1959 RAC Tourist Trophy

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.{{cite web| url = http://www.racingsportscars.com/entry/Goodwood-1959-09-05.html| title = Tourist Trophy 1959 - Entry List - Racing Sports Cars}} 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.{{cite web| url = http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/june-2009/48/1959-rac-tourist-trophy-goodward| title = 1959 RAC Tourist Trophy, Goodwood June 2009 - Motor Sport Magazine}} The third manufacturer in the title race, Porsche, also brought three cars, led by Jo Bonnier and Wolfgang von Trips.

The Aston Martin DBR1/300 of Stirling Moss took pole position, averaging a speed of 94.737 mph around the 2.4 mile circuit.{{cite web| url = http://www.racingsportscars.com/race/Goodwood-1959-09-05.html| title = Tourist Trophy 1959 - Racing Sports Cars}}

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, {{ISBN|978 0 7110 3104 3}}, 2005) but Bonnier/von Trips were second for Porsche from Gendebien/Hill/Brooks/Cliff Allison.{{cite web| url = https://www.racingsportscars.com/results/Goodwood-1959-09-05.html| title = Reference at www.racingsportscars.com}}

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.{{cite web| url = http://www.teamdan.com/archive/wsc/1959/59tt.html| title = Reference at www.teamdan.com| access-date = 2016-03-13| archive-date = 2016-03-09| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160309134131/http://www.teamdan.com/archive/wsc/1959/59tt.html| url-status = dead}}

Class Winners are in Bold text.

{{cite web| url = http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/Goodwood-1959-09-05.html| title = Tourist Trophy 1959 - Photo Gallery - Racing Sports Cars}}

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

{{cite web| url = http://www.racingsportscars.com/race/Goodwood-1958-09-13.html| title = Tourist Trophy 1958 - Racing Sports Cars}}

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.

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{{Sportscar Race Report

| Year_of_race = 1959

| Sportscar_Series = World Sportscar Championship

| Previous_race_in_season = 24 Hours of Le Mans

| Next_race_in_season = 1960 1000 km Buenos Aires

}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:1959 RAC Tourist Trophy}}

RAC

Category:RAC Tourist Trophy

RAC