1953 12 Hours of Sebring

Sebring International Raceway in 1952-1966

Cunningham C-4R won in the hands of Phil Walters and John Fitch.

The 3rd Grand Prix, 12 Hours of Sebring, was the inaugural round of the 1953 World Sportscar Championship and was held at the Sebring International Raceway, on 8 March 1953.^[1]

Report[]

Entry[]

A total of 81 cars were entered for the event, across eight classes based on engine sizes, ranging from up to 750cc to over 8.0 litre. Of these 59 cars practised, 54 qualified to race.^[1]

Amongst the mostly American entrants, the greatest news for the 1953 race was that the famous English Aston Martin team would join the French factory DB’s for the 12 Hour competition. In fact, David Brown and René Bonnet, heads of these European manufacturers, both went to Florida to watch the race. Bonnet also took part in the race.^[2]

Race[]

The race started at noon, and ran until midnight, on a day described as "partly cloudy and mild", in front of an estimated crowd of 12,500 spectators.^[2]

The Aston Martins made a great start, leading the first 32 laps of the Florida road course before losing the lead as a result of an accident. The #57 Cunningham C-4R then took over lead and was never headed for the rest of the race.^[2]

The car was driven by Phil Walters and John Fitch took the winner spoils for Briggs Cunningham’s team. They were boosted to the lead when the front running Aston Martin of Geoff Duke and Peter Collins collided with a Jaguar, and was forced to retire with accident damage. Walters and Fitch drove their Florida license plated Cunningham C-4R to victory, covering a distance of 908.9 miles, averaging a speed of 75.338mph. One lap adrift in second place was the Aston Martin DB3 of the Reg Parnell and George Abecassis, despite reportedly being hampered by having one of its headlamps not working due to an earlier collision with a bollard filed with concrete marking the circuit on what was at the time largely an airfield.^[2][3]

There was one car fire, the Allard-Cadillac J2X of Paul Ramos was destroyed when a fuel line split, however the driver, Anthony Cumming escaped unharmed. Another competitor, Randy Pearsall, also escaped injury when he flipped his Jaguar XK120.^[2]

Classification[]

Sebring 12 hours[]

Class Winners are in Bold text.

