The 1955 RAC Tourist Trophy took place on 17 September, on the roads around Dundrod, (County Antrim, Northern Ireland). It was also the fifth round of the F.I.A. World Sports Car Championship, and it was the first championship race following the tragedy at Le Mans. It was also the Golden Jubilee year for the RAC Tourist Trophy. Going into the race, Ferrari were leading the Manufacturers Championship by four points from Jaguar, and victory for the Italian marque would have put them in a strong position to win a third successive title.
Report
Entry
A grand total of 64 racing cars were registered for this event, of which 55 arrived for practice and qualifying. Scuderia Ferrari entered a pair of Ferrari 857 Monzas for regulars Eugenio Castellotti and Piero Taruffi, and Umberto Maglioli and Maurice Trintignant, alongside a 750 Monza for the partnership of Olivier Gendebien and Masten Gregory. Their closest championship rivals, Jaguar, brought just one D-Type to Northern Ireland for Mike Hawthorn and Desmond Titterington. Hoping to keep the championship alive, Officine Alfieri Maserati sent two of their 300S and an A6GCS over. Amongst their line-up were Jean Behra and Luigi Musso.
From West Germany, Daimler-Benz AG entered three of their Mercedes-Benz 300SLRs to tackle the 7.41 mile circuit and the championships chances, which, after having skipped the first two rounds, having withdrawn at Le Mans, and cancellation of the 1000km Nürburgring, depended on winning the remaining two races 1-2. The cars were to be driven by 5 of the 6 drivers that were at Le Mans, but in new pairs: Juan Manuel Fangio and Karl Kling, Stirling Moss and John Fitch, and André Simon joined by team newcomer Wolfgang von Trips replacing the killed Levegh. Mercedes also brought two more 300 SLR as T-Cars (test cars or backup or spare cars): a regular open top with No. T2, and T1 on a "Uhlenhaut Coupe" Gullwing. This car version, originally built in 1954, was intended as an option for the 1956 season which Mercedes never competed. Only two Uhlenhaut Coupes were made, one was sold in 2022 for 135 Million Euro, as the world's most expensive car.
With works entries also from the likes of Aston Martin and Porsche, a total of fifteen manufacturers were represented in the field.
Qualifying
In qualifying, the number 10 Mercedes-Benz of Moss and Fitch emerged with the fastest lap. Next was the Hawthorn/Titterington Jaguar. A Ferrari was in third place, driven by Gendebien and Gregory, followed by the Mercedes of Fangio/Kling. The third Mercedes, of von Trips and Simon, would start the race from seventh position.
Race
Following an accident in practice, the Ferrari 857 Monza of Gendebien and Gregory did not start.
The race was held over 84 laps of the 7.416 miles Dundrod Circuit, giving a distance of 622.936 miles (1002.518 km). The race started in warm, dry conditions, but it would not remain dry. Despite this, the German marque would finish in the first three places.http://www.teamdan.com/archive/wsc/1995/55tt.html
As the flag dropped, it was Moss who led the incredible array of cars around the County Antrim countryside. As there was an obvious threat of rain, this motivated the drivers to push a little harder at the beginning of the race than normal for a seven-hour event. But with so many cars, on such a tight and dangerous circuit, racing at high speed, on par with Le Mans, the TT was balancing between safety and catastrophic danger, with no margin for error. Mercedes driver John Fitch had already publicly criticized the safety of the Dundrod circuit.
While everyone was looking forward to a Mercedes/Jaguar duel, the Tourist Trophy was marred by tragedy, within the first few laps of the race. The Cooper-Climax T39 of Jim Mayers, who was sharing the car with Jack Brabham, hit a concrete pillar and the car immediately burst into a ball of flame. Mayers was killed instantly. The explosion caught out the approaching William Smith, at the wheel of a Connaught AL/SR, who plowed straight into Mayers and perished just a little while later. The deaths of two more drivers shortly after the horrific events previously at Le Mans only added to the numbness for many.
Meanwhile, Moss was strong right from the start, as was Hawthorn. Hawthorn pushed his Jaguar D-Type as hard as he had when he won at Le Mans. He set the fastest lap of the race, averaging a speed of nearly 95 mph.http://www.teamdan.com/archive/wsc/1995/55tt.html
With a lead of one and a half minutes, the right rear tyre on Moss's 300 SLR began to throw its tread and tore through the rear-end bodywork. Incredibly, Moss managed to bring the car back to the pits, even with the damaged bodywork and shredded tyre. The mechanics set to work changing the wheel and pulling away some of the dangling bodywork. Having lost a lot of time, Moss and his co-driver Fitch drove flat-out in an effort to catch up with Hawthorn who was now in the lead.
