1963 European Touring Car Challenge

May 2026 1963 European Touring Car Challenge 1962 1964 The 1963 European Touring Car Challenge was the inaugural season of what would become the European Touring Car Championship. On 16 June 1963, the first race was staged on the classic Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit. After a hillclimb event at Mont Ventoux, the challenge headed to England for two races, as classes were divided between events at Brands Hatch and Mallory Park. Round five was hosted by the brand new Zolder circuit, then the challenge crossed the border into the Netherlands and on to Zandvoort. Another hillclimb at the Timmelsjoch for round seven, and the final would be held behind the Iron Curtain, in Hungary. Although the challenge was a success, the point-scoring systems used weren't. The first challenge left us with five drivers sharing the top position, with Peter Nöcker, being declared the champion. This was because there were up to nine classes, all having their own separate race winners. This point system would remain right up to 1988 when the ETCC stopped. The challenge had a lot of competitive cars, but not many of them were in the same class. On the other hand, speed differences were not that large, so a Mini was sometimes able to outpace many bigger cars. European Touring Car Challenge Champion: Germany Peter Nöcker Runner Up: Germany Wolf-Dieter Mantzel http://www.touringcarracing.net/Pages/1963%20ETCC.html European Touring Car championship - 1963 Touringcarracing.net 2014-01-13https://www.racingsportscars.com/championship/ETCC.html European Touring Car Championship - Championships Racing Sports Cars 2014-01-13 Results Date Round Circuit/Hillclimb Classes Winning driver(s) Winning team Winning car 16/06 Rd. 1 FRG Nürburgring Class 1-9 FRG Peter LindnerFRG Peter Nöcker Peter Lindner Racing Jaguar 3.8 Litre Mark 2 23/06 Rd. 2 FRA Mont Ventoux Class 2-9 ITA Leo Cella Driver Lancia Flavia Coupé 06/07 Rd. 3 GBR Brands Hatch Class 4-9 GBR Roy SalvadoriNZL Denny Hulme Tommy Atkins Jaguar 3.8 Litre Mark 2 13/07 Rd. 4 GBR Mallory Park Class 2-3 SWE Björn Rothstein Driver Saab 96 Sport25/08Rd. 5 BEL Zolder Class 2-3 SWE Gösta Karlsson Gösta Karlsson Saab 96 Sport Class 4-5 NLD Rob Slotemaker Downton Engineering Austin Mini Cooper S Class 6-9 FRG Peter Nöcker Jaguar 3.8 Litre Mark 201/09Rd. 6 NLD Zandvoort Class 1-3 SWE Gösta Karlsson Driver Saab 96 Sport Class 4-6 NLD Rob Slotemaker Downton Engineering Austin Mini Cooper S Class 7-9 GBR John Sparrow John Sparrow Jaguar 3.8 Litre Mark 2 15/09 Rd. 7 AUT Timmelsjoch Class 2-9 FRG Peter Nöcker Jaguar 3.8 Litre Mark 2 22/09 Rd. 8 HUN Népliget Park, Budapest Class 2-9 ITA Luigi CabellaITA Carlo Facetti HF Squadra Corse Lancia Flaminia Source: Table Place Driver Car Total 1 Germany Peter Nöcker Jaguar 3.8 Litre Mark 2 60 2 Germany Wolf-Dieter Mantzel DKW F12 60 3 Germany Hubert Hahne BMW 700 60 4 Netherlands Rob Slotemaker Austin Mini Cooper SBMW 700 60 5 Sweden Tom Trana Volvo 122S 60 6 Sweden Gösta Karlsson Saab 96 Sport 58 7 Sweden Björn Rothstein Saab 96 Sport 56 8= Italy Luigi Cabella Lancia Flaminia 54 Italy Leo Cella Lancia Flaminia Germany Jochen Neerpasch Volvo 122S Germany Jürgen Grähser BMW 700 GBR John Aley Austin Mini Cooper SMorris Mini 850 13 Germany Ernst Furtmayr Alfa Romeo Giulia TI 52 14 GBR John Thurston Morris Mini Cooper SDKW Junior de LuxeMorris Mini 850 47 15 Germany Hans Braun NSU Sport Prinz 46 16 Netherlands Loek Nerden Austin Mini Cooper 43 17 GBR Bill Blydenstein Vauxhall VX4/90 41 18 Netherlands Leo Hans von Veh BMW 700 40etc. Source: The first five drivers finished level on points; the overall result of the Nürburgring was decisive... another contemporary report mentions "the ones with the most victories, Nöcker, Mantzel and Hahne were classified in the order of who had the biggest winner margin over second in class". References 30em Category:European Touring Car Championship seasons European Touring Car