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Supercar driver ‘clocked’ at 127mph near Kinross
Feb 12 2010
A ‘SUPERCAR’ capable of accelerating from 50-150mph in just two-and-a-half seconds was “clocked” at 127mph near Kinross.
Its driver told Perth Sheriff Court he was “running in” the £125,000 Ford GT on the M90 motorway, ahead of it being used in a bid to break the 300mph world land speed record at Bonneville Salt Flats in America.
Company director Richard Billings (46), who has been racing cars for several years, said the car had been fitted with a £10,000 supercharger to make it go faster.
It was to have followed another car bidding to smash the world record as a safety car.
He claimed he had been driving at 65mph when the accelerator jammed and the car’s speed increased dramatically as he passed the police speed check.
He said he had contemplated driving the car into the motorway barrier but flicked the pedal up and down several times and it became unstuck.
He then managed to bring it to a halt.
“I haven’t broken the law intentionally,” Billings told the court.
“I can’t see what I’ve done wrong. The experts would say I did everything right.”
He claimed that if his reactions had been slower, the “souped up” car could have reached a staggering 250mph.
Billings, of Huntington, Cambridgeshire, had denied driving dangerously and at excessive speed on the M90 at Gairneybridge, last September 24.
Sheriff Michael Fletcher rejected his account of events and found him guilty of the charge.
Billings was banned from driving until sentencing on February 24.
Feb 12 2010
A ‘SUPERCAR’ capable of accelerating from 50-150mph in just two-and-a-half seconds was “clocked” at 127mph near Kinross.
Its driver told Perth Sheriff Court he was “running in” the £125,000 Ford GT on the M90 motorway, ahead of it being used in a bid to break the 300mph world land speed record at Bonneville Salt Flats in America.
Company director Richard Billings (46), who has been racing cars for several years, said the car had been fitted with a £10,000 supercharger to make it go faster.
It was to have followed another car bidding to smash the world record as a safety car.
He claimed he had been driving at 65mph when the accelerator jammed and the car’s speed increased dramatically as he passed the police speed check.
He said he had contemplated driving the car into the motorway barrier but flicked the pedal up and down several times and it became unstuck.
He then managed to bring it to a halt.
“I haven’t broken the law intentionally,” Billings told the court.
“I can’t see what I’ve done wrong. The experts would say I did everything right.”
He claimed that if his reactions had been slower, the “souped up” car could have reached a staggering 250mph.
Billings, of Huntington, Cambridgeshire, had denied driving dangerously and at excessive speed on the M90 at Gairneybridge, last September 24.
Sheriff Michael Fletcher rejected his account of events and found him guilty of the charge.
Billings was banned from driving until sentencing on February 24.
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