The following article appeared in a national newspaper some 12 days after Mike Hawthorn was killed on January 22nd 1959 when he crashed on the A31 near Guildford in Surrey.

We are not aware of any follow-up or reaction to it since then. Whether there was any substance behind it or the article was simply sensationalism is conjecture. Does anyone have more information?

Did a bullet fired by a mystery gunman hit the windscreen of Mike Hawthorn's Jaguar and send him into his death skid?

That is the sensational theory Mike's friend, Mr. Rob Walker, is considering after receiving a letter from a Dover woman. And he has decided to make an on-the-spot investigation this week.

The woman, a schoolmaster's wife, says that the windscreen of their car was shattered a year ago when they were driving on the Guildford by-pass at the same spot where Hawthorn died 12 days ago.

And they believe that a BULLET hit the windscreen.

This is how the woman describes the incident:

"My husband was driving along an empty road in the evening at normal speed when, without warning, there was a crack like a pistol shot.

"A small round hole appeared in the windscreen just opposite his eyes and the whole windscreen in front of the driver's seat shattered.

"The shock of this happening with no-one in sight caused him to slew across the road, and he said at the time that if the road had not been empty there would undoubtedly have been a serious accident.

"My husband thought he had been shot at. He stopped the car and looked round, but there was no-one to be seen."

At nearby Coombes Service Station, her husband was told many motorists had complained of their windscreens being smashed in the same manner at the same spot.

There'll be a terrible accident one day...

Her husband told the police because "he felt that if these windscreen incidents were to continue there would be a terrible accident one day." Mr. Walker, who was driving behind Hawthorn when he crashed, said at his home in Frome, Somerset, last night:

"The similarities between what happened to this driver and Mike's accident are too great to be ignored, especially as no real cause has been established for his skid. Unfortunately, Mike's windscreen was completely smashed."

You can read much more about Mike's Fatal Accident on our site.