The author next to the 1798cc Ford Escort RS 1600 MkI, which had just won the 1972 East Africa Safari Rally. BOAC 1000KM, Brands Hatch, England, April 16, 1972-dick-lees

Story and photos by Jeff Allison unless otherwise noted

Read Part 1
Part 2 continues “Head Shots” taken by Jeff Allison at races in the U. S., England and Monaco.

Mike Sparken, winning at Oulton Park in the rain with his trusty 750 Monza.

First published by VeloceToday in 2012.
In the 1950s, if you had talent and the necessary finances, you could become a successful racing driver as a private entrant. This is the story of one of them, a French-born racing driver by the name of Mike Sparken. We were working on this article when on September 21, 2012. Sparken died at his home in the South of France at the age of eighty-two.

By Graham Gauld

Mike Sparken, or Michael Poberejsky, to cite his proper name, was born in Paris in 1930 to a wealthy Russian family that had left Russia for Paris at the time of the 1917 Revolution.

Mike Sparken, winning at Oulton Park in the rain with his trusty 750 Monza.

In the 1950s, if you had talent and the necessary finances, you could become a successful racing driver as a private entrant. This is the story of one of them, a French-born racing driver by the name of Mike Sparken. We were working on this article when on September 21, Sparken died at his home in the South of France at the age of eighty two. Our sincere condolences to his family; we wish he could have lived to read the following story.

By Graham Gauld

Mike Sparken, or Michael Poberejsky, to cite his proper name, was born in Paris in 1930 to a wealthy Russian family that had left Russia for Paris at the time of the 1917 Revolution.