1953 RAC Tourist Trophy
The 1953 RAC Tourist Trophy took place on 5 September, on the Dundrod, (County Antrim, Northern Ireland). It was also the sixth round of the F.I.A. World Sports Car Championship, held just six days after the previous round, 1000km of Nürburgring.
Contents
Report
Entry
A grand total 45 racing cars were registered for this event, of which only 28 arrived for practice and qualifying. Sadly none of the leading works team made the trip across to Northern Ireland from mainland Europe. However from England, the two work teams of Jaguar Cars Ltd. and Aston Martin. 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 II’s and Kieft-Bristols.[1]
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 4 results out of the 7 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 1/2 months away.
Race
The race was held over 106 laps of the 7.416 miles Dundrod Circuit, giving a distance of 823.166 miles. To make matter worse, the race was held in foggy conditions. Despite this, Aston Martin would finish in first and second places, both cars on the same lap. Car number 20, driven by Peter Collins and Pat Griffith took an impressive victory, winning in a time of 9hrs 37:12 mins., averaging a speed of 81.715mph. Second place went to Reg Parnell and Eric Thompson, in their DB3S, just 3:23 minutes behind. The podium was complete by the winner of the two previous Tourist Trophy races held Dundrod, Stirling Moss, aided by his co-driver, Peter Walker, in their Jaguar C-Type.[2][3][4]
Official Classification
Class Winners are in Bold text.
- Fastest Lap: Peter Walker, 5:01.000secs (89.213 mph) [5]
Class Winners
| 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 |
Standings after the race
| Pos | Championship | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Ferrari |
26 (27) |
| 2 |  Jaguar |
24 (28) |
| 3 | Aston Martin |
16 |
| 4 |  Cunningham |
12 |
| 5 | 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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|---|---|---|
| Previous race: 1000km of Nürburgring |
1953 season | Next race: 1953 Carrera Panamericana |
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