1963 European Touring Car Challenge
The 1963 European Touring Car Challenge was the inaugural season of what would become the European Touring Car Championship. On 16 June 1963, the first race was staged on the classic Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit. After a hillclimb event at Mont Ventoux, the challenge headed to England for two races, as classes were divided between events at Brands Hatch and Mallory Park. Round five was hosted by the brand new Zolder circuit, then the challenge crossed the border into the Netherlands and on to Zandvoort. Another hillclimb at the Timmelsjoch for round seven, and the final would be held behind the Iron Curtain, in Hungary.
Although the challenge was a success, the point-scoring systems used weren't. The first challenge left us with five drivers sharing the top position, with Peter Nöcker, being declared the champion. This was because there were up to nine classes, all having their own separate race winners. This point system would remain right up to 1988 when the ETCC stopped.
The challenge had a lot of competitive cars, but not many of them were in the same class. On the other hand, speed differences were not that large, so a Mini was sometimes able to outpace many bigger cars.
European Touring Car Challenge
[edit]Champion: Peter Nöcker
Runner Up: Wolf-Dieter Mantzel
Results
[edit]Date | Round | Circuit/Hillclimb | Classes | Winning driver(s) | Winning team | Winning car |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
16/06 | Rd. 1 | ![]() | Class 1-9 | ![]() ![]() | Peter Lindner Racing | Jaguar 3.8 Litre Mark 2 |
23/06 | Rd. 2 | ![]() | Class 2-9 | ![]() | Driver | Lancia Flavia Coupé |
06/07 | Rd. 3 | ![]() | Class 4-9 | ![]() ![]() | Tommy Atkins | Jaguar 3.8 Litre Mark 2 |
13/07 | Rd. 4 | ![]() | Class 2-3 | ![]() | Driver | Saab 96 Sport |
25/08 | Rd. 5 | ![]() | Class 2-3 | ![]() | Gösta Karlsson | Saab 96 Sport |
Class 4-5 | ![]() | Downton Engineering | Austin Mini Cooper S | |||
Class 6-9 | ![]() | Jaguar 3.8 Litre Mark 2 | ||||
01/09 | Rd. 6 | ![]() | Class 1-3 | ![]() | Driver | Saab 96 Sport |
Class 4-6 | ![]() | Downton Engineering | Austin Mini Cooper S | |||
Class 7-9 | ![]() | John Sparrow | Jaguar 3.8 Litre Mark 2 | |||
15/09 | Rd. 7 | ![]() | Class 2-9 | ![]() | Jaguar 3.8 Litre Mark 2 | |
22/09 | Rd. 8 | ![]() | Class 2-9 | ![]() ![]() | HF Squadra Corse | Lancia Flaminia |
Source:[1][2] |
Table
[edit]Place | Driver | Car | Total |
---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | Jaguar 3.8 Litre Mark 2 | 60 |
2 | ![]() | DKW F12 | 60 |
3 | ![]() | BMW 700 | 60 |
4 | ![]() | Austin Mini Cooper S BMW 700 | 60 |
5 | ![]() | Volvo 122S | 60 |
6 | ![]() | Saab 96 Sport | 58 |
7 | ![]() | Saab 96 Sport | 56 |
8= | ![]() | Lancia Flaminia | 54 |
![]() | Lancia Flaminia | ||
![]() | Volvo 122S | ||
![]() | BMW 700 | ||
![]() | Austin Mini Cooper S Morris Mini 850 | ||
13 | ![]() | Alfa Romeo Giulia TI | 52 |
14 | ![]() | Morris Mini Cooper S DKW Junior de Luxe Morris Mini 850 | 47 |
15 | ![]() | NSU Sport Prinz | 46 |
16 | ![]() | Austin Mini Cooper | 43 |
17 | ![]() | Vauxhall VX4/90 | 41 |
18 | ![]() | BMW 700 | 40 |
etc. | |||
Source:[1] |
The first five drivers finished level on points; the overall result of the Nürburgring was decisive... another contemporary report mentions "the ones with the most victories, Nöcker, Mantzel and Hahne were classified in the order of who had the biggest winner margin over second in class".
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "European Touring Car championship - 1963". Touringcarracing.net. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
- ^ a b "European Touring Car Championship - Championships". Racing Sports Cars. Retrieved 13 January 2014.