1953 World Sportscar Championship

The 1953 World Sportscar Championship was the first FIA World Sportscar Championship. It was a seven race [1] international motor racing series for sports cars contested from 8 March to 23 November 1953. The championship was won by Ferrari.[1]

Season

Ferrari won the championship with its 340 MM (pictured) and 375 MM models
Jaguar placed second with its C-Type
Aston Martin placed third with its DB3 (pictured) and DB3S models
Lancia placed equal fourth with its D20 & D24 models. A D24 is pictured above
Cunningham placed equal fourth with its C-4R (pictured) and C-5R models

The 1953 World Sports Car Championship was contested over a seven race series. Now legendary and shockingly dangerous races such as the Mille Miglia and the Carrera Panamericana were part of an international race calendar, accompanied by the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 24 Hours of Spa, with the inaugural race being the 12 Hours of Sebring in the United States.

The Championship was for manufacturers, and works teams such as Scuderia Ferrari, Lancia, Aston Martin and Jaguar leading the way, but the majority of the fields were made up of amateur or gentlemen drivers, often up against professional racing drivers with experience in Formula One. Sometimes, even the Drivers World Champion joined in.

Entries were divided into classes based on engine displacement. Scuderia Ferrari were a dominant force in 1953, winning three of the seven races.

Season results

Results

Round Date Event Circuit or Location Winning driver Winning team Winning car Results
1 08/03 United States 12 Hours of Sebring Sebring International Raceway United States Phil Walters
United States John Fitch
United States Briggs Cunningham Cunningham C-4R Results
2 26/04 Italy Mille Miglia Brescia-Rome-Brescia Italy Giannino Marzotto
Italy Marco Crosara
Italy Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 340 MM Results
3 13/06
14/06
France 24 Hours of Le Mans Circuit de la Sarthe United Kingdom Tony Rolt
United Kingdom Duncan Hamilton
United Kingdom Jaguar Cars Ltd. Jaguar C-Type Results
4 25/07
26/07
Belgium 24 Hours de Spa Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps Italy Giuseppe Farina
United Kingdom Mike Hawthorn
Italy Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 375 MM Results
5 30/08 West Germany ADAC 1000km Nürburgring Nürburgring Italy Alberto Ascari
Italy Giuseppe Farina
Italy Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 375 MM Results
6 05/09 United Kingdom RAC Tourist Trophy Dundrod United Kingdom Peter Collins
United Kingdom Pat Griffith
United Kingdom Aston Martin Ltd. Aston Martin DB3S Results
7 19/11
23/11
Mexico Carrera Panamericana Tuxtla Gutiérrez-Ciudad Juárez Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio
Italy Gino Bronzoni
Italy Scuderia Lancia Lancia D24 Results

Championship

Pos. Manufacturer United States SEB Italy MMI France LMS Belgium SPA West Germany NÜR United Kingdom TTR Mexico PAN Total
1 Italy Ferrari (1) 8 (2) 8 8 3 27 (30)
2 United Kingdom Jaguar 4 8 6 6 (4) 24 (28)
3 United Kingdom Aston Martin 6 2 8 16
4= Italy Lancia 4 8 12
4= United States Cunningham 8 4 12
6 Italy Alfa Romeo 6 6
7 West Germany Borgward 4 4
8= France D.B. 3 3
8= West Germany Porsche 3 3
10= Italy O.S.C.A. 2 2
10= West Germany Veritas 2 2
10= France Talbot 2 2
13= Italy Maserati 1 1
13= France Gordini 1 1
13= United Kingdom Frazer Nash 1 1

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.

The cars

The following models contributed to the net championship point scores of their respective manufacturers.

References

  1. World Sports Car Championship (Makes), 1974 FIA Yearbook of Automobile Sport, Grey section, page 122
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