As the rain began to fall, the accidents kept on coming. In the first two laps, a total of nine cars had been eliminated due to accidents, including the two which were fatal, and then on lap 35, Richard Manwaring lost control of his Elva-Climax Mk I and crashed off the track and a third driver lost his life. It was clear that the cars of that day were out-pacing the roads upon which they were competing. Incredibly dangerous, the combination of fast cars and narrow lanes still made for some entertaining action, and, despite the deaths, the crowd remained, watching Hawthorn and Titterington trying to hold off Moss and Fitch.
Once the repairs had been made to the number 10 300SLR, Moss and Fitch managed to bring the car up to second place overall behind the sole works Jaguar D-Type. Hawthorn and Titterington managed to hold off Mercedes, turning some truly fast laps around the Dundrod circuit.
With the finish in sight, the Jaguar remained in the lead ahead of the Mercedes, and despite everything that Moss and Fitch could do, the Jaguar stayed out of reach. But, all of a sudden, Hawthorn came to a screeching halt, just a few miles from the finish line. The Jaguar's engine had seized, leaving the Coventry marque with no hope of winning the race, or even finishing. Although slowed by the damage and weather conditions, Moss and Fitch had been unable to close down the gap enough to be able to challenge for the lead, but Mercedes were "gifted" the race.
As a result, car number 10 (Daimler-Benz AG), took an impressive victory, winning in a time of 7hrs 03:11 mins., averaging a speed of 88.321 mph. The retirement of the Jaguar led to Mercedes being able to take a sweep of the top three positions. Second place went to Fangio, for the second year in a row, and Kling, one lap down. The podium was complete by the other 300SLR, that of von Trips and Simon, two laps adrift. Meanwhile, the Aston Martin DB3S of Peter Walker and Dennis Poore was the best of the English entrants, finishing in fourth place, with the best of the works-Maserati further behind in fifth.
One of the outstanding drives of the race came from Peter Collins, whose Aston Martin DB3S was left stranded at the start due to a seized starter motor. Once the mechanics got the engine started, a furious Collins set off after the pack. After what must have been an astonishing first lap, he had climbed up to 14th. By lap 31, Collins had caught and passed Fangio for third before handing the car over to Tony Brooks, who was only able to complete a few laps before the Aston's engine expired.
Official Classification
Class Winners are in Bold text.
Pos No ClassDriver Entrant Chassis Laps Reason Out 1st 10 S3.0 Stirling Moss John Fitch Daimler-Benz AG Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR 7hr 03:11, 84 2nd 9 S3.0 Juan Manuel Fangio Karl Kling Daimler-Benz AG Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR 83 3rd 11 S3.0 Wolfgang von Trips André Simon Daimler-Benz AG Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR 82 DNF 1 S5.0 Mike Hawthorn Desmond Titterington Jaguar Cars Ltd. Jaguar D-Type 81 Engine 4th 18 S3.0 Peter Walker Dennis Poore Aston Martin Ltd. Aston Martin DB3S 81 5th 15 S3.0 Luigi Musso Franco Bordoni Officine Alfieri Maserati Maserati 300S 79 6th 4 S3.0 Eugenio Castellotti Piero Taruffi Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 875 Monza 79 7th 17 S3.0 Reg Parnell Roy Salvadori Aston Martin Ltd. Aston Martin DB3S 78 8th 5 S3.0 Umberto Maglioli Maurice Trintignant Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 875 Monza 79 9th 28 