RAC Tourist Trophy 1959

As a partner of Stirling Moss and Jack Fairman, Carroll Shelby secured the title in the World Sports Car Championship with victory at Goodwood Aston Martin

The 24th RAC Tourist Trophy , also News of The World sponsor the 24th RAC Tourist Trophy Race, Goodwood , took place on September 5, 1959 at the Goodwood Circuit and was the fifth and final round of the Sports Car World Championship of that year.

Before the race

Scuderia Ferrari came to the last round of the championship season in Goodwood with a narrow lead in the World Championship of Brands . The Ferrari racing team was two points ahead of Aston Martin with 18 points . The Porsche works team was another point behind . The Scuderia had won the season opening race in 1959 through Dan Gurney and Chuck Daigh and reached the other points with podium places at the Nürburgring and in Le Mans . Aston Martin had not scored a single world championship point until round three of the season, but then won the race at the Nürburgring through Stirling Moss and Jack Fairman . Aston Martin also triumphed at Le Mans. This time Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori drove the victorious Aston Martin DBR1 / 300 .

At the Targa Florio , Edgar Barth and Wolfgang Seidel celebrated their first success for Porsche in a race in the World Sports Car Championship.

The race

Scuderia Ferrari came to England with four works cars . Three Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa , one of them with a Fantuzzi Spyder body, were driven by Olivier Gendebien , Phil Hill , Cliff Allison , Tony Brooks and Dan Gurney. The fourth Ferrari was a Dino 196S , driven by Giorgio Scarlatti and Ludovico Scarfiotti .

Aston Martin used three DBR1 / 300s. A fourth was used privately. The three works cars were driven by Carroll Shelby , Jack Fairman , Stirling Moss , Maurice Trintignant , Paul Frère and Roy Salvadori . The cockpit of the fourth 3-liter Aston Martin was shared by Graham Whitehead and Henry Taylor .

In the race, Stirling Moss, the fastest in training, dominated in the Aston Martin with the number 1 right from the start. If the Aston Martin racing team and the management of team boss John Wyer were to win the race, Ferrari had to achieve at least second place due to the deleted results to be able to defend the world championship title. Ferrari fell behind early on, however. The Dino 196S failed due to a defective rear suspension and the Hill and Allison Testa Rossa had an engine failure. Hill and Allison then switched to the two remaining Testa Rossa. The Ferrari could not keep up with the high speed of the Aston Martin; and the Porsche 718 RSK of Wolfgang von Trips and Joakim Bonnier drove consistently faster lap times than the two Ferrari.

Everything seemed to be going well for Aston Martin when Roy Salvadori, who had meanwhile taken over the car from Moss, stopped in front of the pits for the second refueling stop. When the fuel was topped up, it spilled over and ignited on the hot engine. In a short time the DBR1 / 300 and the mostly wooden pit systems were on fire. Both were quickly resolved, but the car had broken down and race director Reg Parnell and his staff no longer had any boxes. Graham Whitehead then immediately took his car out of the race and allowed the Aston Martin crew to switch to their pits. Moss switched to Shelby and Fairman and drove out a sure win with his teammates.

After his last refueling stop, Tony Brooks caught up in the Testa Rossa with the number 10 against Wolfgang von Trips' Porsche. Every time the car drove by , Ferrari racing director Romolo Tavoni von Trips held a board reading SLOW in front of the car. When this was noticed by the team management at Porsche, Joakim Bonnier did the same with Brooks. At the finish, Brooks was two seconds short of the necessary second place and Aston Martin won the world title for the first time.

