32 replies to this topic

[kartman24]

I read an interview with David Piper recently which said his Wife Liz was writing a book named There are Ferrari`s at the bottom of my garden. Does anyone have more info, was it ever published?.........Martin

[Vitesse2]

Last heard of in 2007 ...

 

http://forums.autosp...46#entry2621171

[mfd]

Is that going to be an original book or a replica?

[pilota]

Martin - this book hasn't been published so far.

There is a book about Piper. It's called " 'Pipes' David Piper and the Springbok Series".So not a full biography, but interesting nevertheless.

ISBN 1-919969-06-3

Nathan

Edited by pilota, 22 November 2014 - 20:37.

[chunder27]

Foreward by Mark Hales no doubt!

[Doug Nye]

Ooh, unkind. I believe this book is already out and about in South Africa - or have I imagined it?

DCN

[Tuboscocca]

Ooh, unkind. I believe this book is already out and about in South Africa - or have I imagined it?

DCN

....published by Ecurie Zoo (South Africa) Febr. 2007 ; authors are Greg Mills,Andrew Reed and (TNFer) Robert Young..

 

and yes the Hales joke was nasty!!

 

Michael

[Dick Dastardly]

Back in 2007 (?) I read about this book by Liz Piper in, I think, the Telegraph Motoring section where they called it "Fairies at the bottom of the garden" .....which I didn't understand until seeing this thread and "Ferraris at...." .....it makes sense now 

Edited by Dick Dastardly, 26 November 2014 - 14:23.

[Rudernst]

this thread would have been incomplete without Piper/Hales coming up 

 

Piper will have this court case connected with his name for eternity

 

R.E

Edited by Rudernst, 26 November 2014 - 13:05.

[bill p]

The full stories of David's many cars would be very interesting   

 

The "Hales incident" needs no further comment  

[mfd]

Why on earth should the court case be swept under the carpet?

[kayemod]

Why on earth should the court case be swept under the carpet?

 

Quite, to all except Mark Hales supporters, having read the court transcript, it seemed to me as if David Piper emerged without even a slight smear to his character. For anyone interested, there's a lengthy thread on Pistonheads on this subject, where contributions from lawyers clarifying the verdict and what led up to it, make very interesting reading. For all except Mark Hales supporters of course.

Edited by kayemod, 26 November 2014 - 16:05.

[Rudernst]

Kayemod

 

I fully agree with You on legal aspect

Piper won in court, absolutely no question about that

 

i come from elsewhere:

only a tiny percentage of business conflicts ends up in court,

most are settled before saving a huge amount of cost

but i takes two to settle

 

in this case, the cost ended up beeing several times to original dispute value

very typical outcome

 

the question is: was that really necessary to take it this far by these means ?

 

R.E.

[Doug Nye]

...For all except Mark Hales supporters of course.

One does not have to be a Mark Hales supporter to have expressed mild - emphasis 'mild' - disapproval of Post 5 above. As Mark would probably recall, if asked, I am not particularly "a Mark Hales supporter" since my opinion for what it is worth was - when he asked me one day - that he had been to an extent the author of his own misfortune...

But decent chaps don't kick another (repeatedly) when he's down, and nobody deserves such misfortune as he has experienced.

There but for the grace, etc...and for that reason I considered that flippant remark a borderline cheap shot. Nothing more.

DCN

Edited by Doug Nye, 26 November 2014 - 22:44.

[kayemod]

But decent chaps don't kick another (repeatedly) when he's down, and nobody deserves such misfortune as he has experienced.

DCN

 

In general I agree with you, but have you read the court judgement? All this has already been discussed at some length here and elsewhere, but the Judge's comments both during and after the trial were unusually forthright.

[Doug Nye]

One might say the same of the judgement...as far as I'm concerned its character assassination of Mark Hales proved for many who have known him for many years to be the most astonishing aspect of the entire process - simply unrecognisable, as well as surely unnecessary?

DCN

[john ruston]

Unfortunately Mark Hales ,who is a good guy,got involved with a man who is not known for taking prisoners!

Pity.

[ensign14]

One might say the same of the judgement...as far as I'm concerned its character assassination of Mark Hales proved for many who have known him for many years to be the most astonishing aspect of the entire process - simply unrecognisable, as well as surely unnecessary?
 

 

The thing most judges fear is being overturned on appeal.  The way to deal with that is to make a ruling about facts which dictate how they have to apply the law.  Which often means saying Witness A was totally unbelievable.  The Court of Appeal won't touch that sort of assessment with a barge-pole as it's down to how the witness appeared in the box - something the CoA cannot ever assess.  Even with a transcript.

[Dipster]

Unfortunately Mark Hales ,who is a good guy,got involved with a man who is not known for taking prisoners!

Pity.

Which reminds me of a French saying that translates along the lines of  "A bad (that is not wholly satisfactory) arrangement between parties is better than a good court case".  A high profile libel case in the courts this week in the UK again shows the veracity of this view. 

