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]

1953 World Sportscar Championship
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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 C4-R (pictured) and C5-R 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 12 Hours of Sebring Sebring International Raceway Phil Walters
John Fitch		 Briggs Cunningham Cunningham-Chrysler C4-R Results
2 26/04 Mille Miglia Brescia-Rome Giannino Marzotto
Marco Crosara		 Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 340 MM Results
3 13/06
14/06		 24 Hours of Le Mans Circuit de la Sarthe Tony Rolt
Duncan Hamilton		 Jaguar Cars Ltd. Jaguar C-Type Results
4 25/07
26/07		 24 Hours de Spa Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps Giuseppe Farina
Mike Hawthorn		 Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 375 MM Results
5 30/08 ADAC 1000km Nürburgring Nürburgring Alberto Ascari
Giuseppe Farina		 Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 375 MM Results
6 05/09 RAC Tourist Trophy Dundrod Peter Collins
Pat Griffith		 Aston Martin Ltd. Aston Martin DB3S Results
7 19/11
23/11		 Carrera Panamericana Tuxtla Gutiérrez-Ciudad Juárez Juan Manuel Fangio
Gino Bronzoni		 Scuderia Lancia Lancia D24 Results

Championship
Pos. Manufacturer Seb MM LM Spa Nur TT CP Total
1 Ferrari (1) 8 (2) 8 8 3 27 (30)
2 Jaguar 4 8 6 6 (4) 24 (28)
3 Aston Martin 6 2 8 16
4= Lancia 4 8 12
4= Cunningham 8 4 12
6 Alfa Romeo 6 6
7 Borgward 4 4
8= D.B. 3 3
8= Porsche 3 3
10= O.S.C.A. 2 2
10= Veritas 2 2
10= Talbot 2 2
13= Maserati 1 1
13= Gordini 1 1
13= 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.

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