140 replies to this topic

[Dennis David]

For your enjoyment, DD

Driven to Crime
by Robert W. Butsch

The Formula Junior race at Brands Hatch in 1963 that saw Mike Hailwood, piloting a Brabham in his first try at four wheel competition, finish fifth is remembered today only for being the advent of the British two-wheel ace's star-crossed Grand Prix career. However, the winner of that event went on to achieve considerable renown in another field, in the process drawing the attention of Scotland Yard and the Buckinghamshire CID.

Roy James, by many accounts including Hailwood's, showed great promise as a racing driver. He had begun in karts. At Brands Hatch in '63 he was early into a 17 for 19 streak in Formula Junior. But he faced the same hurdle that most up-and-coming drivers not independently wealthy face: where will the money come from? The fact that racing demands significant capital investment can be attested to even by those who have never had to deal with Bernie Ecclestone. Niki Lauda got himself fearfully in debt before he hit the big time. Nigel Mansell once mortgaged his home to keep racing. James, apparently larcenous by nature or upbringing, seems to have decided at a tender age to obtain his funds by methods requiring neither interest payments nor restoration of principle.

By 1962, car theft and second-story work had already earned him periodic confinement as a guest of Her Majesty's Government. In that year he and his mate, Micky Ball, like James short of stature and ethics and long on driving ability, made off with 144,000 pounds Sterling worth of someone else's jewelry in Monte Carlo. Upon their return to England they fell in with a gang planning to knock over an armored truck payroll shipment at Heathrow in November. They were assigned the duty of getting the money and the thugs away from the scene of the crime in two stolen Jaguars. In accomplishing this James was able to display some of his motoring skills. While exiting through a gate in the airport's perimeter fence he bounced off of an Austin A40 trying to block his way, but was able to keep going (here I shall stalwartly resist making any comparison with Jerez, 1997, except to observe that, although fraud was committed in Spain, at least nothing was stolen). Once on the main road he quickly overtook Ball, but, in a nervy move, balked traffic in the middle of an intersection whose light had just turned red allowing Ball and the money to get through. The robbery was a brutal affair, assorted clerks and armored truck guards having been coshed with homemade blackjacks, and netted the gang only 62,000 pounds. In the ensuing investigation Scotland Yard's Flying Squad recognized James and Ball as the only usual suspects possessed of the sort of flair displayed in the getaway. Ball quickly caved in, in the process betraying a couple of the other perpetrators but not James. Only Ball wound up doing any time. James used part of his share of the loot to purchase the Brabham that got him going in Formula Junior.

Buoyed by the notoriety of, if not the financial return on, the airport job, the gang set its sights higher. They planned to hit a night train that allegedly carried millions of pounds in bank reserves from Glasgow to London. They brought in another London gang in order to obtain the services of one of its members, a florist accomplished at rigging railroad signals to stop trains. Ball, indisposed as a result of the
Heathrow affair, was not in on this one, but Roy James was, in the process sinking his fledgling racing career while becoming a party to one of the most famous crimes ever committed.

To James's credit he doesn't seem to have catered much to the personal assaults inherent in stealing from people. Thus it was that he volunteered to master the art of decoupling railroad coaches, this activity being necessary to the planned robbery in order to facilitate moving the locomotive and mail coach away from the balance of the stopped train to a location offering road access for the getaway vehicles. He and a couple of other gang members were able to practice unnoticed in London rail yards until they achieved the desired expertise. His study of railroad technology also convinced James that he could operate the hijacked diesel locomotive should the driver prove to be uncooperative. Under a ruse he even hitched a short ride in a locomotive out of Euston station in order to observe the operation of the controls. However, movement of the locomotive and mail coach was so vital to the success of the enterprise that the gangs elected, despite James's ardent disapproval, to bring in an elderly train driver hankering after a little adventure to do the job. James was undoubtedly unhappy in the gangs' choice of vehicles as well. Not Jaguars this time, but two old Land Rovers (only one of which was stolen) and an army surplus truck. The gangs also declined to exploit James's road racing talent. Due to the imposing bulk of the material they intended to steal and the impossibility of Ball providing assistance to James in any long distance getaway, the gangs decided to purchase a small farm house near the proposed site of the robbery to serve as a staging point. From here the caper would be launched, and here the money would be stashed until things settled down. At least James was spared the indignity of being given charge of the proposed transport away from the farm house for the money: a horse trailer.

