1963 Brands Hatch 6 Hours

Layout of the Brands Hatch (1960-1975)

'The Motor' International Six Hour Saloon Car Race ^[1] was the third round of the 1963 European Touring Car Challenge, and was held at Brands Hatch on the Grand Prix circuit, on 6 July.^[2][3]

This, the second Motor-sponsored Six-Hour saloon car race, was run in appalling conditions, like the 1962 event. The large crowd of approximately 15000, witnessed the favourite, a 7-litre Ford Galaxie driven by Dan Gurney and Jack Brabham flounder in the wet and the Jaguar Mk II dominate the race. Victory went to Roy Salvadori and Denny Hulme from and after the winners on the road, Mike Salmon and Pete Sutcliffe, were disqualified for engine irregularities.^[4]

Report[]

Entry[]

A fine entry of 39 cars were accepted for the event, across five classes. However, scrutineering meant trouble for those Ford Galaxies which had disc brakes; Gawaine Baillie was only allowed to start the meeting on the promise of photographic evidence of the brake mounting – otherwise he would be disqualified. John Willment Automobiles was not prepared for this and withdrew their Galaxie. Of the cars accepted, 37 cars practised.^[2][3]

Qualifying[]

Grid positions were determined by engine capacity rather than practice times. As a result, the record books show John Sprinzel on pole, in his 7-litre Ford Galaxie. However, the fastest time in practise was set by the pairing of Dan Gurney and Jack Brabham in their Galaxie.^[2][3]

Race[]

The start with the slow car of John Sprinzel on pole, brought Mike Salmon into second place in Jaguar Mk. II following the early leader, Gawaine Baillie’s Galaxie, ahead of the American Dan Gurney (Galaxie) and (Jaguar Mk II). Handicapped by wrong tyres, Gurney spun at South Bank, but somehow the whole field avoided him. After two laps, Baillie had dropped to third, giving way to Salmon and , while Gurney spun again. By the fourth lap, Gurney came in for a tyre change on the rear – before the start, he could only change the fronts.

The terrible conditions made for an interesting race; nearly lost his Jaguar Mk. II, and he was not the only one. hit a bank, but continued after repairs, and rolled his Mini. After the pit stops, at the three-hour mark, the leaders were Roy Salvadori, Salmon, (all Jaguars), Jack Sears, (both in Cortinas with Tom Trana in sixth, in his Volvo. The quick pit stop of the Atherstone Engineering Jaguar moved Salmon into the lead, its lead now over a lap. Salvadori/Denny Hulme were second, Sears fourth and / fifth.

At 8:30pm, six hours after the race started and 166 laps of the Grand Prix circuit, the chequered flag dropped and the pairing of Salmon/Pete Sutcliffe won the race, with Salvadori/Hulme second, / completing the podium, just ahead of Sears/Bo Ljungfeldt with Trana/ fifth. Once again scrutineering revealed problems for the winner: the Jaguar Mk. II was disqualified for having oversized inlet valves. The winner’s average speed was published as 73.477mph.^[2][3][4]

Classification[]

The Motor 6 hours[]

Class Winners are in Bold text. Please note that race winner, was not declared class winner.

Pos.	No.	Class	Drivers		Entrant	Car - Engine	Laps	Reason Out
DISQ	6	9	Mike Salmon	Peter Sutcliffe	Atherstone Engineering	Jaguar Mk II 3.8	166	inlet valve size
1st	5	9	Roy Salvadori	Denny Hulme	Tommy Atkins	Jaguar Mk II 3.8	165
2nd	7	9				Jaguar Mk II 3.8	162
3rd	23	6	Jack Sears	Bo Ljungfeldt	John Willment Automobiles	Ford Cortina GT	162
4th	16	7/8	Tom Trana		Volvo AB	Volvo 122 S	161
DISQ	14	7/8		Peter Lumsden	REC Parkes	Mercedes-Benz 220SE	159	Non-homologate gear ratios
6th	28	5	John Whitmore	Paddy Hopkirk		BMC Mini Cooper S	159
7th	2	9	Gawaine Baillie			Ford Galaxie	159
8th	29	5	John Rhodes	Rob Slotemaker	Cooper Car Co.	Morris Mini Cooper S	158
9th	1	9	Dan Gurney	Jack Brabham	Alan Brown	Ford Galaxie	157
10th	24	6		Henry Taylor	Alan Andrews Racing	Ford Cortina Super	157
11th	30	5		Denise McCluggage	Don Moore	Morris Mini Cooper S	158
12th	9	7/8			John Willment Automobiles	Ford Zodiac Mk 3	155
13th	20	6			HF Squadra Corse	Lancia Flavia Coupé	155
14th	17	6		Chris Amon	Alan Fraser Racing Team	Sunbeam Rapier	155
15th	32	4		Rauno Aaltonen	Cooper Car Co.	Austin Mini Cooper S	154
16th	25	6			Squadra Tartaruga	Alfa Romeo Giulia TI	153
17th	21	6			HF Squadra Corse	Lancia Flavia Coupé	153
18th	33	4		Timo Mäkinen	Alexander Engineering Co.	Austin Mini Cooper	153
19th	18	6		Chris Lawrence	Lawrencetune Engines	Vauxhall VX4/90	153
20th	27	5			Dick Jacobs	MG 1100	153
21st	26	5	Anita Taylor		John Willment Automobiles	Ford Anglia Super	151
22nd	11	7/8			HF Squadra Corse	Lancia Flaminia 3B coupé	146
DISQ	4	9	John Sprinzel		John Sprinzel Racing	Ford Galaxie	145	Loose bonnet
24th (DNF)	4	9			Zenith Films	Jaguar Mk II 3.8	143	Clutch
25th	35	4			Westover Racing	Morris Mini Cooper	142
26th (DNF)	8	9			Chris McLaren	Jaguar Mk II 3.8	140	Oil Leak
27th	34	4			Ecurie Lonertex	Austin Mini Cooper	76	Engine
DNF	12	7/8		Carlo Facetti	HF Squadra Corse	Lancia Flaminia 3B coupé		Accident
DNF	10	7/8	Roy Pierpoint	Alan Mann	Alan Andrews Racing	Ford Zodiac Mk 3		Lost wheel
DNF	38	9			D. M. Racing	Jaguar Mk II 3.8		Overheating
DNF	15	7/8	Jochen Neerpasch		Squadra Tartaruga	Volvo 132 S	59	Accident
DNF	31	5	Mike Clare		Alexander Engineering Co.	BMC Mini Cooper S	34	Accident
DNF	36	4			Peter Clarke	Abarth 1000 Berlina Corsa	4	Misfire
DNF	22	6	Les Leston		John Willment Automobiles	Ford Cortina GT	3	Clutch
DNQ		9	Jack Sears	Bo Ljungfeldt	John Willment Automobiles	Ford Galaxie		Withdrawn after homologation dispute re disc brake fitting
DNQ	23	6			John Willment Automobiles	Ford Cortina GT		Car taken over by Sears/
DISQ	19	6		Bob Anderson		Riley 1.5		Rejected at scrutineering
Source:[3][5]

• Fastest lap: Denny Hulme, 2:04.000secs. (77.375 mph)

^[3][5]

Class Winners[]

Standings after the race[]

Pos	Championship	Points
1		29
2		27
3		26
4=		24
	Tom Trana

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

Championship points were awarded for the first seven places in each race in the order of 12-10-8-7-5-6-4.^[6]

References[]