The 1953 World Sportscar Championship was the first

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backst ...

World Sportscar Championship The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992. The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance, and road racing events in Europe and No ...

. It was a seven race World Sports Car Championship (Makes), 1974 FIA Yearbook of Automobile Sport, Grey section, page 122 international motor racing series for

sports cars A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

contested from 8 March to 23 November 1953. The championship was won by

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

Season

Rétromobile 2011 - Jaguar Type C - 1953 -6

The 1953 World Sports Car Championship was contested over a seven race series. Now legendary and shockingly dangerous races such as the

Mille Miglia The Mille Miglia (, ''Thousand Miles'') was an open-road, motorsport endurance race established in 1927 by the young Counts Francesco Mazzotti and Aymo Maggi, which took place in Italy twenty-four times from 1927 to 1957 (thirteen before World ...

and the

Carrera Panamericana The Carrera Panamericana was a border-to-border sedan ( stock and touring and sports car) rally racing event on open roads in Mexico similar to the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio in Italy. Running for five consecutive years from 1950 to 1954, i ...

were part of an international race calendar, accompanied by the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

and 24 Hours of Spa, with the inaugural race being the 12 Hours of Sebring in the United States. The Championship was for manufacturers, and works teams such as

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 ...

Lancia Lancia () is an Italian car manufacturer and a subsidiary of FCA Italy S.p.A., which is currently a Stellantis division. The present legal entity of Lancia was formed in January 2007 when its corporate parent reorganised its businesses, but it ...

Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is an English manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated with ...

and

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...

leading the way, but the majority of the fields were made up of amateur or gentlemen drivers, often up against professional racing drivers with experience in

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

. Sometimes, even the Drivers World Champion joined in. Entries were divided into classes based on engine displacement. Scuderia Ferrari were a dominant force in 1953, winning three of the seven races.

Season results

Results

Championship

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.

The cars

The following models contributed to the net championship point scores of their respective manufacturers. *

Ferrari 340 MM :''See also the 340 F1, a Formula One racer, and 340 America, a GT car'' The Ferrari 340 Mexico was a Ferrari sports racing car which was intended for the 1952 Carrera Panamericana. It used 4.1 L '' Lampredi'' V12 engine producing around at 6 ...

Ferrari 375 MM :''See Ferrari 375 F1 for the 375 used in Formula 1 racing, and 375 America, a GT car'' The Ferrari 375 MM, was a sports racing car produced by Ferrari in 1953 up to 1955 for the road cars. It was named "375" for the unitary displacement of one ...

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 ...

Aston Martin DB3 :''See Aston Martin DB Mark III for the road car often called "DB3"'' The Aston Martin DB3 and later DB3S were Sports car racing, sports racing cars built in the 1950s. Although they used some Aston Martin DB2, DB2 parts, they were quite differe ...

Aston Martin DB3S The Aston Martin DB3S is a sports racing car that was built by Aston Martin. Following the failure of the heavy and uncompetitive Aston Martin DB3 designed by Eberan Eberhorst; William Watson, employed as Eberhorst's assistant, presented an alter ...

* Lancia D20 &

Lancia D24 The Lancia D24 was a sports racing car introduced by Lancia in 1953, and raced in the 1953 and 1954 seasons. It kept the overall layout of its predecessor the D23—that is a multi-tubular frame chassis, double wishbones/ De Dion suspension, tr ...

* Cunningham C-4R &

Cunningham C-5R The Cunningham C-5R was a sports car developed in 1953 for the Briggs Cunningham racing team. Design The C-5R was the successor to the C-4R and was built for use in the 1953 24 Hours of Le Mans. The open sports car had a Chrysler V8 engine, that ...

* Alfa Romeo 6C 3000 CM * Borgward Hansa 1500 RS * DB Panhard HBR *

Porsche 550 The Porsche 550 is a racing sports car produced by Porsche from 1953 until 1956. In that time only 90 Porsche 550s were produced, and they quickly established dominance in the 1.1- and 1.5- liter classes. The Porsche 550 is a mid-engine car with ...

* OSCA MT4 * Veritas Comet RS * Talbot Lago T26 GS *

Maserati A6GCS Maserati A6 were a series of grand tourers, racing sports cars and single seaters made by Maserati of Italy between 1947 and 1956. They were named for Alfieri Maserati (one of the Maserati brothers, founders of Maserati) and for their straight-si ...

* Gordini T24S * Frazer Nash Le Mans Mark II

References

External links

1953 World Sports Car Championship race results at www.classicscars.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:1953 World Sportscar Championship Season World Sportscar Championship seasons

Sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...