It is safe to say that the championship of 1960 was an epoch-making event in the history of Soviet motorsport. Three reasons can be adduced to prove it. First, it was the first championship held according to a 'pseudo-international' classification including Formula 1, Formula 3 and Formula Junior. Second, it was the first championship which consisted of two rounds, so-called Grand Prix of Leningrad and Grand Prix of Tallinn, instead of one. Third, these rounds were held at short curcuits for the first time in 1960.

The exact point system that used in 1960 is unknown, but it is supposed to be 8-6-5-4-3-2 with an extra point for the fastest lap. At any rate, this system needs verifying. Please note that drivers' scores in the tables of final results are counted according to this system, so they need verifying, too.

The first Soviet Formula 1 championship was dominated by GA-22 Volga-powered single-seaters designed by Valery Shakhverdov (2445 cc, 95-100 hp at 4000 rpm, 200 kph). These cars appeared on racing tracks two years earlier - in 1958 - and by 1960 they still remained the best racing cars in the Soviet Union. Shakhverdov won the championship with his team-mate Mikhail Kovalev runner-up. The only person who managed to take up this 'challenge from Leningrad' was Estonian driver L. Korge who raced his own rear-engined Vana Toomas (Old Toomas) car and took the third place overall. This car suspiciously resembled an Auto Union Typ C (perhaps it was nothing than a coincidence...) and, despite its good speed features, was a rather heavy structure.

Unlike international Formula Junior, the technical regulations in the USSR allowed to use 1360 cc engines because there was no stock engine of 1000 cc or 1100 cc capacity in the USSR. This capacity limit was introduced reckoning the utilisation of 1358 cc Moskvich-407 engines. Naturally, all F. Junior cars were equipped with them. The most of these cars were 'home-made' ones which had no name or index (in the tables below, such cars of all classes are marked with an abbreviation ASK). The only exception was KVN-1300G single-seater designed and built by Vyacheslav Kosenkov. This car stood out against the others because of its 'professional' appearance and thorough design.

Soviet Formula 3 had a 500 cc capacity limit, thus it was possible to use motorcycle engines, e. g. IMZ-M52S which had a 494 cc capacity and delivered 40 hp at 7000 rpm. The most remarkable Soviet F3 car of that period was NAMI-041M which had a plastic body. It was raced by Georgy Surguchev who won the Soviet championship in 1960. Another very promising F3 single-seater - Estonia-3 - was researched by TARK factory in Tallinn. As well as NAMI-041M, Estonia-3 was equipped with IMZ engine, but had 30 kg less weight than 041M. Driving these cars at the second round, E. Griffel & E. Meesila took first and second places.

As for sportscars, they were much more popular in the Soviet Union than single-seaters at that time. But what were most of them? As for group G (up to 1600 cc), all of them were nothing than common Moskvich-407 tourings equipped with slightly modified engines - except only Karl Galygin's car which had a rather fine streamlined body. The next group, V (up to 2300 cc), included the largest number of entries among four groups of sportscars, but cars that raced in group V were, as a rule, a distressing sight, being based on outdated Pobeda chassis & engines and having careless made bulky bodies. Groups A & B included cars which used ZIL-111 (5980 cc, 220 hp at 4000 rpm), GAZ-12 (3485 cc, 110 hp at 3800 rpm) and GAZ-21 Volga (2445 cc, 90 hp at 4000 rpm) engines, and in these two groups there was a number of thoroughly designed and built cars, such as ZIL-112/5 which had a plactic body, and KVN-3500S by Kosenkov.

Circuit: Nevskoe Koltso

Track length: 3360 m

Race distance: 31 laps (104.160 km)

Not much can be said about F1 race at Nevskoe Koltso as two drivers from Leningrad, Valery Shakhverdov and Mikhail Kovalev, being at the wheels of nearly unbeatable GA-22's, made the struggle for victory their own privilege. After a high-speed duel, it was Shakhverdov who crossed the finish line first.

