1963 was an interesting year if only because of the remarkable changes that took place. Jaguar domination of the over 3-litre class was completely broken by the spectacular and extraordinarily fast 7-litre Ford Galaxies and Fords also took the honours below 2-litres, initially with the 1500 Cortina GTs and later with the twin cam 1600 car developed by Lotus.
The 1,000 cc class had been dropped by most British organisers in favour of the 1,300 cc limit. This was probably done in an effort to make the class more competitive, for the ubiquitous Mini in 997 cc Cooper form had previously had the small car class completely to itself. Despite this move by the organisers, the 1,300 cc class was still monopolised by Mini-Coopers and when the Mini-Cooper S was announced in May, this class lost much chance of competition from other makes. It should be stated however, that in the closing stages Mike Young in his Ford Anglia Super 1200 was going very quickly indeed and kept the works Coopers on their toes.
Jack Sears won the B.R.S.C.C. Saloon Car Championship for Willment and Fords, driving a variety of cars including a Galaxie and a Lotus Cortina as well as his initial mount, a 1500 Cortina GT. The championship was closely contested by Sir John Whitmore driving for the works Cooper team, who was only 2 points behind.
The races: |
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