The Anonymous Widower

An Elan and an Escort Cosworth

This tale happened many years ago, probably in about 1997 or so.

I had to go and visit a client at Motherwell just outside Glasgow and decided that the best way to do the journey would be to take the Elan up the A1 and then take the A66 across to the M6.  If you don’t know the A66 it is now mostly dual-carriageway road, fairly straight and rolls up and down the hills.  In those days, it didn’t have as much fast road, but it was still a good road for a burn-up.

I got to Scotch Corner at about seven in the morning and I remember it was warm and sunny, so the top was down and I’d intended to drive in a relaxed manner all the way to Penrith, at or around the legal limit.  A few miles from the A1, an Escort Cosworth appeared alongside me on the road.  These rather rare cars were instantly recognisable by their large rear spoilers.

The driver who looked to be in his late teens drove alongside me for a few hundred metres honking his horn and gesticulating at me.  He’d obviously nicked the car, as no-one his age could have afforded the insurance.  I suspected that he wanted to have a race.

He then pushed off showing the acceleration of the car.  I thought that was that, but it wasn’t!  He then slowed and braked in front of me.

So I thought that the best thing to do was get out of here!

Luckily he missed a gear as I went past and I booted it all the way to about a hundred and thirty or more.  After a few miles, there was a couple of bends and to say he was not a good driver was an understatement, as he fell behind.  I think luckily that he wasn’t very brave, as he seemed to be receding on the straight bits too.  After the last bend there was a Little Chef to the right, so I said that was enough and pulled through the gap in the central reservation and hid behind the cafe.  I heard him going through very fast!

After breakfast, I continued on my way and after a mile or so, there was some roadworks where they were dualling the road.  The Escort had been stopped by the Police and there was a heated discussion going on.  As I drove through, the kid pointed at me in a very agitated way.  He was shouting a lot too, as if to say it was all my fault.  But the Police were having nothing of it and then I saw him being hit with a truncheon and bundled into the Police Car.

I never heard anything more of it. 

But it was certainly the fastest, I have ever driven the Elan.

December 18, 2009 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Lotus Elan