Drivers started: 9 Drivers finished: 9

Pos. Driver Time & avg. speed

1 Valery Shakhverdov ?

2 Mikhail Kovalev

Fastest lap: Shakhverdov & Kovalev (1'50" = 110,0 kph)

This race was much more interesting than F1 event, as Vyacheslav Kosenkov, an incontestable leader who was driving a KVN-1300G designed by his own, had an accident at lap 2. Then there was a fight for leadership between Vasily Revyakin and Alexandr Solomatov, but simultaneously behind them a young Belorussian driver Dmitry Bannikov was breaking through towards the third position, driving much faster than two leaders. Very soon Bannikov overtook Solomatov and began to oppress the leader. Revyakin stepped on the gas trying to evade a rival, but one of the wheels of his car got loose, so he retired, and the victory came to Bannikov.

Drivers started: 6 Drivers finished: 3

Pos. Driver Time & avg. speed

1 Dmitry Bannikov ?/87.5 kph

2 Alexandr Solomatov

3 Georgy Sharonov

Pole: Kosenkov

Fastest lap: Bannikov & Revyakin (2'10" = 93.0 kph)

An easy win for Georgy Surguchev who drove a plastic-bodied NAMI-041M. Dmitry Borisov, the previous year champion in up-to-1000 cc single-seaters class, was second. Viktor Lapin, a young DOSAAF driver, made a good impression on spectators by driving a number of laps even faster than Borisov, but eventually he took the fifth place only.

Pos. Driver Time & avg. speed

1 Georgy Surguchev ?

2 Dmitry Borisov

...

5 Viktor Lapin

Fastest lap: Surguchev (2'00" = 100.8 kph)

That was a fact - an average speed of Alexandr Sukhovey, the winner of this race, was slower than that of first three drivers of group B! A good proof of the fact that engines of big capacity, such as ZIL-111 and GAZ-12, weren't good enough to be used in motorsport. Taking into consideration as well that a number of group B drivers at the wheels of Volga-powered sportscars made entries in group A and fought good against the rivals of group A, it can be said that this sportscar class had needed researching a special racing engine of big capacity. But no-one in the USSR was researching such engines in 1960s...

Pos. Driver Time & avg. speed

1 Alexandr Sukhovey ?

2 Shota Mamrikashvili

3 Alexandr Kurbatov

Fastest lap: Sukhovey

Viktor Mareikin won this race easily, having his fastest lap time the same than that of Formula 1 cars. Other drivers of this group were largely behind him.

Pos. Driver Time & avg. speed

1 Viktor Mareikin 1h01'03"/102.4 kph

2 Nikolai Sorochinsky

Fastest lap: Mareikin (1'50" = 110.0 kph)

A contradictory situation: depressing 'home-made' cars and an intense struggle for victory in the race! The Georgian driver Otari Garsevanishvili (AMK DOSAAF of Georgia) led beginning from the start, his team-mates Konstantin Cherkashin & Ashtam Oganezov followed him. The race seemed to turn into a one-two-three for Georgian drivers, but, suddenly, Cherkashin retired, and Oganezov and (a bit later) Garsevanishvili were overtaken by the young Spartak driver Vladislav Ptushkin from Moscow. A victory for him? No! Ptushkin drove as fast as his engine couldn't stand – Vladislav drove into pits and didn't go back to the track. Two Georgian drivers won the race.

Drivers finished: 7

Pos. Driver Time & avg. speed

1 Otari Garsevanishvili ?

2 Ashtam Oganezov

3 Evgeny Parfenov

...

6 Vadim Vinogradov

Fastest lap: Garsevanishvili & Ptushkin (2'02" = 99.1 kph)

Group G sportscars

The poleman Karl Galygin (as you've just been aware of, he was the only person who was driving a real sportscar, not touring) stalled at the start, and during first five laps the race was led by Yuri Chvirov. But Galygin didn't intend to miss the victory - driving very fast (thanks to the streamlined body of his car!), he overtook and outstripped Chvirov. Furthermore, Chvirov was soon overtaken by Evgeny Veretov, and a bit later he retired at all, with the broken hub of the wheel. Galygin won the race, and the fastest lap was driven by Viktor Galkin who was fifth.

Pos. Driver Time & avg. speed

1 Karl Galygin ?

2 Evgeny Veretov

3 Nikolai Appolonov

...

