"Gentleman" Jack Sears

[khyndart in CA]

Snetterton historian and auto artist, Andrew Kitson, sent me this message regarding the well known English driver,
Jack Sears who would have a go in any car and was always a crowd favorite in his day.


(Ken Hyndman )

[khyndart in CA]

Jack Sears,
"Gentleman Jack". , We sadly learned of the death of Jack Sears on Sunday, at 86-years old he has lost his fight against cancer. His great friend and racing rival Sir John Whitmore said that he should have had the 'Sir' title instead, "Jack was the gentleman I should have been. He had the grace, while I only had the title". Nevertheless Jack Sears was a fierce competitor on the circuit. A good example was the GT race at the 1964 British Grand Prix meeting at Brands Hatch. Jack was in his famous 'Willment' AC Cobra '39PH', but started from the wrong grid position through no fault of his own. He was black flagged for a 'ticking off' from the clerk of the course, what followed had every spectator on their toes. Blasting furiously back out of the pits at the back of the field, Jack had the 'red mist' and chased down every car. Eventually he caught race leader Jackie Stewart in a lightweight E-type Jaguar, the Scotsman stood no chance. Jack was in the form of his life and stormed to a popular victory that sent the crowd wild.

His career had started in 1948 with the Brighton & Hove Motor Club, competing in rallies and driving tests, he also did the Brighton speed trials in his Morgan. Born in Northampton in 1930, his wealthy family moved to a farm estate near Brighton when Jack was 6-years old. Like his father Stanley Sears, he developed a love of farming and automobiles, thanks to his father's impressive car collection. His first circuit race was in his own MG TC at nearby Goodwood in 1950. The following year he attended agricultural college in Cirencester but occasionally raced his father's 1914 TT Sunbeam or the family Cooper-MG, he also did the RAC Rally in his mother's Vauxhall Velox! In 1952 Jack finished college and had a desire to farm in East Anglia. Stanley Sears purchased Uphall Grange in Norfolk for Jack to farm and it became his home until he died.

The move to East Anglia in 1953 coincided with the opening of a new racing circuit two years earlier at Snetterton Heath. Jack became a regular visitor at the airfield circuit and when Oliver Sear ( without the 's' ) formed the Snetterton Motor Racing Club in 1954, Jack Sears was one of the original committee members, holding their meetings around Fred Riches' kitchen table! Jack raced his Jaguar XK120 in those early Snetterton meetings, then in June 1954 he raced the works Lister-MG. Its regular driver Archie Scott Brown had his racing licence temporarily withdrawn by the RAC who thought his disabilities may affect his racing safety. Archie suggested his friend Jack should replace him and Brian Lister agreed. Jack won at Snetterton, impressing all present with his speed.

His reputation grew and he was offered many drives, becoming a works driver for BMC for four years from 1956, taking part in many rallies with Austin Healey sports cars. He did however return to BMC in the early 60s for key International racing events, such as Sebring and his first Le Mans in 1960, sharing the works Austin Healey 3000 with Peter Riley. In 1957 he also started to race his saloon Austin A105, which was used as a shopping car for his wife in the week! This was the car he used in 1958 with BMC support to win the inaugural British Saloon Car Championship, which we now know as the BTCC.

He joined Tommy Sopwith's 'Equipe Endeavour' team to race their immaculate Jaguar 3.4 saloons in a few events in 1959 and decided at the end of the year he was a better racing driver than rally driver. He continued with Sopwith's team driving the saloon Jaguars 3.8s and their Aston Martin DB4GT and Ferrari 250GT SWB until the end of 1962. In 1960 he had two outings in a single seater Formula 2 Cooper, for the Yeoman Credit team. He finished 3rd at Crystal Palace and was running 3rd in the 'Vanwall Trophy' race at Snetterton until the car broke.