S1.5 Carroll Shelby Masten Gregory Huschke von Hanstein Porsche 550 Spyder 75 10th 41 S1.1 Mike MacDowel Ivor Bueb Cooper Car Co. Cooper-Climax T39 74 11th 46 S1.1 Colin Chapman Cliff Allison Lotus Cars Ltd. Lotus-Climax Mark IX 74 12th 29 S1.5 Helmut Glöckler Wolfgang Seidel Porsche KG Porsche 550 Spyder 74 13th 7 S3.0 Jacques Swaters Johnny Claes Equipe Nationale Belge Ferrari 750 Monza 73 14th 19 S3.0 Raymond Flower Mike Llewellyn Raymond Flower Austin-Healy 100S 71 15th 47 S1.1 Dick Steed Peter Scott-Russell Richard Steed Lotus-Climax Mark IX 71 16th 30 S1.5 Richard von Frankenberg Herbert Linge Porsche KG Porsche 550 Spyder 70 17th 50 S750 Paul Armagnac Gérard Laureau Ecurie Jeudy-Bonnet D.B. HBR Panhard 70 18th 56 S2.0 André Loëns Jo Bonnier André Loëns Maserati A6GCS 69 19th 49 S750 Louis Cornet Claude Storez Ecurie Jeudy-Bonnet D.B. HBR Panhard 69 20th 35 S1.5 Jack Fairman Peter Wilson MG Car Co. MG EX182 69 21st 23 S2.0 Wilbert Todd Ian Titterington Jasper B. Johnstone Triumph TR2 68 22nd 21 S2.0 Bob Dickson W. Ken Richardon Robert Dickson Triumph TR2 Prototype 67 23rd 26 S2.0 John Maurice Tew Joe Kelly J. Maurice Tew Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica 66 24th 51 S750 Robert Mougin Guillaume Mercader Ecurie Jeudy-Bonnet D.B. HBR Panhard 66 25th 27 S1.5 John Fisher Ronnie Adams Kieft Cars Ltd. Kieft-Bristol 66 26th 37 S1.5 Berwyn Baxter Max Trimble Kieft Cars Ltd. Kieft-BMC 65 DNF 14 S3.0 Jean Behra Luigi Musso Officine Alfieri Maserati Maserati 300S 63 Accident NC 38 S1.5 John Coombs Ian Burgess Lotus Cars Ltd. Lotus-Connaught Mark VIII 55 DNF 48 S1.1 Cecil Vard Ken Rudd Automobiles Fraser Nash Ltd. DKW Sonderklasse 52 Engine DNF 22 S2.0 Brian McCaldin Charles Eyre-Maunsell Jasper B. Johnstone Triumph TR2 48 Unknown DNF 3 S5.0 Peter Whitehead Graham Whitehead Peter Whitehead Cooper-Jaguar T38 43 Chassis DNF 16 S3.0 Peter Collins Tony Brooks Aston Martin Ltd. Aston Martin DB3S 43 Con-rod bolt/Oil leak DISQ 12 S3.0 Henri de Barry Ecurie Côte d'Azure Mercedes-Benz 300 SL 39 Poor driving/too slow DNF 44 S1.1 Otway Plunkett Alan Rippon Kieft Cars Ltd. Kieft-Climax 1100 38 Accident DNF 45 S1.1 Robbie MacKenzie-Low Richard Mainwaring Elva Elva-Climax Mk. I 34 Fatal accident(Mainwaring) DNF 24 S2.0 Luigi Bellucci Cecil Vard Officine Alfieri Maserati Maserati A6GCS 31 Engine DNF 55 S750 René Philippe Faure Philippe Duval Automobili Stanguellini Stanguellini 750 Sport 29 Unknown DNF 34 S1.5 Ron Flockhard John Lockett MG Car Co. MG EX182 23 Engine DNF 54 S750 Pierre Chancel René Chancel Pierre Chancel Panhard X88 22 Gearbox DNF 36 S1.5 Ted Lund Dickie Stoop David Brown Aston Martin DB3S 15 Final drive DNF 2 S1.5 Bob Berry Ninian Sanderson Jack Broadhurst Jaguar D-Type 1 Accident DNF 20 S750 Lance Macklin John Dalton John Dalton Austin-Healey 100S 1 Accident DNF 25 S1.5 Ken Wharton Cecil Vard Automobiles Fraser Nash Ltd. Fraser Nash Le Mans Replica Mk.II 1 Accident DNF 31 S1.5 Friedrich Kretschmann Raymond Flower Ernie McMillen Raymond Flower Porsche 550 Spyder 1 Accident DNF 39 S1.5 William Smith John Young Connaught Connaught AL/SR 1 Fatal accident(Smith) DNF 40 S1.5 Peter Jopp Mike Anthony Lotus Cars Ltd. Lotus-Climax Mark IX 1 Accident DNF 42 S1.1 Jim Russell Dennis Taylor Cooper Car Co Cooper-Climax T39 1 Accident DNF 43 S1.1 Jim Mayers Jack Brabham O'Shea Racing Cooper-Climax T39 1 Fatal accident(Mayers) DNS 6 S3.0 Olivier Gendebien Masten Gregory Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 750 Monza Accident in practice DNS 8 S3.0 Jean Lucas Alfonso de Portago Ecurie Bullfrog Ferrari 750 Monza