1954 BRSCC Formula 3 championship: was it 'fixed'?

Right, for those who are interested, if you're sitting comfortably....I'll begin.

Now all this happened back in 1954 when I was only ten years old. Although "Autosport" came into the house "the shenanigans" passed me by as I was too busy cutting up the magazines and sticking the pictures in a scrap book! All this is retrospective research I did for Des Hamill.

The 1954 Autosport F3 Championship, organised by the BRSCC, developed into a hard fought contest between Les Leston in his Cooper and Don Parker in his Kieft. The maroon Kieft could better be described as a Parker-Kieft. This car had been meticulously maintained by Parker and tweaked to such an extent that it performed far better than any other of the same make.

Parker won the 1954 Championship by half a point! Indeed Parker had also won the championship in 1953 and 1952 despite Coopers dominating the class with numbers. The Little Don, a very short, lightweight man was very popular with the spectators and greatly respected by other F3 drivers. He was a hard man to beat and could hold his own on and off the track. To some he was a testy little bugger. At the September International Goodwood meeting he held Stirling Moss off to win the F3 race. Moss, the hero at Monza a few weeks before (he led the Mercedes-Benz team in his Maserati only to retire ), was not amused at being beaten by Parker and muttered about baulking.

However, Parker was declared the 1954 F3 Champion after the last race at Aintree, winning the "Autosport" National Trophy and presumably the winner's cheque, and was rightly hailed in Autosport for his achievement.

A few weeks later ( "Autosport" 5 Nov ) it was announced that the BRSCC would be holding a race meeting at Brands Hatch on Boxing Day, the day after Christmas Day. This was a novel idea which over the years became a most enjoyable meeting for those who attended and for those, like me, who watched it on T.V. The reason for the meeting was simply to swell the coffers of the BRSCC so its Secretary, Ken Gregory, Stirling's manager, stated. All well and good. A number of races were to be run including an F3 race.

Parker was not interested in taking part. At the end of every season he totally dismantled his car and would rebuild it in the Spring incorporaring any mods he might have devised over the winter.

However, it was announced a few weeks later ( "Autosport" 26 Nov) that the Brands Hatch Boxing Day meeting had been granted "National" status. The effect of this was two-fold.

First, it allowed foreigners to participate. The only Continentals involved in meaningful F3 were the Scandinavians and Finns and a group of German drivers who toured Europe in the summer racing at odd races here and there. The chance of any of these people trekking to the UK over the Christmas period to race at Brands Hatch was most unlikely. The UK used to virtually close down over Christmas unlike to-day. Busses, trains and ferries either did not run or the services were drastically cut back. Needless to say no foreigners put in an appearance at Brands in any race.

Secondly the "National" status meant that the F3 race became a round of the "Autosport" Championship for 1954. The Autosport regulations stated that all "National" races held in 1954 were to count towards the Championship. This put Gregor Grant of "Autosport" in an embarrassing situation as you can imagine. What Parker thought is best left to the imagination as well. Over the years Don was tight-lipped about it all but family and friends thought it stank.

At the end of the season Coopers began the development work on their 1955 F3 racer, the Mk 9, and it was considered a flyer. Now, I must pick my words carefully, but Les Leston and John Cooper were both on the board of the BRSCC. It was stated by Gregory that neither had any imput on the decision to apply for the "National" status.

Les Leston appeared on Boxing Day at the wheel of the new works car and Parker was there in his Kieft. He had been forced to rebuild his car and race, in an attempt to beat Leston. As it happened he failed. Parker crashed in practice and got off to a slow start in the race. Nonetheless he caught and passed Leston but during a wheel to wheel battle with the new Cooper he spun off. Although he tigered back to finish fourth Leston was third behind Ivor Bueb and Stuart Lewis-Evans. That was sufficient for Leston to win the Championship and Coopers had finally beaten Don Parker and prevented the "Kieft" hat trick.

The vast majority of people thought that Parker should have retained the championship that he had been awarded and that the Boxing Day race should not have counted for points.

In reply the following was published in small print on the Correspondence page of "Autosport 7 Jan 1955 :-

" Les Leston, his mechanic John Page and John Cooper wish to thank all their friends and wellwishers who have sent letters and telegrams of congratulations on their winning the 1954 Formula 3 Championship, and offer their own congratulations to Don Parker on being runner-up."

The words "wound" and "salt" spring to mind, along with "snide" and some unprintable words.

John

As was pointed out to me, John's interesting post seemed to have been overlooked in it's original thread - so here it is on its tod!

Sorry,this was before I discovered 'Autosport'-don't think I knew where Brands Hatch was,however one point needs clarifying.National status would not have allowed foreigners only non BRSCC members. National Open status was introduced by the FIA with the 1956 season.This allowed non-graded foreigners. Non FIA nationals became National British.

Rob

Yes, you are right, of course. I should have checked when the change to National Open actually happened.

One of the great benefits of TNF is that instant corrections can be made unlike the mistakes in books or even periodicals.

John