Driven To Crime: True stories of wrongdoing in motor racing

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After trying unsuccessfully to entice various high-profile owners to take part, the programme’s producers had to look elsewhere. Yet he was a man of contradictions whose ego seemed to grow each time he made one of his sporadic appearances on the starting grid. Whether you have been involved in the sport or not, it is a window on the human condition that is rarely demonstrated with such honesty and clarity. Frankly, this book would have better with about a third of it characters deleted as too often I found myself thinking “I can’t be bothered with this guy” and flicking forward - and this was a holiday read! Inspired by James Hunt’s Formula 1 exploits with Hesketh and having become friends with the World Champion’s younger brother at school, he competed in Formula Ford during the late 1970s but had to face the reality that his results were not going to earn him a place in F1.

Read with another racing friend and have great discussions about the chicken and the egg (or more like the chicken vs. The whole of this enterprise was funded by unauthorised payments by McGraw Hill,’ said Sally Howells for the prosecution. His fellow competitors found him a very ordinary, quiet and unassuming man who made no attempt to mix with them. Indeed, his abiding memory of the team patron was watching him leave the Silverstone paddock as pillion passenger on the back of a motorcycle and disappear into the sunset. As the champagne flowed at the Veuve Clicquot-supported event, the slightly chubby accounts manager from Wokingham revelled in all the attention he received from the numerous photographers and journalists, but in reality he looked almost as out of place in those surroundings as he did on a race circuit.

Biography: Crispian Besley is a first-time author with a life-long interest in cars and a passion for motor racing. He made up the lost time before handing over to Munroe, who brought the car home a disappointing sixth, nearly two laps down on the winner. We may never fully understand the true reasons why a middle manager living in a mock-Tudor house in Wokingham turned to a life of crime and massive fraud.

I hocked myself to the hilt just to, albeit briefly, own a MkII Golf GTi 16v,’ he said, ‘sadly ending its days stolen, ransacked and unlovingly abandoned on bricks on Wentworth golf course. She posed next to the car dressed in white racing overalls, together with Munroe and Calum Lockie, the team’s professional driver, who was to share driving duties and had been introduced to Munroe by driver coach Les Goble. Very few owned more than one of these incredible machines apart from Ralph Lauren, who had two, the Sultan of Brunei, who had no fewer than five… and James Munroe. Inspired by James Hunt's Formula 1 exploits with Hesketh and having become friends with the World Champion's younger brother at school, he competed in Formula Ford during the late 1970s but had to face the reality that his results were not going to earn him a place in F1.

He not only acquired an example of the even rarer GTR racing version, of which 28 were made, but also became the proud — and very dishonest — owner of a road-going model as well. Through his extraordinary duplicity, the ultimate vanity project was unwittingly financed by funds embezzled from his employer.

Most purchases from business sellers are protected by the Consumer Contract Regulations 2013 which give you the right to cancel the purchase within 14 days after the day you receive the item. Although AM Racing’s previous experience had been mainly in the preparation and running of historic Le Mans cars, Spires had put together a very strong group of engineers and the operation proved to be well up to the required standard. As Goodwin’s international career was in the ascendency, this wasn’t a drive he needed or even particularly wanted, but he accepted it on the basis that it would do him no harm, keep him race-sharp and reward him with, in his words, ‘a crazy amount of money’. His behaviour guaranteed that he would draw attention to himself to such an extent that it was almost as if he wanted to get caught.

The car was devoid of any signs of external sponsorship except for a strip across the top of the windscreen sporting allegiance to Veuve Clicquot, presumably in deference to the copious quantities that had been quaffed at the launch party.