The whole gambit was meticulously planned, and testament to the adage that if criminals would put half as much effort into legitimate work as they put into crime, they could be rich without the inconvenience of having to go to jail. The train was duly stopped by rigging the selected signal, which was located on an isolated stretch of track in Buckinghamshire. The fireman was abducted as he returned from the signal's disabled call box. The cab was stormed and the driver bashed nearly to unconsciousness. James and another gang member decoupled the back end of the train on cue. The gangs' driver was unable to get the locomotive moving, as was the train's groggy driver, until enough vacuum developed, but this did not upset the schedule. The thieves smashed their way into the mail coach, then formed a bucket brigade to get the money bags moved from it to the army surplus truck. They were even disciplined enough to leave some money behind when their prearranged time limit had been reached. They convoyed back to the farmhouse as the sun was coming up. Roy James, in the most famous drive of his life, motored along with uncharacteristic sedateness at the wheel of a Land Rover. Bear in mind that this was August of 1963 and you realize that they got away with a staggering amount of money: 2.5 million pounds.

In complex undertakings people can make mistakes; and, as James could have attested to based on his motor racing experience, if they make mistakes where the risk factor is high the consequences can be severe. One of the robbers told the train crew to remain still for 30 minutes, clueing the police to the possibility that the gangs were hiding out near by. At the farm house some of the robbers occasionally forgot to wear their gloves, thereby leaving behind fingerprints. Others elected to paint the truck since it had been seen by one of the train's crewman. Paint drops and splotches wound up in assorted places including on the bottoms of shoes. Mail bags from which money had been removed were disposed of haphazardly

The thieves, spooked by radio reports that the police were scouring the general area, made an early, disorganized exit from the farmhouse, ultimately abandoning the horse trailer plan. James retrieved his personal Jaguar, made high speed runs between London and the farm house carrying money, and spent an entire working day at his garage in order to avoid arousing anyone's suspicion by an unexplained absence. He nevertheless found time to deliver 12,500 pounds of his own proceeds to Micky Ball's home.

When the Buckinghamshire police, acting on a neighbor's tip, discovered the farmhouse with its embarrassment of evidence, the game w

[Paul Hartshorne]

James re-established a connection with motorsports after he served his sentence for his part in the Great Train Robbery: Whilst in prison he studied silversmithery and after his release was commissioned by Tom Wheatcroft to design and make some trophies to be awarded to race winners at the newly re-opened Donington Park.

Best

[Eric McLoughlin]

I saw James race at the 1979 Phoenix Park meeting in Dublin. He was driving in the Formula Ford race. He was probably the oldest entrant in the field. He spun off right in front of where I was standing. A few spectators who had ignored the marshalls (it was Ireland after all)and were sitting on the grass on the wrong side of the barriers had to beat a hasty retreat as James gyrated towards them I think that he gave up motor racing for good shortly afterwards.

[Eric McLoughlin]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Eric McLoughlin:
[B]I saw James race at the 1979 Phoenix Park meeting in Dublin. He was driving in the Formula Ford race. He was probably the oldest entrant in the field. He spun off right in front of where I was standing. A few spectators who had ignored the marshalls (it was Ireland after all)and were sitting on the grass on the wrong side of the barriers had to beat a hasty retreat as James gyrated towards them.I think that he gave up motor racing for good shortly afterwards.

[FlagMan]

Rumours still abound regarding the identity of the 'Mr Big' behind the robbery - someone who went on to make a fortune from motorsport...

I have also heard that the vehicles used during the robbery where purchased from a certain used car dealer who also has also gone on to make a name in connection with motor sport...

[Ray Bell]

Ronald Biggs was one involved. He escaped and came to Australia at one point, then found his way to Brazil or Argentina as police closed in. There he married and fathered a child (maybe the 'married' was an exaggeration?), which protected him from extradition.
The question I always ask (the kid must be nearly 20 now) is how does the child feel - having come into being to protect a criminal?
No motor sport connections here, I'm afraid.. but if you go to visit him you can soon find your way to look at the roads used by those who raced against Fangio in the Gran Premios of the 30s and 40s.

