1948 British Grand Prix
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||
| Date | 2 October 1948 | ||
| Official name | RAC International Grand Prix | ||
| Location | RAF Silverstone, Northamptonshire | ||
| Course | Converted aerodrome | ||
| Course length | 5.907 km (3.670 mi) | ||
| Distance | 65 laps, 383.91 km (238.55 mi) | ||
| Weather | Dry, light cloud. | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Talbot-Lago | ||
| Time | 2:56.0 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Luigi Villoresi
|
Maserati | |
| Time | 2:52.0 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Maserati | ||
| Second | Maserati | ||
| Third | ERA | ||
The Royal Automobile Club International Grand Prix was a motor race held on 2 October 1948, at Silverstone Airfield, Northamptonshire, UK. Although it did not have official Grande Épreuve status, it is commonly cited as the first British Grand Prix of the modern era.
Held two years before the inauguration of the FIA World Championship of Drivers, the 65-lap race was run under the new Formula One regulations which effectively replaced the pre-war Grand Prix motor racing standards. Winner was the Italian Luigi Villoresi, in a Maserati 4CLT/48. A 13-lap 500 cc race, preceding the Grand Prix, was won by Spike Rhiando in a Cooper. Stirling Moss failed to finish after mechanical problems.
The race meeting marked the opening of the Silverstone Circuit, although at the time the site was only on a one-year loan to the RAC from the Air Ministry, having been a bomber station during World War II.
The Royal Automobile Club had previously run two International Grands Prix at the banked Brooklands circuit, in Surrey, in 1926 and 1927, and the Donington Park circuit had hosted four non-ranking Grands Prix between 1935 and 1939, but with the hiatus caused by the Second World War motorsport in Britain had lost ground to continental countries. Its two major race circuits were unusable, with Donington still littered with detritus from its wartime role as a supply depot, while the Brooklands circuit had been a major centre for aircraft development during the war and much of the track had been built over. With the abundance of redundant airfields in the years following the end of hostilities, however, there were plenty of potential venues for new race circuits. One such was at RAF Silverstone, a former bomber station.
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