6) Sears and Sopwith stage shootout for maiden crown
The BTCC’s initiatory in 1958 was made memorable by its machinery, its competitors and its competition, the first campaign needing a tie-breaker to decide an overall champion due to the multiple class system that ran up to 1991.
Tommy Sopwith dominated the top class in his beautiful and venomous Jaguar Mk2, but tied on points at the end of the season with Jack Sears who had completed a similarly imperious job in his own class driving an Austin A105.
After ludicrous methods such as a coin toss were cast aside by Sopwith and Sears for settling the tie, series boss Marcus Chambers and both drivers agreed on two five-lap sprints decided on aggregrate around a sodden Brands Hatch circuit. This was staged between just the two title contenders in a pair of Lotus Riley 1.5 machines, with drivers switching cars in between after one was found to be more powerful beforehand.
In the pre-health and safety era, Sears – wearing a shirt and tie combined with a pair of slacks to go with his crash helmet and lack of seat belts – stayed just two seconds behind Sopwith heading onto part two of the contest.
The second phase was dominated by Sears in the ugly conditions, his gap of over four seconds enough to see him leave Brands Hatch as the 1958 champion.
