Jack Sears

British driver (1930–2016)

British Saloon Car Championship
BSCC - Class C
BSCC - Class D
BSCC - Class B

Jack Sears (16 February 1930 – 6 August 2016) was a British race and rally driver, and was one of the principal organisers of the 1968 London-Sydney Marathon.

Biography

Sears was popularly known as "Gentleman Jack". His son David is also involved in motorsport.

He won the inaugural British Saloon Car Championship in 1958, driving an Austin Westminster. After finishing on joint maximum points with Tommy Sopwith, it was initially suggested the champion would be decided by the toss of a coin. The idea was very unpopular with both drivers and at the final meeting at Brands Hatch, with a draw being a likely possibility, two identical looking Marcus Chambers-owned Riley One-Point-Five works rally cars were brought along for a five lap shoot-out. To make the race fair, they raced five laps, switched cars, then raced five laps again with the driver who had the quickest combined time being crowned champion. In pouring rain, Sears became the first ever champion by 1.6 seconds.^[1]

He regained the title in 1963, driving a variety of cars including a Ford Cortina GT, a seven-litre Ford Galaxie and a Lotus Cortina, which was used for the final two races.^[2] Sears also co-drove a Ferrari 330 LMB with Mike Salmon to a fifth place in the 1963 Le Mans 24 Hours, the best result in the abbreviated racing history of the LMB.^[3]

Death

Sears died on 6 August 2016 from lung cancer.^[4] He had previously survived a heart attack.

Racing record

Complete British Saloon Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Pts	Class
1958	Jack Sears	Austin A105	C	BRH 1†	BRH 4‡	MAL 3†	BRH 3†	BRH 3†	CRY	BRH 3	BRH 2	BRH 2			1st	48	1st
1959	Equipe Endeavour	Jaguar 3.4-Litre	D	GOO	AIN	SIL	GOO	SNE 2	BRH	BRH 1†					NC	0	NC
1960	Equipe Endeavour	Jaguar Mk II 3.8		BRH	SNE	MAL	OUL	SNE 1*	BRH 2*	BRH 1*	BRH				NC*	0*
1961	Equipe Endeavour	Jaguar Mk II 3.8	D	SNE Ret	GOO	AIN 2	SIL	CRY Ret	SIL	BRH 3	OUL	SNE ?			16th	12	6th
1962	Equipe Endeavour	Jaguar Mk II 3.8	D	SNE 2	GOO 3	AIN 4	SIL 3	CRY 2	AIN 1	BRH 2	OUL 2				3rd	38	1st
1963	John Willment Automobiles	Ford Cortina GT	B	SNE	OUL 4	GOO 7	AIN 4					BRH 3			1st	71	1st
		Ford Cortina Lotus	B										OUL 3	SNE 4			1st
		Ford Galaxie	D					SIL 1	CRY 1†	SIL 1	BRH Ret						3rd
1964	John Willment Automobiles	Ford Galaxie	D	SNE Ret	GOO 1	OUL Ret	AIN 3	SIL 1	CRY Ret†	BRH 1	OUL Ret				8th	22	3rd
1965	Team Lotus	Ford Cortina Lotus	C	BRH Ret	OUL Ret	SNE 6	GOO 2	SIL 1	CRY 3†	BRH 3	OUL 2				4th	38	1st
Source:^[5]

† Events with 2 races staged for the different classes.

‡ Event with 3 races staged for the different classes.

Car over 1000cc - Not eligible for points.

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1960	J.G. Sears	Peter Riley	Austin-Healey 3000	GT3.0	89	DNF	DNF
1963	Maranello Concessionaires Ltd.	Mike Salmon	Ferrari 330 LMB	P +3.0	314	5th	1st
1964	AC Cars Ltd.	Peter Bolton	AC Cobra Coupé	GT5.0	77	DNF	DNF
1965	AC Cars Ltd.	Dick Thompson	AC Cobra Daytona Coupé	GT5.0	304	8th	1st

References

^ "First-ever BTCC champion Jack Sears passes away". www.motorsport.com. 7 August 2016. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
^ 1963 British Saloon Car Championship Archived 15 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on 18 December 2006.
^ Eaton, Godfrey (1980), Ferrari: The Sports/Racing and Road Cars, Skokie, IL: Publications International, p. 93, ISBN 0-517-381982
^ Lawrence, Paul (8 August 2016). "Obituary: Jack Sears". motorsportmagazine.com. Motor Sport Magazine. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
^ de Jong, Frank. "British Saloon Car Championship". History of Touring Car Racing 1952-1993. Retrieved 26 September 2022.

External links

Profile of Jack Sears, HistoricRacing.com
Account of the route of the London-Sydney Marathon, written by Jack Sears who reconnoitred the event
BSCC Results

Sporting positions
Preceded by none	British Saloon Car Champion 1958	Succeeded by Jeff Uren
Preceded by John Love	British Saloon Car Champion 1963	Succeeded by Jim Clark