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First-ever BTCC champion Jack Sears passes away

Jack Sears, the first man to win the British Touring Car Championship title, has died at the age of 86.

1958 BTCC champion Jack Sears with the 4 champions set to compete in 2013

1958 BTCC champion Jack Sears with the 4 champions set to compete in 2013

Pat Cranham

‘Gentleman Jack’, as he became fondly known, clinched the inaugural title in the most dramatic of fashions in 1958, when a year-long fight for honours came down to a two-man shootout at Brands Hatch.

Sears, driving an Austin 105 in Class C of what was then a multi-class series, ended up level on points at the conclusion of the season with Tommy Sopwith, who topped Class D at the wheel of his Jaguar 3.4 Litre.

With a coin toss to determine the title having been ruled out, the pair would instead do battle in two five lap sprints at the wheel of identical Riley 1.5s to decide who would become the first driver to lift what was then the British Saloon Car Championship crown.

In an event that would provide an indication of how tightly-fought the series would become in the years to come, it would be a matter of mere seconds that would decide if Sears or Sopwith were crowned.

“We always suspected that we could end up equal on points, Tommy Sopwith and myself,” Sears recalled in 2013. “He was in one of the bigger classes with his Jaguar, and I was in the class below with the 2.6 litre Austin 105.

“Tommy was winning his class all the time and I was winning mine and in those days you dropped your two worst results. We ended up equal and the organisers of the championship, the BRSCC, said they’d spin a coin to decide the champion and both Tommy and I said 'No you won’t!'

“We’d raced our hearts out all year and told them that to decide the championship on the toss of a coin would be ridiculous, and that they’d have to think of something else.

“They went away and had a think, and spoke to Marcus Chambers who was the competition manager of BMC – British Motor Corporation – at the time. He’d got two Riley 1.5s that he said he would lend for a shootout if we did have a dead heat after the final round. We tried each car out the day before and, predictably, one car was quicker than the other. So there was a spin of the coin to decide who would drive the faster car first in the shootout.

“Tommy drove it in the first five lap race and then we swapped cars in the pouring rain on the start line for the second race. He won the first race and I won the second so it was down to how much by. They added the race times together and I ended up winning the championship by 1.6 seconds.”

Further success

Sears, who would drive the Austin that carried him to his maiden title to the circuit before a race weekend and then back home again, went on to secure a second class title in the series in 1962 at the wheel of a MkII Jaguar, before taking overall honours again in 1963.

Against a field that included the likes of Graham Hill, Jim Clark and Paddy Hopkirk, Sears clinched the title by two points ahead of John Whitmore – ensuring that he not only had the honour of becoming the inaugural champion, but also of becoming the first driver to lift the title twice.

Sears would go on to have a successful career in sportscars, which included being the man at the wheel of a now infamous test run carried out by AC Cars ahead of the 1964 Le Mans 24 Hours, when he took the marque’s Cobra Coupé GT up to 185mph on a test carried out on the M1 motorway.

It was often believed, erroneously, that that incident played a part in the motorway speed limit being set at 70mph a few years later.

Career-ending Lotus accident

Sears' racing career would be ended at 35 after an accident whilst testing a Lotus 40 at Silverstone left him severely injured and out of action for many months. Having retired from racing, he would go on to become one of the founders of the London-Sydney Marathon and spent time as president of the BRDC.

Son David would launch his own successful motorsport career – winning championship titles and finishing on the podium at Le Mans before running his own eponymous team.

Sears Sr’s place in BTCC history was further recognised in 2013 with the creation of the Jack Sears Trophy, which is now handed out annually to the best performing rookie on the grid.

Sears will be honoured with a minute’s silence during next weekend’s seventh meeting of the 2016 season at Knockhill.

"It is with great regret and genuine sadness to learn of Jack’s death," series director Alan Gow said. "I really liked Jack a lot...not only as an extremely talented and inspirational racing driver, but more importantly as a hugely popular, humble and impressive human being.

"Jack loved this championship and continued to play an active part in the BTCC right up until his passing.

"He will be sorely missed by everyone involved in the BTCC, but our immediate thoughts are with his family and closest friends at this time." 

Matt Salisbury/Touring Car Times

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