John Sprinzel
John Sprinzel (Oct 1930 - May 2021) was a German born British auto racing driver. He was renowned for competing in saloon and sports car racing and rallying. [1]
Sprinzel was born in Berlin. He finished third overall in the inaugural 1958 British Saloon Car Championship season driving for his own Team Speedwell in an Austin A35.[2] Navigated by future BMC and Ford Competitions Manager Stuart Turner, he won the British Rally Championship in 1959, driving an Austin-Healey Sprite and an Alfa Romeo Giulietta TI.[3] In International events during 1960, he won his class at the 12 Hours of Sebring race and scored 2nd place overall in both the Liège-Rome-Liège and RAC rallies. These successes were all achieved in Austin-Healey Sebring Sprites, a car he was instrumental in developing. He has published three volumes of memoirs: 'Sleepless Knights' (1962), 'Spritely Years' (1994) and 'Lucky John' (2013) and also a tuning manual for BMC cars 'Modified Motoring' (1959 and 1961).
See also
- Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite
References
- ^ http://sebringsprite.com
- ^ 'Spritely Years: Race and Rally Memories from the Classic Era Plus the Full History of the Sebring Sprite' (Patrick Stephens, 1994 and John Sprinzel Ltd, 2008) by John Sprinzel and Tom Coulthard
- ^ 'Lucky John' (The Coulthard Press, 2013) by John Sprinzel
External links
- John Sprinzel career summary at DriverDB.com
- Sebring Sprite website