 

It is regrettable that either of these cases went to court. Except for the lawyers of course......

[Sharman]

Doug Nye, on 27 Nov 2014 - 10:39, said:

One might say the same of the judgement...as far as I'm concerned its character assassination of Mark Hales proved for many who have known him for many years to be the most astonishing aspect of the entire process - simply unrecognisable, as well as surely unnecessary?

DCN

But the law is an ass. I was unhappily involved with a solicitor who assisted another man to steal from me and, by lying, obtained a judgement against me, the solicitor's son, within a year, went to prison  for other crimes involving the same modus operandi. The law would not allow me to re-open my proceedings as there was a final judgement which I had been forced to accept. 

Doug can you PM me on another matter?

[ensign14]

The law ought to allow you to re-open proceedings on the basis that there was new evidence that you could not reasonably have discovered at the time.  Namely that the solicitor was bent.  Ladd v Marshall if you need a citation.

 

Not regrettable in my view that Mitchell has been bitchslapped by Mitting J. 

[john aston]

If nothing else the Piper /Hales case , and especially the discussion about it, revealed that too many people(especially journalists )  drive other people's cars without  a clear understanding of the risks  they are required or implied to accept, allied to a failure to insure adequately against those risks. And I have been guilty of ignoring all that whenever anybody has said ' want to try her out ?'   

[Dipster]

The law ought to allow you to re-open proceedings on the basis that there was new evidence that you could not reasonably have discovered at the time.  Namely that the solicitor was bent.  Ladd v Marshall if you need a citation.

 

Not regrettable in my view that Mitchell has been bitchslapped by Mitting J. 

I agree with your first paragraph.

 

Concerning the libel case I think it would have been better if another expression I heard used often by Army lads during my career in similar situations had been used by one party and followed by the other. That is "Wind yer f@@@@ing neck in". I once witnessed a Brigadier making a prat of himself given this counsel by a RSM. In this case the Brigadier had the sense to reconsider and no further repercussions followed. 

[kayemod]

When I think of parking a (borrowed) GTO at a plumbing shop in Egham in search of some soldered 3/4-inch joints - and leaving an LM overnight outside my parents' place in Guildford - and storing two F1 Ferraris, a 312T2 and the Spazzaneve merely under a tarpaulin on my gravel forecourt, open to the public lane - and hurtling around the Alpes Maritime in 'CUT 7' - or around Hampshire in assorted D-Types... - or playing chicken in a BRM V16 or Ferrari 312B round Donington - never with any genuine clue of the true insurance situation...well, it does make one gulp, and thank one's lucky stars that nothing ruinous ever happened...

DCN

 

Stop it Doug!

 

You're only trying to make the rest of us jealous.

[Dipster]

Stop it Doug!

 

You're only trying to make the rest of us jealous.

Trying to make us jealous? I admit to being wholly jealous to the driving bits.........   The storage? Not so much.

[Jack-the-Lad]

Back in 2007 (?) I read about this book

"Inside Track"?

[Doug Nye]

Uh-huh - I remember it. It's going to be the best we can make it...

(...and sorry, Rob)

DCN

Edited by Doug Nye, 30 November 2014 - 20:17.

[Jack-the-Lad]

Uh-huh - I remember it. It's going to be the best we can make it...



DCN

,  , and even

[Kpy]

Extract from an article by Richard Williams in Saturday's Guardian:

 

John Samuel, the Guardian’s sports editor from 1968 to 1986, who died earlier this month, aged 86 ....

 

At John’s funeral on Friday, I hope someone entertained the mourners with the wonderful story, an authentic Fleet Street legend, of what happened soon after John had turned his hand to writing road-test reports for the Guardian in the early 90s, when he was invited to a test track and given a chance to drive a Jaguar XJ220, a recently launched two-seater supercar said to be capable of topping 200mph. While accelerating hard and shifting up through the six-speed gearbox, John managed to find first instead of top gear, causing the engine and transmission of the £470,000 car to explode. ....

 

 

[Roger Clark]

It was David Piper's birthday yesterday. 84.

 

Correction:  it's today.

Edited by Roger Clark, 02 December 2014 - 14:44.

[63Corvette]

All of my dealings with David Piper have occurred at racetracks................to wit, at the Dallas Grand Prix track in July of 1984. 

I will say that David is a "Gentleman and a scholar" at least with me and mine. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting, conversing, and RACING with David Piper on that occasion

[TIPO61]

"Pipes" saved my worthless ass at the Grand Champion Series in Japan when I was Waaaaaaaaaaay over my head dealing with a crisis.

It was '72 as I recall and I'm forever in his debt for that help. Tony AtoZ was the driver and I was just the inept, loser, team manager.

[Doug Nye]

David has, most certainly, been incredibly helpful to many fellow Racers over many decades.  Reality doesn't deal in black and white.

 

DCN