The story begins in a coffee bar in north London. Coffee bars – or espresso bars, as they were popularly known – were the centre of social life for many young people in London in the late 1950s and early ’60s, a trend that has had a huge resurgence in recent times. Here, a young motorsport enthusiast called John Sprinzel used to spend much of his free time, often bemoaning the fact his Austin A35 was not fast enough. George Hulbert, a fellow customer and car enthusiast, offered to carry out some cylinder head work on Sprinzel’s engine. Following Hulbert’s modifications, the tiny Austin won its first outing at the Goodwood racing circuit in May 1957. A post-race television interview, in which Sprinzel extolled the virtues of Hulbert’s work, led to a deluge of enquiries, all wanting to know about the Austin’s new cylinder head.
Buoyed by this interest, Hulbert and Sprinzel discussed the idea of forming a company to cater for what they perceived to be a lucrative market. Another regular at the espresso bar, and another racer, was Len Adams. He was excited by the idea of being involved with a performance tuning company and joined in the discussions. And on June 26
