The 1959 RAC Tourist Trophy was contested on 5 September at the Goodwood Circuit, England. It was the fifth and final round of the 1959 World Sportscar Championship, and was the 24th RAC Tourist Trophy. The race was the title-decider in a three-way contest between Aston Martin, Ferrari and Porsche.

Report

Entry

A grand total 31 racing cars were registered for this event, of which all 31 arrived for practice and qualifying. The entrant for championship leaders, Scuderia Ferrari, entered four cars for the event. Among their squad include Phil Hill, Tony Brooks and Olivier Gendebien, and they were placed in two cars, spreading the Italian marques options. As for David Brown’s Aston Martins, they had actually ruled against racing in the championship due to the cost, but with a chance of the title, entered three DBR1/300s for Stirling Moss/Roy Salvadori, Carroll Shelby/Jack Fairman and Maurice Trintignant/Paul Frère. The third manufacturer in the title race, Porsche, also brought three cars, led by Jo Bonnier and Wolfgang von Trips.

Qualifying

The Aston Martin DBR1/300 of Stirling Moss took pole position, averaging a speed of 94.737 mph around the 2.4 mile circuit.

Race

The race was run in typically Goodwood Indian summer sun, which saw Aston Martin triumph again, retain the Tourist Trophy, when the combination of Shelby/Fairman, joined late in the race by Moss brought their DBR1/300 home in first place,Peter Swinger, “Motor Racing Circuits in England" (Ian Allan Publishing, , 2005) but Bonnier/von Trips were second for Porsche from Gendebien/Hill/Brooks/Cliff Allison.

This does not tell the full story for at Salvadori’s first fuel stop, the car caught fire during refuelling, destroying it along with the pit et al. Graham Whitehead sportingly withdrew his privately entered Aston Martin so that the David Brown’s work cars would have a home, and Moss was transferred to the Shelby/Fairman motor; as a result of this win Aston Martin became the 1959 World Champions.

The winning trio of Sheby/Fairman/Moss won in a time of 6hr 00:46.8 mins., averaging a speed of 89.406 mph. They covered a distance of 537.6 miles. One lap adrift was the Bonnier/van Trips’s Porsche, with the first Ferrari home also one lap behind.

Official Classification

Class Winners are in Bold text.

Pos No ClassDriver Entrant Chassis Laps Reason Out 1st 2 S3.0 Carroll Shelby Stirling Moss Jack Fairman David Brown Aston Martin DBR1/300 6hrs 00:46.8, 224 2nd 22 S2.0 Wolfgang von Trips Jo Bonnier Dr. Porsche Porsche 718 RSK 223Chassis # 718-009 3rd 10 S3.0 Olivier Gendebien Cliff Allison Phil Hill Tony Brooks Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 250 TR 59 223 4th 3 S3.0 Maurice Trintignant Paul Frère David Brown Aston Martin DBR1/300 221 5th 9 S3.0 Tony Brooks Dan Gurney Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 250 TR 59 220 6th 33 S1.1 Peter Ashdown Alan Ross Lola Cars Lola-Climax Mk.1 210 7th 7 S3.0 Ron Flockhart John Bekaert Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar D-Type 209 8th 34 S1.1 Bob Hicks Dick Prior Lola Cars Lola-Climax Mk.1 208 9th 36 S1.1 Mike McKee J. Cedric Brierley Elva Racing Team Elva-Climax Mk V 208 10th 35 S1.1 Bernard Cox Colin Escott Lola Cars Lola-Climax Mk.1 202 11th 31 S1.1 Keith Greene Tony Marsh Team Lotus Lotus-Climax 17 199 12th 23 S2.0 Edgar Barth Umberto Maglioli Dr. Porsche Porsche 718 RSK 197 13th 38 S1.1 John Brown Chris Steele Elva Racing Team Elva-Climax Mk IV 171 14th 39 S1.1 John Campbell-Jones John Horridge John Campbell-Jones Lotus-Climax Eleven 154 DNF 6 S3.0 Jim Clark Masten Gregory Ecurie Ecosse Tojeiro-Jaguar Accident DNF 5 S3.0 John Dalton David Shale John Dalton Aston Martin DB3S Gearbox DNF 29 S2.0 Graham Hill Alan Stacey Team Lotus Lotus-Climax 15 Accident DNF 24 S2.0 Hans Herrmann Chris Bristow Dr. Porsche Porsche 718 RSK Accident DNF 8 S3.0 Peter Blond Jonathan Sieff Taylor & Crawley Lister-Jaguar Oil leak DNF 40 S1.1 Peter Arundell Jack Westcott Cranham Service Station Lotus-Climax Eleven Accident DNF 4 S3.0 Graham Whitehead Henry Taylor A.G. Whitehead Aston Martin DBR1/300 Withdrawn DNF 1 S3.0 Stirling Moss Roy Salvadori David Brown Aston Martin DBR1/300 Pit fire DNF 21 S2.0 Giorgio Scarlatti Ludovico Scarfiotti Scuderia Ferrari Dino 196 S Rear suspension DNF 27 S2.0 Tom Dickson Jim Mackay Dickson Motors Lotus-Climax 15 Gearbox DNF 28 S2.0 David Piper Bruce Halford Dorchester Service Station Lotus-Climax 15 Accident DNF 25 S2.0 Jack Brabham Bruce McLaren John Coombs Racing Organisation Cooper-Climax Monaco T49 Steering arm DNF 32 S1.1 Innes Ireland Jay Chamberlain Team Lotus Lotus-Climax 17 Axle DNF 37 S1.1 Chris Threlfall Tom Threlfall Elva Racing Team Elva-Climax Mk V Camshaft DNF 26 S2.0 Mike Taylor Christopher Martyn Taylor & Crawley Lotus-Climax 15 Head gasket DNF 11 S3.0 Phil Hill Cliff Allison Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 250 TR 59 Rocker

Fastest Lap: Stirling Moss, 1:31.2 secs (94.737 mph)

Class Winners

Class Winners Sports 3000 2 Aston Martin DBR1/300 Shelby / Fairman / Moss Sports 2000 22 Porsche 718 RSK von Trips / Bonnier Sports 1100 33 Lola-Climax Mk.1 Ashdown / Ross

Standings after the race Pos Championship Points 1 Aston Martin 24 2 Ferrari 18 (22) 3 Porsche 18 (21) 4 Maserati 2 5= Alfa Romeo 1 Lola 1

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 3 results out of the 5 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