1953 Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race

The Jaguar C-Type with the number 19; the car registered by Ecurie Ecosse was driven by James Scott-Douglas and Guy Gale to second place in the overall standings

The 16th Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race , also called 24 H de Spa, Spa-Francorchamps , took place from June 25th to 26th, 1953 and was the fourth round of the sports car world championship of that year.

The race

prehistory

In addition to the Le Mans 24-hour race , the 1953 24-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps was another long-distance race that included a day's driving time for the World Sports Car Championship. The race at Spa was held for the first time in 1924 , a year later than the debut race at Le Mans. In the sports car world championship, the race was the fourth race of the season. The racing series opened on March 8, 1953 with the Sebring 12-hour race , which was won by the two Americans Phil Walters and John Fitch in a factory Cunningham C4-R . Ferrari factory driver Gianni Marzotto won the Mille Miglia and at Le Mans the two Britons Tony Rolt and Duncan Hamilton remained successful in a Jaguar C-Type .

The teams

43 racing cars were registered for the race, 40 showed up for training and 39 ultimately took part because one car had an accident during training. The two works teams from Ferrari and Alfa Romeo came from Italy . The Scuderia from Maranello used three works cars, all of them 375MM . The driver pairings Giuseppe Farina / Mike Hawthorn , Luigi Villoresi / Alberto Ascari as well as Umberto Maglioli and Piero Carini sat in the cockpits . Alfa Romeo brought two cars to Belgium that started in different classes. Juan Manuel Fangio and Consalvo Sanesi drove an Alfa Romeo A6 3000CM in the sports car class. Max Thirion , the father of Gilberte Thirion , who drove a Fiat 1100 together with the French Annie Bousquet , drove an Alfa Romeo 1900 in the touring car class together with Mario Damonte .

The host country Belgium was represented by Ecurie Francorchamps, which reported a Jaguar C-Type in addition to a Ferrari 212 Export. In addition to the racing cars from Charles Deutsch and René Bonnet , a works Panhard and a works Renault 4CV also came from France .

The course of the race

Although two of the three factory Ferraris were canceled, Scuderia's victory was never seriously endangered. After the Alfa Romeo 6C retired after only 22 laps, the Ferrari had no opponents. At the finish the duo Farina / Hawthorn had an 18 lap lead over the Jaguar C-Type of the Scottish Ecurie Ecosse. A Belgian registered Jaguar had a further eleven laps behind at the finish and finished third. In the touring car class, the Portuguese Viegas Vellagos and the Belgian Vladimir Narchkine in a Mercedes-Benz 220 remained victorious. As fifth in the overall standings, however, they were 68 laps behind the victorious Ferrari.

