Gregory was additionally a director at Manufacturers Hatch, so the Kent circuit staged a trial run on Boxing Day 1957 – and, this being a hit, the host to the primary points-scoring BSCC spherical in early April 1958.
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In chilly and dry climate, the primary saloon race proved “fairly probably the most fascinating of the afternoon”, we reported. “It was gained virtually as a foregone conclusion by Jack Sears, including one more victory to his string of successes with the Austin A105. However within the sub-1200cc class, super battles have been happening.
For 11 laps, the A35s of George ‘Doc’ Shepherd and John Sprinzel circled as a pair, inches aside, till lastly Sprinzel managed to overhaul.
“There was a second race for vehicles as much as 1600cc and over 3500cc. The [Mk1] Jaguar 3.4s, pushed by Tommy Sopwith [son of the famous plane designer] and Gawaine Baillie, once more took first and second with spectacular ease.”
Sprinzel and Sopwith gained out once more at Manufacturers later that month, whereas Tommy Bridger made himself unpopular, you would possibly assume, by topping the 1200-1600cc class in a German Borgward Isabella, “benefiting from its high quality cornering”.
Sprinzel made it a hat-trick because the BSCC headed to Mallory Park in Leicestershire in Might, whereas Baillie benefited from Sopwith’s automotive shedding a tyre – and Harold Grace “had a spectacular escape when he inverted his Riley 1.5 in a ditch”.
