1958 British Saloon Car Championship

1958 British Saloon Car Championship

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1959

The 1958 BRSCC British Saloon Car Championship was the inaugural season of the championship. The series was open to four separate classes, up to 1200cc, 1201-1600cc, 1601-2700cc and 2701cc and above. Equal championship points were to be scored in each class, meaning any driver could win the championship without winning any races outright. The first ever round was actually held on 26 December 1957 at Brands Hatch. The final round of the year was held on 5 October back at Brands Hatch.

Jack Sears and Tommy Sopwith ended the final race on the same number of championship points. With this a possibility going into the final round it was initially suggested the champion would be decided by the toss of a coin. The idea was very unpopular with both drivers, and it was decided two identical looking Marcus Chambers-owned Riley One-Point-Five works rally cars would be brought along for a five lap shoot-out. To make the race fair, they raced five laps, switched cars, then raced five laps again with the driver who had the quickest combined time being crowned champion. In extremely wet conditions, the first head to head was won by Sopwith by 2.2 seconds. The second race was won by Sears by 3.8 seconds. This meant that Sears was crowned the first ever BSCC champion.

Calendar

The Austin A105 with which Jack Sears won the 1958 British Saloon Car Championship

Overall winners of multi-class races in bold.

Round		Circuit	Date	Class A Winner	Class B Winner	Class C Winner	Class D Winner
1	A	Brands Hatch, Kent	7 April	John Sprinzel	Not contested.	Jack Sears	Not contested.
	B			Not contested.	Alan Foster	Not contested.	Tommy Sopwith
NC		Aintree Motor Racing Circuit, Liverpool	19 April	Unknown.	Alan Foster	Peter Blond	Gawaine Baillie
2	A	Brands Hatch, Kent	20 April	John Sprinzel	Not contested.
	B			Not contested.	Tommy Bridger	Not contested.
	C			Not contested.		Jack Sears	Tommy Sopwith
NC		Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire	3 May	Graham Hill	Les Leston	Jeff Uren	Mike Hawthorn
3	A	Mallory Park, Leicestershire	11 May	John Sprinzel	Not contested.
	B			Not contested.	Les Leston	Jeff Uren	Gawaine Baillie
4	A	Brands Hatch, Kent	18 May	John Sprinzel	Not contested.
	B			Not contested.	Tommy Bridger	Jack Sears	Tommy Sopwith
NC		Goodwood Circuit, West Sussex	26 May	John Sprinzel	Barney Everley	Duncan Hamilton1
5	A	Brands Hatch, Kent	8 June	John Sprinzel	Not contested.
	B			Not contested.	Tommy Bridger	Jack Sears	Tommy Sopwith
NC		Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit, Norfolk	29 June	John Sprinzel	Les Leston	Edgar Wadsworth	Tommy Sopwith
6		Crystal Palace, London	5 July	George 'Doc' Shepherd	Alan Foster	Jeff Uren	Tommy Sopwith
NC		Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire	19 July	Bob Gerard	Les Leston	Jack Sears	Walt Hansgen
7		Brands Hatch, Kent	4 August	John Sprinzel	Alan Foster	Jack Sears	Tommy Sopwith
8		Brands Hatch, Kent	30 August	George 'Doc' Shepherd	Les Leston	Jack Sears	Tommy Sopwith
9		Brands Hatch, Kent	5 October	George 'Doc' Shepherd	Les Leston	Jack Sears	Tommy Sopwith
NC		Brands Hatch, Kent	26 December	George 'Doc' Shepherd	Les Leston	Jeff Uren	Gawaine Baillie

¹Classes combined.

Championship results

Driver's championship
Pos.	Driver	Car	Team	Class	Points
1	Jack Sears	Austin A105	Jack Sears	C	48
2	Tommy Sopwith	Jaguar 3.4 Litre	Equipe Endeavour	D	48
3	John Sprinzel	Austin A35	Team Speedwell	A	47
4	Doc Shepherd	Austin A35	Team Speedwell	A	41
5	Alan Foster	MG Magnette	Dick Jacobs	B	40
6	Jeff Uren	Jaguar 3.4 Litre Ford Zephyr	Jeff Uren	C	36

External links

• Official website of the British Touring Car Championship