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Life and love are mixed with pain...

[CVAndrw]

Originally posted by Ray Bell:
Ronald Biggs was one involved. He escaped and came to Australia at one point, then found his way to Brazil or Argentina as police closed in. There he married and fathered a child (maybe the 'married' was an exaggeration?), which protected him from extradition.
The question I always ask (the kid must be nearly 20 now) is how does the child feel - having come into being to protect a criminal?

I just saw said child (a handsome and articulate lad, I believe named Colin?) on a documentary about Carnaval in Rio; apparently he's the director or at least a principal of one of the big time Samba crews. My favorite Ronnie Biggs sighting, though, is his palling around (and making his singing debut) with Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols in Malcolm McLaren's (hah! an F1 reference after all!) infamous film The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle.

[Darren Galpin]

Ronald Biggs does indeed live in Rio de Janeiro, and can usually be found in the British Pub there, usually in the company of British builders and theives who are outside of the UK in order to hide for a while.

[Ray Bell]

Wonder how much of the money he has left?

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Life and love are mixed with pain...

[BRG]

Leaving aside the Great Train Robbery, what other racing drivers have found themselves on the wrong side of the law?

I can think of John Paul Jnr (banged up for drugs) and there was the British touring car team principal (Vic Lee?) -also drugs. Bertrand Gachot got in trouble for using a CS spray on a London taxi driver (well, who hasn't?).

There must be more - perhaps we can erect a Hall of Infamy?




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BRG

"all the time, maximum attack"

[Darren Galpin]

Speeding is usually a common crime for race drivers. Damon Hill was nicked for doing more than 100mph on the M40 between London and Oxford, and I remember Alain Prost being nicked for speeding in his Porsche in France.

A few years ago a British national rally driver was featured on ITV's "The Cook Report" for breaking up stolen cars - I don't know what became of him.

[CVAndrw]

I'm sure I've recently mentioned this, but here goes again:

As racing-obsessed teenagers in the weird, futuristic city of Brasilia, Nelson Piquet and Roberto Moreno were ringleaders of a gang which would "borrow" vehicles (primarily VW's) for the evening, stage an impromptu Grand Prix on the deserted ring roads outside the city, and then- this was the important part- return each car exactly where they'd nicked it, even if somewhat the worse for wear.

The municipal polizei were outraged by these youthful offenses against public decency and property rights, with the result that one evening, as Nelson came rocketing over a hill, he was confronted by a full-scale roadblock of Brasilian cops, weapons locked and loaded. Nelson promptly executed a perfect handbrake turn and exited in the direction he'd come, I assume both impressed and amused. He was really impressed, though, upon returning the borrowed Beetle, to discover a sizable bullet hole in the rear window fairly close to the general latitude and longitude of the back of his head, put there by one of the frustrated gendarmes.

Had his aim been a trifle better, let's see:

1. Would Reutemann be President of Argentina?
2. Would Prost (with five Championships) still be Powered by Renault?
3. Would Mansell (with three Championships) be a kinder, mellower, less frustrated soul, securely established in Dennis David's Hall of Fame- albeit with a more beautiful and intelligent missus, having finally realized the absolute truth about childhood sweetheart Roseanne?
4. Would Jean Alesi be a SIX time World Champion for Williams?
5. Would fewer cynics be smirking “we told you so” about poor Rubens Barichello’s recent clock-cleaning by Schumacher and Coulthard at Imola?
AND:
6. Would Martin Brundle actually have won a GP?

[BRG]

and.....


7. would Bernie Ecclestone of Brabham have risen to head of FOCA and then to Emperor of the World and Controller of All TV Rights?

What was the name of that policiero??? I'll give him a good smack next time I'm in Brasil for missing...



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BRG

"all the time, maximum attack"

[Ray Bell]

Did you HAVE to break Roseanne's heart?

And what's the "clock cleaning" business?

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Life and love are mixed with pain...

[Marco94]

Jan Lammers once was chased around the Netherlands being caught speeding. He is the best race driver to comefromHolland, but against airplanes even he was without a chance.

