MRL ROYAL AUTOMOBILE CLUB WOODCOTE TROPHY & STIRLING MOSS TROPHY
Friday 11:24 - 11:51 RACE 12 Sunday 09:40 - 10:30
The 1950s heralded a golden era for sports car racing . As the world continued to shrug off the austerity imposed by the war years , motor sport re-established itself . With fresh technical thinking in abundance and more advanced cars , manufacturers went head-to-head in their quest for glory , particularly in Europe . And Great Britain was at the forefront of development as factory Jaguar and Aston Martin teams took on the might of Ferrari , Maserati and Mercedes-Benz - and won !
Jaguar ’ s five Le Mans 24 Hours victories - in 1951 and ’ 53 with C-types evolved from the production XK120 , then ’ 55- ’ 57 with monocoque chassised D-types , the last two under David Murray ’ s Ecurie Ecosse were iconic . Add Aston Martin ’ s 1959 win and there were slim pickings for rivals .
Silverstone staged sports car races in the 1950s , the most prestigious being the British Grand Prix support races introduced by the BRDC as a programme-closer in 1953 . As in Goodwood ’ s Nine Hour races , in ’ 52 , ’ 53 and ’ 55 , Aston Martin struck gold . Emphatically so , since Reg Parnell , Roy Salvadori and Peter Collins scored a 1-2-3 in DB3Ss , with the Jaguar C-types of the unrelated Ian and Jimmy ( Jackie ’ s brother ) Stewart fifth and sixth . Collins , Salvadori , American Carroll Shelby and Parnell went one better in ’ 54 , filling the top four places .
The race followed the Grand Prix to Liverpool ’ s Aintree circuit in ’ 55 , where Le Mans winner Mike Hawthorn led initially in a works Jaguar D-type , but it retired and Salvadori , Collins and Parnell , joined by Peter Walker , extended Aston Martin ’ s run of success . Back at Silverstone the following year Stirling
Moss won in a factory Maserati 300S , from Salvadori and Desmond Titterington ’ s Ecurie Ecosse D-type .
Jaguar-powered Listers , built in Cambridge , won the GP support races at Aintree in 1957 with Archie Scott Brown - who beat Salvadori ’ s Aston Martin DBR1 and Duncan Hamilton ’ s D-type - and Silverstone in ’ 58 , when Moss made his debut in a works Lister Knobbly . Salvadori ’ s remarkable run continued with second in John Coombs ’ Lotus 15 .
Team Lotus was by now in the ascendant , and with a 2.5-litre Coventry Climax FPF engine in a Type 15 , future double F1 world champion Graham Hill beat Alan Stacey ’ s two-litre version at Aintree in ’ 59 . Jack Brabham , who won the GP later that day with Cooper , put a rear-engined Monaco model on pole , but finished third ahead of the Lister-Jags of Jim Clark , privateer Bruce Halford and Bueb .
By 1960 entries had faded . Back at Silverstone , Ron Flockhart , winner at Le Mans in ’ 56 and ’ 57 with Ninian Sanderson and Bueb respectively , beat a thin field in Coombs ’ Cooper Monaco T49 . Smaller capacity cars chased , led by
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