Pos.	No.	Class	Drivers		Entrant	Car - Engine	Laps	Reason Out
1st	57	S8.0	Phil Walters	John Fitch	Briggs Cunningham	Cunningham C-4R-Chrysler	173
2nd	30	S3.0	Reg Parnell	George Abecassis	Aston Martin Ltd.	Aston Martin DB3	172
3rd	74	S5.0	Sherwood Johnston	Bob Wilder	A. H. Feverbacher	Jaguar C-Type	162
4th	311	S5.0			David Hirsch	Jaguar C-Type	155
5th	59	S1.5	Briggs Cunningham		Briggs Cunningham	Osca MT4 1350	153
6th	49	S2.0			E. P. Lunken	Ferrari 166 MM	153
7th	38	S5.0			Jack Pry Ltd.	Jaguar XK120	151
8th	45	S3.0			Peter S. Yung	Ferrari 225 S	148
9th	91	S1.1	James Simpson		James Simpson	Osca MT4 1100	146
10th	28	S5.0			J. Kaplan	Jaguar XK120M	144
11th	25	S750	René Bonnet		Hobart Cook	DB HBR Panhard	143
12th	18	S5.0	Walt Hansgen		Walter Hansgen	Jaguar XK120	142
13th	12	S1.5			David H. Ash	MG Special	135
14th	53	S1.5		Bob Said	Lt. Col. Wojdiech Kolaczkowski	Frazer Nash Mille Miglia	134
15th	53	S1.5			James Shields	MG TD	132
16th	42	S1.5			William Wellenberg, Jnr.	MG TD	132
17th	29	S5.0			Fred Dagavar	Jaguar XK120	132
18th	63	S750			Paul Hessler	Siata-Crossley 300BD	132
DSQ	24	S750		André Moynet	Hobart Cook	DB HBR Panhard	130	Pit violation
19th	44	S1.5			Fred Allen	MG Special	127
20th	56	S750		Henry Wessells	Thomas Scatchard	Siata-Crossley 300BD	127
21st	27	S1.1			Robert T. Keller	Siata 300BC Special	123
22nd	111	S750			Geo. F. Schrafft	Palm Beach-Crossley Special	119
23rd	55	S3.0			Mike Rothschild	Morgan Plus 4	119
24th	32	S8.0			Jack Burkhard	Allard-Cadillac J2	116
25th	6	S1.5			Rees T. Makins	Osca MT4 1100	115
26th	15	S5.0			Jack Shepperd	Jaguar C-Type	114
27th	64	S2.0			Walter E. von Schoenfeld	Maserati A6GCS	110
28th	14	S1.5			Alan Patterson	MG Special	99
29th	16	S5.0			Geo. E. Tilp	Jaguar XK120	94
30th	51	S5.0			Walter S. Grey	Allard-Cadillac J2	94
31st	37	S1.1			Jack Pry, Ltd.	Morris Minor	93
32nd	11	S1.1			Paul Ceresole	Cisitalia Spider	88
33rd	2	S3.0			Brooks Stevens	Excalibur-Willys J	86
34th	23	S5.0			Charles M. Schott	Jaguar XK120	63
DNF	5	S3.0			Jim Kimberly	Ferrari 225 S	95	Transmission
DNF	60	S1.5			Dickson Yates	MG TD		Engine
DNF	80	S1.5			Richard Toland	Porsche 356		did not finish
DNF	61	S2.0			Ray Leibensperger	MG Special	78	did not finish
DNF	39	S750			Speedcraft Enterprises	Siata Amica Special	63	Engine
DNF	8	S3.0		Phil Hill	William Spear	Ferrari 225 S	56	Differential
DNF	19	S5.0			Austin L. Conley	Jaguar XK120	56	Accident
DNF	31	S3.0	Peter Collins	Geoff Duke	Aston Martin Ltd.	Aston Martin DB3	52	Accident damage
DNF	98	S8.0			Erwin Goldschmidt	Healey Silverstone-Cadillac	45	Rear end
DNF	33	S1.5	Bernard Cahier		René Bonnet	DB HBR Panhard	37	Brakes
DNF	58	S2.0		Charles Moran	Briggs Cunningham	Frazer Nash Targa Florio	28	Unknown
DNF	26	S750			Ralph Deshon	Crosley Special	25	Suspension
DNF	66	S5.0			Paul Ramos	Allard-Cadillac J2X	20	Fire
DNF	36	S8.0	Masten Gregory		Masten Gregory	Allard-Chrysler J2X	16	Transmission
DISQ	48	S2.0	Jorge Daponte		Fritz Koster	Maserati A6GCS	15	pit rule violation
DNF	97	S8.0		Bob Said	Mark B. Deitsch	Allard-Cadillac J2	9	Engine
DNF	3	S3.0			Brooks Stevens	Excalibur-Willys J	4	Engine
DNF	1	S2.0		George Rice	Stuart Donaldson	Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica Mk II	2	Engine
DNF	9	S2.0			Stuart Donaldson	Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica Mk II	2	Engine
DNS	17	S750			Geo. Sanderson	Crosley Hotshot		Engine
DNS	21	S1.5			Lawrence Kulok	Porsche 356 1500 Super		Gearbox
DNS	41	S1.1			F. Randolph Pearsall	Cisitalia Spider		Engine
DNS	65	S5.00	Tom Cole		William Lloyd	Ferrari 340 America		Engine
DNS	75	S5.00		Cameron Argetsinger	Cameron Argetsinger	Jaguar XK120		Engine

^[3][4][5]

• Fastest lap: John Fitch, 120.540 mph ^[1][4]

Class Winners[]

^[1][4]

Standings after the race[]

Pos	Championship	Points
1	Cunningham	8
2	Aston Martin	6
3	Jaguar	4
4	Osca	2
5	Ferrari	1

• Note: Only the top five positions are included in this set of standings.

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.

References[]