Old race cars and trouble with the law

[rf84]

Must be a few people with some amusing tales about old race cars and trouble with the law.
To start the ball rolling. In the early 1970's I owned a Mark 5 Cooper 500 (the ex Bob Gibbons car). One Sunday morning myself and 2 other 500 owners (Garry Simkin JBS 500) and Gray Richards (Mk9 Cooper) went to a quiet country road just out of Hastings to test my car. After a few short runs up and down the road the oil feed to the valve gear stopped feeding (the J.A.P. motor had a total loss oil pump which was a total loss in more ways than one!). While investigating the problem the witty Garry Simkin looked up the road and declared "S--t, here comes a cop!" Gray and I nearly emptied our bowels. A farmer on his Yamaha Ag 100 came riding along. About 5 minutes later I looked up the road and there REALLY was a cop (in a black and white Mk4 Zephyr with the red light on top). Of course when I announced his arrival the reaction of the other 2 was a fairly predictable "Yeah, yeah, it was funny the first time". Garry was down on his hands and knees trying to fix the oil pump problem and the look on his face when he turned and saw the black pants,white shirt and cap standing beside him was priceless. The conversation went something like "Good morning gentlemen,what have we got here?" "A racing car" was all I could manage. The look on the officer's face was one of immense incredulity-if he had not been so shocked he probably would have said something along the lines of "No s--t Sherlock". Instead he stated "A Cooper Mark 6" but then he looked into the cockpit and said "No, a ladder frame-must be a Mark 5". We were astounded at his knowledge. "Yes, it's a Mark 5". "Who's car was it?" "Bob Gibbons" "You've got the wrong motor in it. It should have a vee twin 1100". Hell this guy really knew his stuff. We talked for about 10 minutes about Coopers and 500cc cars. It seemed more like 10 hours as we were fully expecting him to pull his "book" out and write out a ticket. During the course of the conversation he did discretely feel the exhaust pipe several times and ask about firing it up. Eventually he got a big smile on his face and said "Think I'm about 15 minutes too late. I think if I had come along a little earlier I might have seen some action". With that he looked at his watch and said "I'll be back in about 20 minutes-don't get into any trouble". He got in his car and drove off. Needless to say we were not there if/when he came back.

[Oldfart]

One that is a lot more current, but the car involved is still old, ie the ex Jackson Special/Northland special owned by Fred Courtney.
As many will know he has A framed this for almost eternity, however on the way home from Leadfoot last (2013) year he was ticketed for "towing an unregistered, un warranted vehicle on the road". This has gone back and forwards, long story short he has had a judgement against him. The ACTUAL law says you can tow an "unwarranted etc" vehicle temporarily, and as the office of LTSA has stated in writing, there is no definition of temporary. The dictionary indicates that there are only two options here; temporary and permanent. He does not have it always (permanently) attached, so common sense would say it must be temporary? Apparently not so.

[kiwi285]

This is not a money making exercise - YEAH RIGHT

There are none so dumb as bureaucrats and their minions.

[Oldfart]

Going back to when life was more sensible, a group of, shall we say , enthusiastic drivers travelling from Hamilton to Bay Park in convoy, each supposedly looking to ensure the guy behind was OK, crossed the Hinuera railway crossing somewhat in excess of the legal 15mph. What was not noticed was that the tail ender, Dallas Gibson, had slipped back a bit. "Friendly" arm of the law nabbed him. Mr Plod asked what speed he thought he crossed the crossing at, response was 25mph, Mr Plod said that he thought more like 20, plus the 25, but that "his mates were even faster" but that as he went to give chase he wheel spun on the grass and figured that he would not catch up, so gave up, when along came Dallas, and he got him. Next comment was, "When you catch them up, tell them to slow down"! We had noticed him missing, part way up the Kaimais so stopped at the top. The noise of his Mini preceeded his arrival as it echoed off the hillside, sounded very impressive actually, then we got berated by him for letting him cop the blame.

[Oldfart]

Another, portrayed by one of life's great story tellers, Jim Boyd.
He was travelling down to the Tarawera Hillclimb in the Lycoming, when stopped close to the Waharoa Airfield for going a bit in excess of the legal 50mph. As told by Jim he told the cop he could not have been as he was only doing about 1500rpm, and that the previous owner had told him that was close to 50. (Remember that vehicles first reg before 1955? did not have to have a speedo). Cop responded by saying that he was speeding. Jim, very apologetic suggests that the cop drive in front of him, and when they are doing 50 wave his hand out the window, and that he, Jim, will note the revs and promise not to speed again. Mr Plod agreed, off down the road they went, hand waved etc, and all went unticketed. Jims adjunct to his was "The bloody thing only fires every alternate lamppost when it's flat out at Pukekohe, but I got away with that one."

[Greg Mackie]

My race car was my ONLY car back then [over 50 years ago], so it was a bit of a 'target'. One night, while tootling along at the speed limit, I noticed a police car up a side street. When the car pulled out to follow me, I thought "bugger it - it's only an EJ" - so I decided to out-run them, which wasn't very difficult.

While parked out of harm's way [so I thought], I saw the EJ creeping towards me in the dark, and hoped they wouldn't notice me. The EJ pulled up in front of my car, and two cops [1 old, 1 young] walked up to my car. "Was that you driving along President Ave a few minutes ago?....We were doing 75 MPH, and you were pulling away". I thought they would whack the 'cuffs on, and take me to jail [it was gaol then].

Next came the surprise of my life. The 'old' cop booked me for a noisy muffler, and told me to "Keep that sort of speed for the race track". I couldn't believe my luck. On reflection, I think that one [or both?] cops were motor racing fans. That episode slowed me down [on the road, that is] more than any other police action ever did.

The 'culprit', with the noisy muffler.....'The Esses' Bathurst, 1963.