tourist Trophy". Ultimateracinghistory.com. 1953-09-05. Retrieved 2014-07-22.


World Sportscar Championship
Previous race:
1000km of Nürburgring
1953 season Next race:
1953 Carrera Panamericana