1958 Champion - RR Touring Car Week

[Speedman]

Back in 1958, Jack Sears kicked off the British Saloon Car Championship in style, winning after an unusual end to the year, both he and Tommy Sopwith had the same points so were sent out in a pair of Riley 1.5s for two 5 lap races to decide the winner. Sears beat Sopwith in both encounters and mad the humble Austin Westminster the first car to be CROWN champ.








;D

[longman]

good pics and good names/history.. "Tommy Sopwith " is a proper name.. erm mrs longman can we call the nxt un Vulcan Sopwith Beaufighter Mc longun

[bmcnut]

As far as touring car threads go, this one is top of the bunch for me. Modern sparco seats may be a little too modern for it, but it shows that this peice of history still goes out in anger. Brilliant.

[dbizzle]

You've inspired me to rewatch my '50 years of Touring Cars' DVD, which interviews Sears & Sopwith and shows the Riley 1.5 races in full. (Pedantic point - they won a race each, but Sears won his race by 1.6 seconds more than Sopwith won his, thus handing him the victory.)

They re-enacted the race at Brands Hatch in 2008 - both drivers, fifty years on, were still wonderfully enthusiastic about the sport. Great stuff.
Sears: "There was no rollbar, no seatbelts, I never wore a racing suit, just a shirt and slacks. I used to drive the Westminster to the circuits, stick the numbers on, and then drive it home afterwards. The amazing thing is that my wife had her own car, but she did sometimes take the Austin shopping - it was a very tractable thing."

[bmcnut]

May 17, 2011 8:42:01 GMT dbizzle said:

Sears: "There was no rollbar, no seatbelts, I never wore a racing suit, just a shirt and slacks. I used to drive the Westminster to the circuits, stick the numbers on, and then drive it home afterwards. The amazing thing is that my wife had her own car, but she did sometimes take the Austin shopping - it was a very tractable thing."

Without doubt the best ever thing I have ever read on RR. Ever.