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	S 3.0	2	David Brown	Carroll Shelby Jack Fairman Stirling Moss	Aston Martin DBR1 / 300	224
2	S 2.0	22nd	Porsche team	Wolfgang von Trips Joakim Bonnier	Porsche 718 RSK	223
3	S 3.0	10	Scuderia Ferrari	Olivier Gendebien Phil Hill Cliff Allison Tony Brooks	Ferrari 250 TR 59 Fantuzzi Spyder	223
4th	S 3.0	3	David Brown	Maurice Trintignant Paul Frère	Aston Martin DBR1 / 300	221
5	S 3.0	9	Scuderia Ferrari	Tony Brooks Dan Gurney	Ferrari 250TR59	220
6th	S 1.1	33	Lola Cars	Peter Ashdown Alan Ross	Lola MK1	210
7th	S 3.0	7th	Ecurie Ecosse	Ron Flockhart John Bekaert	Jaguar D-Type	209
8th	S 1.1	34	Lola Cars	Bob Hicks Dick Prior	Lola MK1	208
9	S 1.1	36	Elva Racing Team	Mike McKee Cedric Brierley	Elva MK.V	206
10	S 1.1	35	Lola Cars	Bernard Cox Colin Escott	Lola MK1	202
11	S 1.1	31	Team Lotus	Keith Greene Tony Marsh	Lotus 17	199
12	S 2.0	23	Dr. Porsche	Edgar Barth Umberto Maglioli	Porsche 718 RSK	197
13	S 1.1	38	Elva Racing Team	John Brown Chris Steele	Elva Mk.IV	171
14th	S 1.1	39	John Campbell-Jones	John Campbell-Jones John Horridge	Lotus Eleven	154
Failed
15th	S 3.0	1	David Brown	Stirling Moss Roy Salvadori	Aston Martin DBR1 / 300
16	S 3.0	4th	Graham Whitehead	Graham Whitehead Henry Taylor	Aston Martin DBR1 / 300
17th	S 3.0	5	John Dalton	John Dalton David Shale	Aston Martin DB3S
18th	S 3.0	6th	Ecurie Ecosse	Jim Clark masts Gregory	Tojeiro
19th	S 3.0	8th	Taylor & Crawley	Peter Blond Jonathan Sieff	Lister
20th	S 3.0	11	Scuderia Ferrari	Phil Hill Cliff Allison	Ferrari 250TR59
21st	S 2.0	21st	Scuderia Ferrari	Giorgio Scarlatti Ludovico Scarfiotti	Ferrari Dino 196S
22nd	S 2.0	24	Dr. Porsche	Hans Herrmann Chris Bristow	Porsche 718 RSK
23	S 2.0	25th	John Coombs Racing Organization	Jack Brabham Bruce McLaren	Cooper Monaco T49
24	S 2.0	26th	Taylor & Crawley	Michael Taylor Christopher Martyn	Lotus 15
25th	S 2.0	27	Dickson Motors	Tom Dickson Jim Mackay	Lotus 15
26th	S 2.0	28	Dorchester Service Station	David Piper Bruce Halford	Lotus 15
27	S 2.0	29	Team Lotus	Graham Hill Alan Stacey	Lotus 15
28	S 1.1	32	Team Lotus	Innes Ireland Jay Chamberlain	Lotus 17
29	S 1.1	37	Elva Racing Team	Chris Threlfall Tom Threlfall	Elva MK.V
30th	S 1.1	40	Cranham Service Station	Peter Arundell Jack Westcott	Lotus Eleven
Not started
31	S 3.0	T	David Brown	Paul Brother Jack Fairman Roy Salvadori Stirling Moss	Aston Martin DBR1 / 300	1

¹ training car

Only in the entry list

No further reports are known for this race.

Class winner

class	driver	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
S 3.0	Carroll Shelby	Jack Fairman	Stirling Moss	Aston Martin DBR1 / 300	Overall victory
S 2.0	Wolfgang von Trips	Joakim Bonnier		Porsche 718 RSK	Rank 2
S 1.1	Peter Ashdown	Alan Ross		Lola MK1	Rank 6

Racing data

• Registered: 31
• Started: 30
• Valued: 14
• Race classes: 3
• Spectator: unknown
• Race day weather: warm and dry
• Route length: 3.862 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 6:00: 46.800 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 224
• Total distance of the winning team: 865.183 km
• Winner's average: 143.885 km / h
• Fastest training time: Stirling Moss - Aston Martin DBR1 / 300 (# 1) - 1: 31.400 = 152.464 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Tony Brooks - Ferrari 250TR59 (# 9) - 1: 31.800 = 151.468 km / h
• Racing series: 5th round of the 1959 World Sports Car Championship

Web links

• Race report
• Race results

Previous race of the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1959

Sports car world championship

Successor to the 1000 km race in Buenos Aires in 1960