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	S.	8th	Scuderia Ferrari	Giuseppe Farina Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari 375MM Pininfarina	260
2	S.	19th	Ecurie Ecosse	James Scott-Douglas Guy Gale	Jaguar C-Type	242
3	S.	18th	Herman Roosdorp	Herman Roosdorp Toni Elmen	Jaguar C-Type	231
4th	S.	32	German et Bonnet	Marc Gignoux Claude Storez	DB HBR	211
5	T	38		Viegas Vallago Vladimir Narchkine	Mercedes-Benz 220	192
6th	T	51		Marcel Lauga G. Aversang	Simca Aronde	191
7th	T	49		Luc Mahy Jean-Pierre de Nauville	Peugeot 203	189
8th	T	44		André Pilette Jacques van Wetter	Borgward Hansa 1800	188
9	T	57		Roger Meunier Guy Sanders	Panhard Dyna	187
10	S.	34	German et Bonnet	René-Philippe Faure Pierre Quetelart	DB HBR	186
11	S.	33	Automobiles Panhard	Reggie Bovens Roger Giraud	Panhard X85	184
12	T	48		Telesphore Georges Fernand Georges	Peugeot 203	184
13	T	62		René Cotton Fernand Sigrand	Panhard Dyna	180
Not classified
14th	T	53	Robert Pauwels	Robert Pauwels André Milhoux	Fiat 1100	176
15th	T	55		Robert Reip Louis Richard	Fiat 1100	176
16	T	54		Gilberte Thirion Annie Bousquet	Fiat 1100	175
17th	T	43		Pierre Slosse Georges Berger	Borgward Hansa 1800	157
18th	T	52		Pierre Stasse Walter German	Fiat 1100	138
19th	T	61		Raymond Meignen Jacques Blanchet	Panhard Dyna	125
Disqualified
20th	T	50		Léon Dernier Claude Collard	Peugeot 203
21st	S.	26th		Elyane Imbert Simone des Forest	Porsche 356 1500 Super
Failed
22nd	S.	6th	Scuderia Ferrari	Luigi Villoresi Alberto Ascari	Ferrari 375MM Pininfarina	218
23	S.	20th	Tom Meyer	Tom Meyer Philip Fotheringham-Parker	Aston Martin DB3 Coupe	81
24	S.	15th	SpA Alfa Romeo	Juan Manuel Fangio Consalvo Sanesi	Alfa Romeo 6C 3000CM	22nd
25th	T	60		Gérard Vandenberg Louis de la Bourdonnaye	Panhard Dyna
26th	T	58		Roland du Roy de Blicky Olivier Gendebien	Panhard Dyna
27	T	59		Gert Welter Jean Renant	Panhard Dyna
28	T	46	Leavens Ltd.	Barry Leavens Joyce Leavens	Jowett Javelin
29	T	41	SpA Alfa Romeo	Max Thirion Mario Damonte	Alfa Romeo 1900
30th	S.	4th		Charles Nias Auguste Brancart	Talbot Olgin
31	S.	9	Scuderia Ferrari	Umberto Maglioli Piero Carini	Ferrari 375MM Pininfarina
32	S.	17th	Ecurie Francorchamps	Roger Laurent Jacques Swaters	Jaguar C-Type
33	S.	22nd	Ecurie Francorchamps	Charles de Tornaco Honore Wagner	Ferrari 212 export
34	S.	24		Jean Ampoulie Jacques Gergaud	Siam Special Ford
35	S.	29		Paul Brother Werner Hampel	Porsche 356
36	S.	35	German et Bonnet	Georges Guyot Reverse	DB HBR
37	S.	36	Renault	Louis Pons Jean Rédélé	Renault 4CV 1063
38	T	40		Radrizzi Tissot	Fiat 1900
39	T	43		Boy Laloux Georges Berger	Borgward Hansa 1800
Not started
40	T	22nd		Johnny Claes Thillios	Fiat 1100	1
41	S.	T	Scuderia Ferrari	Mike Hawthorn Giuseppe Farina Luigi Villoresi Alberto Ascari Umberto Maglioli Piero Carini	Ferrari 375MM Pininfarina	2

¹ accident in training ² replacement cars

Only in the entry list

Here you will find teams, drivers and vehicles that were originally registered for the race but did not take part for a variety of reasons.

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis
42	S.			Adriano Fusar Poli Elio Zagato	Fiat 1100 Zagato
43	S.			Dejoncker Declat	Studebaker Hawk

Class winner

class	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
Sports car	Giuseppe Farina	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari 375MM	Overall victory
Touring car	Viegas Vallagos	Vladimir Narchkine	Mercedes-Benz 200	Rank 5

Racing data

• Registered: 43
• Starter: 39
• Rated: 13
• Race classes: 2
• Spectator: unknown
• Race day weather: warm and dry on Saturday, rain at night
• Route length: 14.120 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 24: 02: 07.085 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 260
• Total distance of the winning team: 3671,000 km
• Winner's average: 152.742 km / h
• Fastest training time: Mike Hawthorn - Ferrari375MM Pininfarina (# 8) - 4: 39,000 = 182.194 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Giuseppe Farina - Ferrari 375MM Pinifarina (# 8) - 4: 40,000 = 178.986 km / h
• Racing series: 4th round of the 1953 World Sports Car Championship

Web links

• Results and data for racing sports cars

Previous race of the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1953

Sports car world championship

Successor 1000 km race on the Nürburgring in 1953