1958 British Saloon Car Championship

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[1] at Brands Hatch. The final round of the year was held on 5 October back at Brands Hatch.[2][3]

1958 British Saloon Car Championship
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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.[4]

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
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References
  1. "History of the BTCC". BTCC. Archived from the original on 23 July 2013.
  2. "Official BTCC 1958 standings". BTCC. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-09-21. Retrieved 2010-09-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "Official BTCC history page". BTCC. Archived from the original on 23 July 2013.
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