1963 gave Jack his second BSCC title, driving John Willment's NASCAR Ford Galaxie and on occasion their Ford Cortina GT. The big American V8 ended the years of Jaguar domination. He also drove at Le Mans in '63 for Maranello Concessionaires with Mike Salmon, finishing 5th and winning their class in their Ferrari 330LMB. That performance netted Jack more Ferrari drives, in the Maranello Concessionaires' 250GTO and John Coombs' similar car. He raced for Willment again in 1964 in the big Galaxie, winning the Snetterton round but also drove their AC Cobra Roadster '39PH' and famously won the last running of the 'Autosport' 3-hour race at Snetterton in Willment's own Cobra Coupe. Earlier in 1964 he had helped develop the new British based AC Cobra Coupe ( including a 170mph run on the M1 !) and raced it at Le Mans with Peter Bolton but retired.

Jack drove for Team Lotus in 1965 in the BSCC as team mate to Jim Clark and Sir John Whitmore, he also raced the Lotus 30 at Silverstone finishing 3rd and tested a Lotus 38-Ford Indycar that Jim Clark was to drive, Jack declared it as 'the fastest thing I have ever driven'. He also became a factory driver for the Shelby American Cobra 'Daytona' team in '65, racing in the major sportscar races across Europe at Monza, the Nurburgring, Le Mans, Reims etc. He also returned to his roots, competing in his father's old TT Sunbeam at the Brighton Speed Trials. Alas his career as a driver came to an end on the day he tested the Indy Lotus at Silverstone in '65. He took the new Lotus 40 sportscar out and had an enormous unexplained crash at Abbey Curve which put him in hospital. For a while there was talk of amputating his crushed arm. With a young family he decided to stop racing and go back to farming. Jack Sears' last race at Snetterton was on April 10th 1965 in the works Lotus Cortina, but he did return in the 1970s to compete in some celebrity 'Shellsport' one-make saloon car races.

Once he was recovered he took up positions with the RAC and the BRDC to sit on their management committees and in 1967 Tommy Sopwith persuaded him to join him to organise the 1968 London to Sydney rally. His son David followed him into the sport, joining the Jim Russell School at Snetterton in 1976 and becoming British Formula Ford Champion in 1979. He moved into F3 then became a works TWR Jaguar driver in the ETCC in 1984. He finished 3rd at Le Mans in 1990 in a Japanese entered Porsche 962, two places higher than his father had managed at Le Mans. David moved into team ownership and management, his team was initially based at Snetterton Circuit. Many titles were won in Formula Vauxhall and F3000/GP2 with his DSM and Supernova teams, after Snetterton based in the old Argo factory at Griston near Uphall Grange. David managed several F1 drivers too, including Jan Magnussen and Juan Pablo Montoya. Jack's daughter Suzanne also races, in historic events with a 1962 MGB and others.

Meanwhile Jack was as busy as ever, a director of David's teams, running the farm, chairman of the Ferrari Owners Club and many other interests away from racing. The photograph shows Jack with his daughter Suzanne and her MGB at the 2014 running of the HSCC 'Autosport' 3-hr race retrospective, 50 years since Jack won the race himself, back at his beloved Snetterton. "Gentleman Jack" will be sorely missed by all at Snetterton and the many people who called him 'friend'. There will never be his like again. All our thoughts are with the Sears family and Jack's many friends. RIP Jack Sears 1930-2016.

[khyndart in CA]

Here are some of the cars Jack drove including a Ford Galaxie prepared by Holman & Moody for the NASCAR Series and Jack surprisingly blew away the Jags when he first raced it at Silverstone in 1963!
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Jack Sears also drove an A/C Cobra in 1964.
Seen here after winning a race at Snetterton near his home in East Anglia, England.
36962

Earlier Jack had enjoyed racing Jaguars and here he is battling Colin Chapman at Silverstone in 1960 in their Jaguar 3.8 Mark 2s.
36963





(Ken Hyndman )

[Roger Dowding]

Ken H,

thanks for the story and the sad news, unfortunately., My car books and magazines as a kid in the 60's mentioned Jack and his exploits in Healeys and that big Galaxie.. 86 is a good innings.

[khyndart in CA]

This is an interesting read from "Classic Driver" magazine when Jack Sears describes driving the Galaxie and other vehicles.

https://www.classicdriver.com/en/article/jack-sears-driving-gto-38-jaguar-and-ford-galaxie-sixties



(Ken Hyndman )