yes the Owens Brothers pouring AV gas on the road down one of the gulleys on the Desert Road and waiting for Dave McMillan to arrive and set it alight....!!!!!
yes the Owens Brothers pouring AV gas on the road down one of the gulleys on the Desert Road and waiting for Dave McMillan to arrive and set it alight....!!!!!
Norm Smith will recall a similar situation between the Waitaki River and the Waimate turn off too, eyes the size of dinner plates or so I have been told.Originally Posted by Les Laidlaw
This is a very touchy subject in today's world of public opinion. All the stories I could tell involve naughty stuff the authorities, do gooders and greenies would demand we are all thrown into the clinker and the keys lost forever.
I was watching some current affairs show here in Brisbane and they were going on about young kids (7yo)being let loose behing the wheel. They even think nobody should be driving until they are about 17 or 18 as young people are incapable of the skills required to control a car.
Many of you on here would know that is rubbish. Many of you could tell stories of driving very young. It is about education. Some bloody idiot power broker doesn't want young drivers taught any car control skills, as he thinks it will promote hooning!
What about all the karting kids, they show fantastic control at very young ages. Dad had me driving in paddocks at a very young age in his cars, notably Simca 1000's. I remember driving a Fiat 500 at 7. ( I won't tell that story- very incriminating)
Of course Dad had me racing in national race meetings at 15. I had my own son doing autocoss in my Escort rally car at 14. He also was racing geminis at Lakeside whist still at school (16) and underage for a drivers licence. He was very quick.
Rant over, back to road trips, I think most of our trips to all the circuits, were adventures. All sorts of stuff happened. The speeds we did all this stuff at seems very stupid today looking back. One time i was very pleased with myself, as Dad and me left together to drive to Manfield in two seperate cars, both Datsun 1600's. We were together most of the way, travelling very quickly, when I made a break for it in a tricky piece of road and managed to get to the end, stop and buy an ice cream and be sitting on the bonnet of my car eating it when Dad arrived. (The look I gave him was, there you go, what do you think of that!)
The down side of this story was that at drivers briefing, mention was made of two Datsuns observed doing things maybe they shouldn't.
I wonder why we were so loose and carefree back then? If you told people today what went on you would be treated as certifiable. Something has changed over the years, don't you think?
Today, I rarely break the speed limit, and if I do it is only 'just' over a little bit. I don't tailgate, and come to think of it hardly pass other cars on the road. Ocassionally someone will do something to me on the road, and my wife will give me 'that' look, meaning don't even try it. Very occassionally she will say 'does he know who he is picking?' That usually settles me down- Ha Ha. ( I have the fortune to have a wife who lived through all my motorsport adventures. She has seen it, lived it and done it all. She really understands motor sport. Pretty neat really, when you never have to tell some story, she was there and knew all the drivers, everyones lap times, and who she considered good, and others she was less complimentary about.)
anyway, what a rave, sorry about that.- Steve
What a magic story Steve, keep them comin fellas, ahh, the good old days.
Just checking up on my roadtrip thread, come on dudes, get them old stories on for US to read, I'm sure there are plenty of good yarns out there
May need to use 'non-de-plumes' and false names, may be some still married or have children who could read it.
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