Video: Remembering Jack Sears with awesome touring car action
News yesterday that racing hero and two-time British Saloon Car champion Jack Sears had lost his battle with cancer at the age of 86 saddened the far-reaching motorsport family, with competitors and spectators – of all generations – united in their appreciation of his qualities on and off the track.
Loved by all who watched him race during the 1950s and ’60s, as well as by those who have had to rely on the legendary stories, his ‘Gentleman Jack’ sobriquet was as heartfelt as it was accurate.
Sears was a popular figure among the Goodwood family, too. He had his first race – in a BARC Members’ Meeting – at the Motor Circuit in an MG TC, having whetted his competitive appetite in rallies in the early 1950s.
1960 Fordwater Trophy. 18th April 1960. Jack Sears (Jaguar Mk2 3.8), courtesy of LAT.
Two years ago, Goodwood paid tribute to the man who lifted the inaugural BSCC crown in 1958 after a shoot-out in identical Riley 1.5s with fellow ace Tommy Sopwith and took a second title in a thundering Ford Galaxie five years later, by naming a race at the first of the revived Members’ Meetings in his honour.
The Sears Trophy for production saloons from 1959 to 1963 was a popular addition to the 72nd Members’ Meeting bill in 2014, with Minis scrapping with Lotus Cortinas in a typical, wheel-wagging contest the like of which Sears himself would have relished.
Victory went to Minimeister Nick Swift and these video highlights show how he did it.
Jack Sears
Sears Trophy
72MM
