1953 RAC Tourist Trophy

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. 250px|right|Dundrod Circuit Background 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 UK 500 1953 eq £ yes. In each class, first place would receive UK 200 1953 eq £ yes and second place would receive UK 100 1953 eq £ yes.Regulations for Tourist Trophy race in Ulster Larne Times 5 9 July 1953 25 November 2021 https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001532/19530709/076/0005 British Newspaper Archive subscriptionUK Report thumb|The race was won by an Aston Martin DB3S, similar to the car pictured Entry 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.Entry list for Dundrod T.T closes to-day Northern Whig 6 24 August 1953 25 November 2021 https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001542/19530824/124/0006 British Newspaper Archive subscription A total of 45 cars were initially registered for the event on 24 August.Entries include four teams from continent Northern Whig 6 25 August 1953 25 November 2021 https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001542/19530825/123/0006 British Newspaper Archive subscription However, many teams decided to withdraw their registrations. These included the private Jaguar entrants of J. B. Swift and T. H. Wisdom,French team's plans for the Dundrod T.T. Belfast Telegraph 7 28 August 1953 25 November 2021 https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002318/19530828/133/0007 British Newspaper Archive subscription the Porsche's due to recent crashes in races at the weekend before the event.German cars out of Tourist Trophy race Belfast Telegraph 1 1 September 1953 25 November 2021 https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002318/19530901/002/0001 British Newspaper Archive subscription The Italian Stanguellini cars were withdrawn,Stanguellinis out of T.T race Northern Whig 5 3 September 1953 25 November 2021 https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001542/19530903/141/0005 British Newspaper Archive subscription potentially due to a shortage of cars due to recent crashes. 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.https://www.racingsportscars.com/entry/Dundrod-1953-09-05-2299.html Tourist Trophy 1953 - Entry List Racing Sports Cars 2014-07-22 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 1 2 months away. Race 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.Hough Richard Tourist Trophy: The History of Britain's Greatest Motor Race 1957 219–224 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.http://www.racingsportscars.com/race/Dundrod-1953-09-05-2299.html Tourist Trophy 1953 Racing Sports Cars 2014-07-22http://www.teamdan.com/archive/wsc/1953/53tt.html 1953 Tourist Trophy Teamdan.com 1953-09-05 2014-07-22http://wsrp.ic.cz/wsc1953.html#6 SPAM protection / Ochrana proti SPAMu Wsrp.ic.cz 2014-07-22 https://web.archive.org/web/20140809231047/http://www.wsrp.ic.cz/wsc1953.html#6 2014-08-09 dead Scratch Classification Class Winners are in Bold text. Pos No ClassDriver Entrant Chassis Laps Reason Out 1st 20 S3.0 GBR Peter Collins GBR Pat Griffith Aston Martin Aston Martin DB3S 9hr 37:12, 106 2nd 18 S3.0 GBR Reg Parnell GBR Eric Thompson Aston Martin Aston Martin DB3S 9hr 40:35, 106 3rd 7 S5.0 GBR Stirling Moss GBR Peter Walker Jaguar Cars Ltd.Jaguar C-Type9hr 37:39, 103 4th 22 S3.0AUS Tony GazeGBR Graham Whitehead Graham Whitehead Aston Martin DB3 102 5th 21 S3.0GBR Bob DicksonGBR Desmond Titterington Bob Dickson Aston Martin DB3 101 6th 25 S2.0 GBR Ken WhartonGBR C. Ernie RobbFrazer Nash Ltd.Frazer Nash Le Mans MK II 101 7th 12 S5.0IRE Joe KellyGBR Jack Fairman Joe Kelly Jaguar C-Type 98 8th 27 S2.0 GBR Bob Gerard GBR David Clarke Frazer Nash Ltd. Frazer Nash Le Mans 95 9th 36 S1.5 IRE Pearse Cahill IRE Redmond Gallagher Redmond Gallagher Gordini T15S 86 10th 40 S1.5 GBR Peter Jackson GBR Peter Lane Peter Jackson Lester-MG T51 86 11th 28 S2.0 GBR Rodney F. Peacock GBR Gerry Ruddock Roy Peacock Fraser Nash Le Mans 82 12th 44 S1.5 GBR Raymond Flower GBR George Phillips Gregor Grant MG TD 81 13th 35 S1.5 GBR Peter Reece GBR Gillie Tyrer Peter Reece Singer SM1500 81 14th 49 S750 FRA Georges Trouis GBR Alfred Hitchings Ecurie Jendy Bonnet D.B. HBR Panhard 74 DNF 33 S2.0 GBR C. P. Hazelhurst GBR P. H. Thompson Kieft Cars Kieft-Bristol 62 Accident DNF 50 S750 FRA M. Pousse15-minute wait earns 4th place for Moss Northern Whig 3 7 September 1953 25 November 2021 https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001542/19530907/045/0003 British Newspaper Archive subscription GBR Jeff Sparrowe Ecurie Jendy Bonnet Panhard Dyna Junior 59 DNF DNF 8 S5.0 GBR Peter Whitehead GBR Ian Stewart Jaguar Cars Ltd. Jaguar C-Type 51 Gearbox DNF 34 S2.0 GBR Ian Burgess GBR Austen Nurse Kieft Cars Kieft-Bristol 46 DNF DNF 32 S2.0 USA John Fitch GBR Peter Wilson Frazer Nash Ltd. Fraser Nash Le Mans Replica Mk II 44 Lost Wheel DNF 30 S2.0 GBR Lawrence Mitchell GBR Peter Scott-Russell Lawrence Mitchell Fraser Nash High Speed 42 Accident DNF 19 S3.0 GBR Roy Salvadori GBR Dennis Poore Aston Martin Aston Martin DB3S 33 Accident DNF 43 S1.5 IRL Brian McCaldin GBR Charles Eyre-Maunsell Brian McCaldin MG TD 29 Bearings DNF 41 S1.5 GBR Ted Lund GBR William Robinson Ted Lund Jowett Jupiter 15 Suspension DNF 32 S2.0 GBR David J. Calvert GBR Richard Green Kieft Cars Kieft-Bristol 10 Accident DNF 6 S5.0 GBR Tony Rolt GBR Duncan Hamilton Jaguar Cars Ltd. Jaguar C-Type 5 Gearbox DNF 39 S1.5 GBR Horace Gould GBR I.D. Lewis Horace Gould Cooper-MG T21 2 Steering DNF 14 S5.0 Kenya colonial John Manussis GBR Gerry Dunham Ecurie Kenya Jaguar C-Type 1 Accident DNS 17 S5.0 GBR George Abecassis GBR Lance Macklin H W Motors HWM-Jaguar 108 Axel shaft http://wsrp.ic.cz/wsc1953.html SPAM protection / Ochrana proti SPAMu Wsrp.ic.cz 2014-07-22 https://web.archive.org/web/20140809231047/http://www.wsrp.ic.cz/wsc1953.html 2014-08-09 dead https://www.racingsportscars.com/results/Dundrod-1953-05-09-2299.html Tourist Trophy 1953 - Race Results - Racing Sports Cars www.racingsportscars.com 2021-11-25http://www.ultimateracinghistory.com/race.php?raceid=21395 Tourist Trophy Ultimateracinghistory.com 1953-09-05 2014-07-22 Fastest Lap: Peter Walker, 5:01.000secs (89.213 mph) 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 Italy Ferrari 26 (27) 2 GBR Jaguar 24 (28) 3 UK Aston Martin 16 4 USA 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 30em 1953 World Sportscar Championship 1000km of Nürburgring Carrera Panamericana RAC Category:RAC Tourist Trophy RAC Tourist Trophy