Lets not forget the most famous speeding ticket. Ayrton Senna in 1992. After being stopped, the constable walked to the car. He had not had a good look at the driver, and being aware of Mansell mania, he started the conversation with the legendary words "Who do you think you are, Nigel Mansell?" The reply: "No, I'm Ayrton Senna."

Marco.

[Huw Jenjin]

This thread is probably going to end in tears for somebody, so here, no names mentioned, but two Rally team managers and previous top competitors have stood accused of redistributing their employers funds without due care.
Also an F5000 driver went away i believe for importing tobacco products in the tubes of his cars.
There was a huge amount of skullduggery going on around BrandsHatch in the late seventies and early eighties.
Quite a few F1 sponsors/theme owners have either started or finished their careers on the wrong side of the bench.
Then there is Colin..............

[gunner]

Ray Bell.

There was a race driver from australia who was racing in the States and murdered someone. While cornered trying to escape into Canada he killed himself. Do you know who he was?

Gunner

[Ray Bell]

Must have been what we white people call a 'Speedway Grub' - but then again I'm not all white... Does Barry know of this abberation?

[Barry Lake]

Nope. That's a new one on me. Tell me more.

[gunner]

The story was on an FBI TV program about fugatives. They gave the mans name but I have forgotten it. He was racing in Florida and murdered his girlfriend I think.

Gunner

[gunner]

Ray.

This is the second time that you have brought up that you are not all white!! Why not quit beating around the bush and tell us the whole story?

Gunner

[Ray Bell]

Are you keeping count, Art? Well, back in the 1860s, my great-great-grandfather was setting up a farm at Nabiac. Well, along with the oats he planted, there were some wild oats, but the girl who got them didn't like being stuck with the crop, so she left the little bundle wrapped in pink on his doorstep and took off for parts unknown.
To enable him to keep sowing oats (both kinds), he went to the local tribe and organised a babysitter, who became the matriarch to his progeny.

[gunner]

Thanks Ray.

No big deal You mentioned something to me about this some time ago and I didn't know if you were serious or not. Hell if we all go back 140 years we would find that someone was plugging someone along the way. I think that it is nice that you are proud of your heritage.

Gunner[p][Edited by gunner on 06-05-2000]

[Ray Bell]

My father's aunt once told me of how careful she and her sisters had to be - that the populace were always ready to pounce if they saw any impropriety among these quarter-caste girls.
What we want to know is the identity of the shiela that thought he was good enough for - how do you put it? -'plugging' but not for the long haul.
The girl he took on for the long term was eleven when she came into his life, by the way, my great grandmother was born whe she was thirteen. They died the same year, 1922. That's even before your time, Art.

[gunner]

Ray.

To me this is very interesting. While running my Amateur Radio station I have talked to people in nearly every country in the world and over half of the islands. But you are the first with your heritage and this means something to me. I have hundreds of QSL cards from these people and I consider them prize posessions. My most prized card is from an old japanese Amateur Taro Yagi the most famous amateur in the world. Well enough of this and back to racing.

Gunner

[Vicuna]

A now departed British based Aussie was a get away driver.

At least once!

[KJJ]

Who he? Some time ago in one of his web columns Mike Lawrence mentioned a racer who was a get away driver with Roy James on the Heathrow robbery in the early 60s. Said that he was later killed in a race but reached F1.

[Vitesse2]

Putting the two posts above together: Hawkeye?

[doc540]

gunner, the **** you're referring to was a serial killer here in the U.S. As an amateur he drove in the 24 Hours of Daytona(?) before crisscrossing the country raping and killing young women. His name was Christopher Wilder, son of an American naval officer and Australian mother.

He came through my home town, abducted and murdered the daughter of a friend of mine. Terry Walden was a young mother of two. Her heartbroken father never recovered and died just a few years later.

After abducting another young girl in California, he travelled back back to the East Coast and moments before crossing the Canadian border was spotted by a state trooper who struggled with him for Wilder's .357 magnum. The trooper was shot, but managed to shoot Wilder through the heart, or the organ he had in his chest euphemistically called a "heart".