5 Viktor Galkin

Pole: Galygin

Fastest lap: Galkin (2'08" = 94.5 kph)

Circuit: Pirita-Kose-Kloostrimetsa

Track length: 8566 m

Race distance: 24 laps (205.584 km);

12 laps (102.792 km) for F3 & F. Junior

An unlooked-for win for Estonian driver L. Kõrge! He was only fifth in the qualifying, but managed to win, destroying an opposition in the people of Kovalev (second) and Shakhverdov (third). But, despite his brilliant victory, he was only third overall.

Pos. Driver Time & avg. speed

1 L. Kõrge ?/115.6 kph

2 Mikhail Kovalev

3 Valery Shakhverdov

Fastest lap: Kõrge (4'20" = 118.6 kph)

This race had a very unexpected end which led to even more unexpected overall results. Dmitry Bannikov who won at Leningrad seemed to become a champion, but retired few hundreds metres from the finish. He tried to push his car to the finish line, but failed to score any points. The victory came to Kosenkov, the second place was taken by Revyakin. But neither Vyacheslav nor Vasily became the first Soviet F. Junior champion - the title came to Georgy Sharonov who was third. Georgy was very criticized because of his victory - it was 'accidental', critics said, as Sharonov had shown no real winner's will. But they could do nothing - Sharonov's ten points vs Bannikov's score of nine were the irrefutable fact.

Drivers started: 4 Drivers finished: 3

Pos. Driver Time & avg. speed

1 Vyacheslav Kosenkov ?/105 kph

2 Vasily Revyakin

3 Georgy Sharonov

Fastest lap: Revyakin (4'51" = 106.0 kph)

A one-two for Estonias: Enn Griffel and E. Meesila who were driving these cars had no real rivals. The title came to Surguchev, but he had to make a great effort to win it - after his delay at the start,

h overtook a number of drivers. His spurt performed during the final lap brought him fifth place and the title of the champion.

Pos. Driver Time & avg. speed

1 Enn Griffel ?

2 E. Meesila

3 Dmitry Borisov

4 Viktor Lapin

5 Georgy Surguchev

Fastest lap: Griffel (4'46" = 107.5 kph)

The race was won by Boris Kurbatov, a works ZIL driver who represented Trud sport society. Mamrikashvili was second and thus lost the championship. Furthermore, he was only third overall as Alexandr Sukhovey finished fourth in this race.

Drivers started: 9

Pos. Driver Time & avg. speed

1 Boris Kurbatov ?

2 Shota Mamrikashvili

...

4 Alexandr Sukhovey

Fastest lap: Kurbatov

Mareikin and Sorochinsky changed their roles this time, with Sorochinsky winning the race, and Mareikin second. But Mareikin drove a fastest lap in the race - as well as in round 1 –meanwhile Sorochinsky did it only one time, and this extra point of Mareikin made him a champion.

Pos. Driver Time & avg. speed

1 Nikolai Sorochinsky ?

2 Viktor Mareikin

Fastest lap: Sorochinsky & Mareikin

The race seemed to become a duel between Garsevanishvili and Parfenov - they were driving faster than anyone else during the most part of the distance and were breaking far away from others. But both of them retired - first Parfenov had to pay with failure for his attempt to overtake the Georgian driver, then Garsevanishvili's engine packed up. This gave a chance to Vadim Vinogradov & Vladislav Ptushkin. Vinogradov increased his speed, drove the fastest lap and won the race and the championship.

Drivers started: 15 Drivers finished: 7

Pos. Driver Time & avg. speed

1 Vadim Vinogradov ?

2 Vladislav Ptushkin

Fastest lap: Vinogradov (4'52" = 105.6 kph)

Where there's a will, there's a way - it definitely cannot be said about Karl Galygin's result in this race. Enough will he had, yes, as he wasted much time repairing his car in the beginning of the race and then was winning 14-15 seconds back a lap, but his way to victory was over at lap 23 when he had to retire. The race was won by Chvirov who took only fourth place overall nevertheless because of his retirement in Leningrad. Veretov & Appolonov copied their results of the first round and took first and second places overall.

Pos. Driver Time & avg. speed

1 Yuri Chvirov ?/100.0 kph

2 Evgeny Veretov

3 Nikolai Appolonov

4 Viktor Galkin

Fastest lap: Galygin (4'47" = 107.4 kph)