rf84
01-22-2014, 08:44 AM
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.
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.