Gregory the Great

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Sir,

I too have always been intrigued by the race between Archie Scott Brown and Masten Gregory at Silverstone in May 1958. David Morgan’s letter perhaps suggests Gregory’s victory was a narrow one, when in fact it was a walkover. Furthermore, I believe it probably owed more to inspired driving than to mildly revised bodywork.

The first-class field for this race included Moss, Hawthorn and Brooks but Scott Brown took the lead from the start with Gregory back in fifth. By the end of the first lap Gregory was through to third, took second on the fifth lap and passed Scott Brown for the lead on lap seven. Nine laps later Gregory had pulled out a massive 15 seconds lead. As Motor Sport reported “…the Ecurie Ecosse Lister just ran away from the works car”.

Gregory set a sportscar lap record of 101.32 mph and averaged 99.54 mph. Interestingly, when Moss drove the works Lister at the Grand Prix meeting two months later his fastest lap was slower than Gregory’s race average. My memory suggests that Gregory’s lap record stood for years, at least as a class lap record.

I have always believed that in that race, on that day, Gregory drove ‘out of his skin’ demonstrating his potential to the full.

I AM, YOURS, ETC

Geoff Whyler, Petts Wood, Kent