The Great Train Robbery of 1963 is against the law so absurd that it successfully spawned its personal style of heist movies — however you most likely didn’t know that this iconic crime really has direct ties to the big-money racing collection, Formula 1. This is simply one of many many crimes and scandals you’ll discover in Crispian Besley’s new guide, Driven to Crime: True Stories of Wrongdoing in Motor Racing.
As the title implies, Driven to Crime is a reasonably simple guide; every of its 66 chapters follows a special legal (or sufferer of against the law), and plenty of chapters characteristic small insets that element among the different fascinating scammers and swindlers of the racing world. The size of the chapter will depend on the character of the crime and the profile of the person concerned, and since the chapters are organized alphabetically by legal or sufferer surname, you possibly can pop round to learn the tales that almost all fascinate you.
But for me, the story of Roy James was one of the fascinating. Growing up in postwar London, James actually discovered his area of interest in actions that allowed him to make the most of his small, nimble body to his benefit. On the extra official aspect of issues, that meant James was nice on the new sport of go-karting; on the opposite, it made him a superb cat-burglar, in a position to scale buildings and sneak by means of home windows with ease. And, having come from a poor household, his legal abilities enabled him to simply earn the cash he wanted to compete within the costly sport of racing.
As his racing profession superior, so did James’ legal profession. He bumped into Bruce Reynolds, chief of the dreaded South-West Gang legal enterprise, at a race assembly at Goodwood; James joined the gang’s fold, and he was one in every of a number of conspirators who dreamed up a plan to rob a Royal Mail prepare that might be carrying a lot of small payments that had been taken out of circulation.
The heist was beautiful for its planning and forethought; the South-West Gang intercepted the prepare, unhitched a number of vehicles, and continued additional down the tracks with the money-packed vehicles; they in the end compelled an entrapped prepare driver to cease at a bridge overpass the place vehicles had been ready to haul away what turned out to be £2.6 million in small payments. For reference, that’s £51 million, or about $64 million in immediately’s alternate charge.
But if the story, the South-West Gang was rapidly came upon. Roy James managed to flee and reside on the lam for a number of months, however his connection to the crime was unmistakable (his fingerprints had been discovered on a Pyrex dish that he’d stuffed with milk for a cat on the gang’s hideout), and he was sentenced to 25 years in jail.
So, the place’s our F1 connection? Well, James was launched in 1975 for good habits, however his ties to the racing world had been nonetheless intact. His aggressive abilities had waned after so a few years in jail, however James was in a position to attract on his childhood love of silversmithing to design a trophy for Bernie Ecclestone. That trophy, the Race Promoters’ Trophy, remains to be handed out to the very best F1 promoter annually on the FIA Prize Giving Gala.
And that’s simply one of the various fascinating tales in Driven to Crime. Obviously you’ll discover some massive names on this guide: Randy Lanier and Jean-Pierre Van Rossem are two of essentially the most infamous criminals in motorsport, however the guide even particulars Juan Manuel Fangio’s 1958 kidnapping by Cuban revolutionaries.
Those tales are incredible, and so they completely deserve a spot within the guide — however I feel Driven to Crime actually shines in its extra area of interest criminals. It’s chock filled with temporary interludes about membership racers or aspiring group homeowners who fell sufferer to their very own hubris properly earlier than their names ever reached the massive time. Those people embrace Jack Cottle, who was by no means an precise skilled racer however who drove his highway automotive onto a sizzling monitor, and Luis Fontés, whose promising profession was minimize quick when he killed a motorcyclist whereas racing drunk on public roads.
I had a number of minor grumps in regards to the guide; the chronological order based mostly on surnames is smart, nevertheless it was additionally a bit irritating when studying about, say, Ted Ball earlier than Joachim Lüthi, when it was Lüthi embezzled funds all of a sudden disappearing from the Brabham F1 group that opened the door for Ball to speculate different fraudulent funds into the long-lasting outfit — in the end resulting in Brabham’s loss of life.
Overall, Driven to Crime is a incredible romp by means of among the wildest characters that motorsport has had on provide through the years. I’d even go as far as to say it’s a must-own tome for any racing fan, irrespective of how informal; racing’s lengthy historical past of crime and scandal definitely helps contextualize many extra trendy issues, like Rich Energy’s sponsorship of Haas’ F1 group (and sure, group proprietor Gene Haas makes an look in Driven to Crime). Once you perceive that very good folks have been falling for false pretenses for many years, you come to higher perceive why related issues can occur immediately.
Source: jalopnik.com