The 1953 24 Heures de Spa Francorchamps took place on 25 and 26 July 1953, at the

Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (), frequently referred to as ''Spa'', is a motor-racing circuit located in Stavelot, Belgium. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, hosting its first Grand Prix in 1925, and has held ...

, (

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

). It was also the fourth round of the FIA World Sports Car Championship. This was the first time the event had taken place since

Luigi Chinetti Luigi Chinetti (July 17, 1901 – August 17, 1994) was an Italian-born racecar driver, who emigrated to the United States during World War II. He drove in 12 consecutive 24 Hours of Le Mans races, taking three outright wins there and taking two ...

and Jean Lucas won in 1949. The race was not run again until 1964. Although the 1953 season places two 24 hour races in two months would not be an easy maneuver. But, Spa is a favourite amongst the drivers and teams, therefore, the event would be a popular one, not to be missed by the top teams and their star drivershttp://www.conceptcarz.com/view/f1/teamsBySeason,aspx?driverTeamArticleID=191&driverID=62

Report

Entry

1953-08-16 Pescara Ferrari 340 0320AM Maglioli+Hawthorn

A grand total 43 racing cars were registered for this event, of which 40 arrived for practise and qualifying. From Italy, the two work teams of

Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Società per Azioni, S.p.A. () is the racing division of luxury Italian auto manufacturer Ferrari and the racing team that competes in Formula One racing. The team is also known by the nickname "The Prancing Horse", in refere ...

and S. P. A. Alfa Romeo. The Scuderia from Maranello arrived with three cars, all 375 MM's. In the cockpits sat the driver pairings,

Giuseppe Farina Emilio Giuseppe Farina, also known as Giuseppe Antonio "Nino" Farina, (; 30 October 1906 – 30 June 1966) was an Italian racing driver and first official Formula One World Champion. He gained the title in 1950. He was the Italian Champion in ...

Mike Hawthorn John Michael Hawthorn (10 April 1929 – 22 January 1959) was a British racing driver. He became the United Kingdom's first Formula One World Champion driver in 1958, whereupon he announced his retirement, having been profoundly affected by the ...

Luigi Villoresi Luigi Villoresi (16 May 1909 – 24 August 1997) was an Italian Grand Prix motor racing driver who continued racing on the Formula One circuit at the time of its inception. Biography Born in Milan, Lombardy, and nicknamed "Gigi", he was the older ...

Alberto Ascari Alberto Ascari (; 13 July 1918 – 26 May 1955) was an Italian racing driver and a two time Formula One World Champion. He was a multitalented racer who competed in motorcycle racing before switching to cars. Ascari won consecutive world titles ...

and

Umberto Maglioli Umberto Maglioli (5 June 1928 – 7 February 1999) was a racing driver from Italy. He participated in 10 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 13 September 1953. He achieved 2 podiums, and scored a total of 3 championship ...

with

Piero Carini Piero Carini (March 6, 1921 – May 30, 1957) was a racing driver from Italy. He was born in Genoa and died in Saint-Étienne, France. Racing career Carini finished third in the 1950 Modena Grand Prix, run that year to Formula Two rules, drivin ...

. Alfa Romeo brought two cars to Belgium, which went into different classes at the start.

Juan Manuel Fangio Juan Manuel Fangio (American Spanish: , ; 24 June 1911 – 17 July 1995), nicknamed ''El Chueco'' ("the bowlegged" or "bandy legged one") or ''El Maestro'' ("The Master" or "The Teacher"), was an Argentine racing car driver. He dominated t ...

and

Consalvo Sanesi Consalvo Sanesi (28 March 1911, in Terranuova Bracciolini, Arezzo – 28 July 1998, in Milan) was best known as the Alfa Romeo works' test driver in the period following World War II, but he also competed in races with the Alfa Romeo Tipo 158/159 ...

piloted an Alfa Romeo 6C 3000 CM in the sports car category. Max Thirion, together with

Mario Damonte is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his cr ...

were entered in an

Alfa Romeo 1900 The Alfa Romeo 1900 is an automobile produced by Italian car manufacturer Alfa Romeo from 1950 until 1959. Designed by Orazio Satta, it was an important development for Alfa Romeo as the marque's first car built entirely on a production line and f ...

in the touring car class. :de:24-Stunden-Rennen von Spa-Francorchamps 1953 The host country was represented by the

Ecurie Francorchamps Ecurie Francorchamps was a Belgian motor racing team. They are principally known for running privateer cars in Formula One and sports car racing during the 1950s and 1970s. The team was founded by racing driver Jacques Swaters. Between 1952 and 19 ...

