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.

1963 European Touring Car Challenge
Previous: 1962 Next: 1964

Although the challenge was a success, the point scoring systems used wasn’t. The first challenge left us with five drivers sharing the top position, with Peter Nöcker, being declared the champion. This was because there was 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, unfortunately not many of them 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

Champion: Peter Nöcker

Runner Up: Wolf-Dieter Mantzel

[1][2]

Results
Date Round Circuit/Hillclimb Classes Winning driver(s) Winning team Winning car
16/06 Rd. 1 Nürburgring Class 1-9 Peter Lindner
Peter Nöcker		 Peter Lindner Racing Jaguar 3.8 Litre Mark 2
23/06 Rd. 2 Mont Ventoux Class 2-9 Leo Cella Driver Lancia Flavia Coupé
06/07 Rd. 3 Brands Hatch Class 4-9 Roy Salvadori
Denny Hulme		 Tommy Atkins Jaguar 3.8 Litre Mark 2
13/07 Rd. 4 Mallory Park Class 2-3 Björn Rothstein Driver Saab 96 Sport
25/08 Rd. 5 Zolder Class 2-3 Gösta Karlsson Gösta Karlsson Saab 96 Sport
Class 4-5 Rob Slotemaker Downton Engineering Austin Mini Cooper S
Class 6-9 Peter Nöcker Jaguar 3.8 Litre Mark 2
01/09 Rd. 6 Zandvoort Class 1-3 Gösta Karlsson Driver Saab 96 Sport
Class 4-6 Rob Slotemaker Downton Engineering Austin Mini Cooper S
Class 7-9 John Sparrow John Sparrow Jaguar 3.8 Litre Mark 2
15/09 Rd. 7 Timmelsjoch Class 2-9 Peter Nöcker Jaguar 3.8 Litre Mark 2
22/09 Rd. 8 Népliget Park, Budapest Class 2-9 Luigi Cabella
Carlo Facetti		 HF Squadra Corse Lancia Flaminia
Source:[1][2]

Table
Place Driver Car Total
1 Peter Nöcker Jaguar 3.8 Litre Mark 2 60
2 Wolf-Dieter Mantzel DKW F12 60
3 Hubert Hahne BMW 700 60
4 Rob Slotemaker Austin Mini Cooper S
BMW 700		 60
5 Tom Trana Volvo 122S 60
6 Gösta Karlsson Saab 96 Sport 58
7 Björn Rothstein Saab 96 Sport 56
8= Luigi Cabella Lancia Flaminia 54
Leo Cella Lancia Flaminia
Jochen Neerpasch Volvo 122S
Jürgen Grähser BMW 700
John Aley Austin Mini Cooper S
Morris Mini 850
13 Ernst Furtmayr Alfa Romeo Giulia TI 52
14 John Thurston Morris Mini Cooper S
DKW Junior de Luxe
Morris Mini 850		 47
15 Hans Braun NSU Sport Prinz 46
16 Loek Nerden Austin Mini Cooper 43
17 Bill Blydenstein Vauxhall VX4/90 41
18 Leo Hans von Veh 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
  1. "European Touring Car championship - 1963". Touringcarracing.net. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  2. "European Touring Car Championship - Championships". Racing Sports Cars. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
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