John Sprinzel (October 25, 1930 – May 2021) was an English

motor racing An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...

driver renowned for competing in saloon and sports car races in addition to his main career in

rallying Rallying is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (sometimes called "rally racing" in United States), navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed ...

. He was born in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, where his father was a film director for Paramount Newsreel and his mother a dress designer. Three years later the family moved to England, as John's father had been tasked with setting up Paramount Newsreel's London branch. (The move had nothing to do with the Nazi persecution of Jews, as has been shrilly claimed in obituaries published in once-respected national newspapers. The family were members of the Lutheran Church.) Sprinzel finished third overall in the inaugural 1958 British Saloon Car Championship season driving for his own Team Speedwell in an

Austin A35 The Austin A35 is a small family car that was sold by Austin Motor Company, Austin from 1956 until 1968. About 280,897 A35s of all types were produced. Design Introduced in 1956, it replaced the highly successful Austin A30. The name reflecte ...

. Navigated by future BMC and Ford Competitions Manager Stuart Turner, he won the

British Rally Championship The British Rally Championship (BRC) is a rallying series based in the United Kingdom. The first championship was run in 1958 and it has been licensed by the Motor Sports Association (MSA) since 1999. MSA has opted not to run the series in ...

in 1959, driving an

Austin-Healey Sprite The Austin-Healey Sprite is a small open sports car produced in the United Kingdom from 1958 until 1971. The Sprite was announced to the press in Monte Carlo by the British Motor Corporation on 20 May 1958, two days after that year's Monaco Gra ...

and an

Alfa Romeo Giulietta Alfa Romeo Giulietta is the name of three different automobiles made by Italian car manufacturer Alfa Romeo: * The first Giulietta (Type 750 and 101) was a rear-wheel drive car made from 1954 to 1965, in 4-door saloon/sedan, coupé, spider and e ...

TI. In International events during 1960, he won his class in the

12 Hours of Sebring The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race for Sports car racing, sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in S ...

race in Florida and scored 2nd place overall in the RAC Rally of Great Britain and third overall in Belgium's gruelling

Liège-Rome-Liège The Marathon de la Route was a series of road rallies held in Europe between 1931 and 1971, including Liège–Rome–Liège and Liège–Sofia–Liège rallies held on public roads and closed-circuit races held at the Nürburgring from 1965 unti ...

. These successes were all achieved in

Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite The Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite is a small sports car that was produced by the Donald Healey Motor Company at its Cape Works in Warwick and at the Healey's Speed Equipment Division in Grosvenor Street, London W1. Sebring Sprites were also produ ...

s, a car he was instrumental in developing. He published three volumes of memoirs: 'Sleepless Knights' (1962), 'Spritely Years' (1994 and 2008) and 'Lucky John' (2013), as well as a tuning manual for BMC cars 'Modified Motoring' (1959 and 1961). John died of natural causes in Hawaii where he had lived for many years with his life-partner Caryl.

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*
Sebring Sprite website
1930 births 2021 deaths Racing drivers from Berlin British Touring Car Championship drivers {{UK-rally-bio-stub

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