The trooper called my friend and told him in confidence that there would never have been a trial. He was intent on taking him out when the struggle ensued.
Christopher Wilder Bio



Another less violent driver to be incarcerated is Randy Lanier, an IMSA sportscar driver of some note and 1986 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year. He's serving life without parole for his part in a Columbian pot smuggling operation. He was never charged with a violent crime, yet has remained in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary since 1988 or 1989. I think he went back on a plea bargain deal with the feds, and they made him pay dearly for it. His subsequent appeals have all been denied.

I correspond with him frequently. And I'm sorry to even mention him in the same post as a predator like Wilder. Lanier spends most of his time working out and playing chess in a maximum security unit. After dubious suspicion of a planned escape in 1996, he spent two or three years in solitary confinement.

[Vicuna]

Originally posted by Vitesse2
Putting the two posts above together: Hawkeye?

;)

[JtP]

Originally posted by Darren Galpin
Ronald Biggs does indeed live in Rio de Janeiro, and can usually be found in the British Pub there, usually in the company of British builders and theives who are outside of the UK in order to hide for a while.

Ronald Biggs is now detained at Her Majesty's pleasure, having returned to Britain last year. He is effectively terminally ill and was accompanied by his son who is in his late 20s. His son had all sorts of problems remaining in Britain. Obviously made the mistake of entering the country legally. RB's son, if my memory serves me correctly is a qualified doctor.

RB's son took an abnormally long time to qualify, as long as he was recieving an education, RB could not be deported. When an extradition treaty was made between Brazil and Britain, Biggs could not be extradited retroactively.

Bruce Reynolds was on the tele with his Mk1 Lotus Cortina which he used to plan the robbery. On Reynolds conviction in 67, the car was sold by the Crown and was purchased by Colin Chapman.

[David M. Kane]

Someone told me that Tony Dean might have involved in the Great Train Robbery too, but wouldn't he be a little too young for that group and time
period?

[Jim Thurman]

Originally posted by Vicuna
A now departed British based Aussie was a get away driver.

At least once!

Gavin Youl?

The driver gunner is mentioning on the FBI, connected with murdering his girlfriend, is likely the infamous John Paul Sr.

Christopher Wilder - always reminds me of something. I was living in the San Francisco Bay Area at the time of the manhunt for him, and with their attitude towards Auto Racing - the local papers had huge headlines "Fugitive Race Driver Sought in Killing Spree" and the like and local TV was no better.

Curiously, at the same time, their was a manhunt for a free-lance TV news cameraman who had worked in several states and had been linked to at least two or three murders of women as well...

Where did this item appear?...tiny print, next to last page in the newspapers and not at all on TV.


Jim Thurman

[David Beard]

Originally posted by David M. Kane
Someone told me that Tony Dean might have involved in the Great Train Robbery too, but wouldn't he be a little too young for that group and time
period?

I thought he did something naughty with cigars.....

[JtP]

Originally posted by David Beard


I thought he did something naughty with cigars.....

Tony Dean if my memory serves me correctly had a sort of King Edward cigar sponsored F5000 car.

[doc540]

"The driver gunner is mentioning on the FBI, connected with murdering his girlfriend, is likely the infamous John Paul Sr."

I wasn't aware of JP Sr. being charged with murdering his g/f. While a fugitive from Federal charges of drug smuggling he tried to murder a potential witness who survived.

Do you or anyone else have anything factual about him murdering a g/f?

I know his son served his prison term and was able to drive again.

[Vitesse2]

Lots about John Paul Snr & Jnr in this thread, plus some basics on Tony Dean and his cigar smuggling escapades ...
http://www.atlasf1.c...&threadid=26714

[Ray Bell]

Why the mention of Gavin Youl?

At that time, Aussies in England included Frank Gardner, Paul Hawkins, Brian Muir, David Hobbs and more...

[Jim Thurman]

Originally posted by Ray Bell
Why the mention of Gavin Youl?

At that time, Aussies in England included Frank Gardner, Paul Hawkins, Brian Muir, David Hobbs and more...

Ah...the connection was mention in a book that he was a member of same team as Roy James.

My apologies to the Youl family.

The cylinders in my brain are still not all functioning well...

...or functioning at all well may be more apt.


