Well here it is - the "Crispy Daimler Dart" story - hope it lives up to expectations.
It'll be the last one for a while, although I have drafted out "Dangerous Roy and the Manx Engine" as it had me in fits just thinking about it!
Enjoy or otherwise -
Beachcomber’s Tales from the Day – “The Crispy Daimler Dart”.
Here’s the third of the tales and follows on chronologically from the previous “Vanishing Motorcyclist” story.
The Lay-Bye racing had become so popular especially in our area, it started attracting the attention of the “Z Car” boys in blue. The term “Z Car” came about from the Police use of the new Mk3 Ford Zodiac, which also spawned a popular T.V. Cop show of the same name - “Z Cars”. The Z cars were introduced to try to catch the London Villians, who took to driving Mk2 Jaguars as getaway cars. They were also the only Police cars of the day capable of getting anywhere near most of the faster motorcycles. This was a time before blanket speed limits, where an unrestricted zone meant exactly that – if you could do 120mph, 130mph, 140mph – no foul.
The stretch of Bye-Pass where the Lay-Byes were situated was unrestricted. However, the authorities very sneakily put in a 60 mph limit at the end of the “race” stretch - between Gosnay’s and the next roundabout down. Beyond that was a 3 mile stretch of unrestricted dual carriageway before the “Gallows Corner” roundabout. This was a huge island with 5 roads coming off it. One of the roads was the popular route to the south coast town of Southend – the weekend holiday haunt of Eastenders! When the Z cars were introduced, they used to sit in Gosnay’s yard and wait for some unsuspecting lads who had just been blasting down the unrestricted road and roaring off to get to the big blast up to Gallows corner. Now then what you DTT boys have to realise is that contrary to popular myth – not many of the current [ 1950’s / 60’s ] Brit bikes would do a genuine ton, so most of the speeders were easy meat for the 100mph Zodiacs. This was before [ !! ] reliable 2 way radios, so it wasn’t a case of calling ahead or reporting the number to a central dispatch for owner recognition. So basically, if you could outrun the rozzers – you got off.
So why the Daimler Dart? Well “our” lay-bye attracted some very fast bikes – it was no good even issuing a challenge for top dog unless you had a genuine 120mph bike. The Darts had a top speed of around 125mph – so theoretically being a match for even the fastest of us. We soon got to know the Police driver crew – and vice versa and before long they fell into a little game. The Darts were soft tops and in the Summer months the cops would pose around with the top down.
They’d wait for someone to come howling round the island at Gosnay’s and then they’d take off after them. They’d draw alongside the offender and shout across “ We’re only in third gear, if you can get away from us you get off”. Inevitably most bikes would be nabbed before they got to the next roundabout [ still 60mph limit ].
Anyway the story – matey with the Vincent/Norton lifted the crown from me and my Connie, and yes that Vinnie was mighty quick with Picador cams and an Agaard [?] 5 speed gearbox. The cops knew he was the new “top dog” and wanted to set an example of the guy – and yes his name was Vincent!
So, Vincent hurtles past plod in their Dart and gives them 2 fingers as he passes. Now he knew the game about “we’re only in third gear”…..etc. so he deliberately let them catch up with him. “We’re only in third gear”….etc. So Vincent shouts back, “OK, let me change UP to third and see what you’ve got”. With that the Vincent-Norton is off and gone.
The boys in the Dart took the real hump with that, and although they’d normally let anyone go who genuinely pulled away from them – they had a point to prove. Eventually Vincent realised he would run out of petrol if he didn’t stop, so decided to pull over. The Dart eventually screeched to a halt by the Vincent-Norton, closely followed by those of us who could just about keep up. By the time the cops pulled in, Vincent had rolled himself a fag and was having a quiet smoke. This infuriated the Dart boys even more – especially as by now they had an audience. They realised they couldn’t book Vincent as we all knew the score and he had not only outrun them – he’d blitzed them.
So they decided to give his bike the third degree to try to find some roadworthy violation – which they didn’t.
Now then, just in case you’re not aware – Darts were made from fibreglass and in those days it was pretty evil stuff giving off flammable fumes long after the bodies were supposedly “cured”.
So while the cops are busy crawling all over the bike, Vincent having finished his fag, casually flipped it away. Now was it accident or by design ????? Said fag end finds it’s way into the Dart cockpit and 15 minutes later there’s an almighty whoosh of almost spontaneous combustion!! As the fire was inside the cockpit, the cops couldn’t reach in to get at the fire extinguishers. Yea – 30 minutes later - “Crispy Daimler Dart” with only some charred fibreglass and a chassis left ! Next one – “Dangerous Roy and the Manx Norton Engine”
In the pic with the Copper and the bike - the Zodiac is on the right behind him, and on the left is the Ford Anglia - complete with 1098cc side valve engine with 70 mph flat out !