, which entered a

Jaguar C-Type The Jaguar C-Type (officially called the Jaguar XK120-C) is a racing sports car built by Jaguar and sold from 1951 to 1953. The "C" stands for "competition". The car combined the running gear of the contemporary, road-proven XK120, with a li ...

and a

Ferrari 212 Export :''See also the 212 Inter grand tourer'' The Ferrari 212 Export was a sports racing car produced by Ferrari in 1951–1952. The 212 Exports won Tour de France automobile, Giro di Sicilia, Coppa della Toscana, 10 Hours of Messina and other motor ...

Qualifying

The Ferrari 375 MM of Mike Hawthorn took

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...

, averaging a speed of 113.871 mph around the 8.77 mile circuit. However, following an accident in practise, the

Fiat 1100 The Fiat 1100 is a small family car produced from 1953 until 1969 by the Italian manufacturer Fiat. It was an all-new unibody replacement for the Fiat 1100 E, which descended from the pre-war, body-on-frame Fiat 508 C Balilla 1100. The 1100 was ...

of “Thillios” and

Johnny Claes Octave John Claes (11 August 1916 – 3 February 1956) was an English-born racing driver who competed for Belgium. Before his fame as a racing driver, Claes was also a jazz trumpeter and successful bandleader in Britain. Early life and jazz c ...

was withdrawn, leaving 39 cars to start.

Race

The day of the race would be warm and dry, but that would mean very little as the team prepared for the start at 4pm. As the field took off, it wouldn't be long before the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps would prove to be a greater threat, even to the best teams and drivers in the race. A number of privateers entries would fall out of contention early into the race, but then, the factory efforts and the bigger privateers began to run into trouble.

Roger Laurent Roger Laurent (21 February 1913 – 6 February 1997) was a racing driver and motorcycle racer from Belgium. He was born in Liège and died in Uccle. Laurent competed aboard a Moto Guzzi in the 1949 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season, entering ...

and

Jacques Swaters Jacques Swaters (30 October 1926 – 10 December 2010) was a racing driver from Belgium and former team owner of Ecurie Francorchamps and Ecurie Nationale Belge. Racing career Swaters made his debut in the 24 Hours of Spa in an MG co-drive ...

would retire their C-Type with a blown engine. Fangio and Sanesi would be out following an accident in their Alfa Romeo 6C. The Ferrari pairing of Maglioli and Carini would be amongst the casualties with value troubles. It did not get any easier for the top drivers as even Ascari and Villoresi would retire with clutch failure. Although two of the three works Ferraris had retired during the race, Scuderia victory was never seriously threatened. After Fangio/Sanesi accident after only 22 laps, the Ferrari was without any close competition. Farina and Hawthorn would remain in the lead throughout the whole race, even when the rain came late on in the race. At the finish, Farina and Hawthorn had an 18 lap advantage over the Jaguar C-Type of the Scottish

Ecurie Ecosse Ecurie Ecosse (French: "Scotland Stable") was a motor racing team from Edinburgh, Scotland. The team was founded in November 1951 by Edinburgh businessman and racing driver David Murray and mechanic Wilkie Wilkinson. Its most notable achieveme ...

. In the end, the Ferrari margin of victory amounted to about an advantage of close to 90 minutes over

James Scott Douglas Sir James Louis Fitzroy Scott Douglas, 6th Baronet (24 October 1930 – 16 July 1969) was a British racing driver and a Baronet. Early life and baronetcy He was born in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. He succeeded his great uncle, Sir George Brisban ...

and Guy Gale. A Belgian-entered Jaguar C-Type of

Herman Roosdorp Herman Roosdorp was a Dutch racing driver who lived a long period of his life in Belgium. He was born on 19 April 1895. He started as a house painter before becoming a car dealer. He was the first Dutch man to buy a Ferrari. In Antwerp (Borgerhou ...

and

Toni Ulmen Anton "Toni" Ulmen (25 January 1906 – 4 November 1976) was a German motorcycle and racing driver from Düsseldorf, Germany. His racing career started in 1925 on a 250 cc Velocette. In 1927 he won the opening race of the Nürburgring on a 350 ...

was a further eleven laps down and finished third. In the touring car class, the Portuguese driver Viegas Vellagao and his Belgian co-driver, Vladimir Narichkine were victorious in their Mercedes-Benz 220. However, although they were fifth overall, they were 68 laps behind the winning Ferrari. The winning partnership, won in a time of 24hr 02:07.085mins., averaging a speed of 94.910 mph. They covered a distance of 2,281.182 miles.

Official Classification

''Class Winners are in Bold text.'' :fr:24 Heures de Spa 1953 * Fastest Lap:

, 4:44.0secs (111.217 mph)

Class Winners

Standings after the race

*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

{{DEFAULTSORT:1953 Spa 24 Hours

Spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneoth ...

Spa 24 Hours 1953 in Belgian sport