Jim Thurman

[lanciaman]

The Whittington Brothers, former owners of Road Atlanta, sports car racers and Indy car drivers, went away for drug dealings. Their source of income for P51s and assorted racecars including multiple unsponsored Indy cars was always a subject of speculation, suggesting again that crroks who keep a low profile have a better chance of staying on the outside.

And there was a fairly successful dragracer during the late 60s who reputedly put an end to people for money.

[Ron Scoma]

Originally posted by BRG
Leaving aside the Great Train Robbery, what other racing drivers have found themselves on the wrong side of the law?

There was this guy, Scoma I think his name is, who was travelling at 145 mph, in his 1970 Ghibli, on his way to Cannes a few weeks ago. He wasn't caught (until now I suppose...).
Some other guy named Montoya got pinched for doing around 200 kph in the same country around the same time so I hear. Maybe he was trying to catch up to that Scoma guy, who knows....

Ron Scoma
Member:
Lake Drive 100 MPH Club 1988-2003
Interstate 90, 185 MPH Club 1989
French A8 145 MPH Club 2003
and
Illinois (USA) Secretary of State "Revoked License" Club 2000-2002

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by lanciaman
The Whittington Brothers, former owners of Road Atlanta, sports car racers and Indy car drivers, went away for drug dealings. Their source of income for P51s and assorted racecars including multiple unsponsored Indy cars was always a subject of speculation, suggesting again that crroks who keep a low profile have a better chance of staying on the outside.....

A thread a couple of years ago went into some detail about the Whittingtons... posts by Buford especially.

[David Beard]

Originally posted by Ray Bell
Why the mention of Gavin Youl?

At that time, Aussies in England included Frank Gardner, Paul Hawkins, Brian Muir, David Hobbs and more...

David Hobbs

[Peter Morley]

Originally posted by FlagMan
Rumours still abound regarding the identity of the 'Mr Big' behind the robbery - someone who went on to make a fortune from motorsport...

I have also heard that the vehicles used during the robbery where purchased from a certain used car dealer who also has also gone on to make a name in connection with motor sport...

7. would Bernie Ecclestone of Brabham have risen to head of FOCA and then to Emperor of the World and Controller of All TV Rights?

Odd that these 2 items should appear so close together!

[No27]

Interesting speculations on that secondhand cardealer!

But there's another teamowner who had some speculations going on the legality of his business.
After Collin Chapman died rumours said he lived under a new identity in Brazil. His involvement in DeLorean's business forced him to do so. Also Chapman had David Thieme's Essex as a sponsor in the early eighties. Now this Thieme had some atmosphere around him as well.

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by No27

After Collin Chapman died rumours said he lived under a new identity in Brazil.

Yeah right - along with Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe We've shot this one down so many times, it must have more holes in it than a colander!

[Catalina Park]

Originally posted by David Beard


David Hobbs

You mean you have never noticed the accent!

I think David Hobbs was born in England and his family moved to Aus and he started racing in Aus before moving back to England.

[Jimmy Piget]

André Jahan, prewar Amilcar racer and a garagist, became involved in a French sect (similar to the KKK ?) and, as often in the affairs with sects, involved in a ritual murder on a young lady. I do not know more on this case.

Riseley-Prichard died of Aids in Thailand and was propably happy of it : he was charged for sexual assaults on kids under 15.

It was told (see another TNF thread) that Pola (the 1948 Ferrari F1 one-off driver) had flied to Venezuela in order to escape a trial for murder.

I'll stop today on this : remember too André Guelfi, recently involved in the Elf affair.

[Rainer Nyberg]

Swedish Rally driver Johan Kressner, 39 was recently sentenced to 6-years in prison and a 3 million EUR fine, for his role in smuggling 260.000 litres of alcohol from Sweden to Norway. The estimated profit for the smugglers was 18 million EUR.

[lanciaman]

Originally posted by Rainer Nyberg
Swedish Rally driver Johan Kressner, 39 was recently sentenced to 6-years in prison and a 3 million EUR fine, for his role in smuggling 260.000 litres of alcohol from Sweden to Norway. The estimated profit for the smugglers was 18 million EUR.

Must be more boot space in a Subaru SRX than I thought!