Expat. Brit caught at 270 kph in his Ferrari near Granada.

As reported in the local Press, an expat originally from Britain  was stopped for speeding at a recorded 270 kph (167 mph) near Gandia, Granada Province recently.  This being 2, 25 times over the limit in a country where being 50% over any speed limit (this can mean 75 kph in a residencial area) warrants immediate arrest depending on the officers' concerned decisions at the time.  The driver has received a mixture of horror and admiration from varying sectors of drivers depending on their attitudes.  I have often written that I believe the golden days of motoring are long over, the days when I used to cruise at 140 kph (65 mph) on non-autovia roads in Britain (pre-Motorways) overtaking just about everything while riding my big British motorcycle (1959 B.S.A. 650 cc Super Rocket) with its standard specification (especially the exhausts) apart from some tuning of the cylinder head to improve gas flow, but there were no official speed limits then on open roads, even country winding ones.

I along with many others fail to see the sense in making and selling vehicles that can exceed the national speed limits by almost three times in these days of overcrowded roads and severe penalties for speeding with masses of money earning radar traps everywhere.  But I respect the right of anyone who can afford it to own and operate such vehicles, including motorcycles that can exceed 180 kph, as long as they do not constitute a danger to others.

I can remember in the early 1970s when the oil-producing countries tripled the price of oil causing economic chaos and in the UK national speed limits anywhere of a maximum of 50 mph (80 kph) causing driving for professionals to be a tiring bore.    The Press announced that the days of any car engine more than 3-litres was over, but as ever they were wrong and now 6-litre V10 or V12 engines/cars are available to anyone who can afford them.

Me. I could not own a Ferrari or similar for I would be soon locked me up also for what is the point of owning and driving such a car if you cannot use it as designed?  Perhaps as an investment?  Speed in itself is not dangerous as long as the driver is sensible about where he/she attains but many drivers are just not competent enough at 120 kph (except on an empty autovia, let alone such elevated speeds that the modern ordinary cars can achieve now.

Earlier this year I was reduced to tears when on Sky News, the announcement was made that a 1938 HRD 998 cc motorcycle, a rare but not outstanding beast, was auctioned in the UK for £210.000 (about €220.000).  I had three such machines but later models (1952 to 1955, one a Black Prince, an all enclosed in fibre-glass high speed for then, 120 mph motorcycle, all roadworthy and reliable models that I sold in 1987 when I was getting divorced to pay off my first wife so I kept the house.  I should have sold the house and kept the bikes.  I had one a 1952 Vincent Rapide for 27 years, completing around 250.000 miles on it, many with a sports sidecar attached that was a Mini-Cooper eater then especially in the wet.  You had to live then to realise the significance of that statement.

Happy days.

The above is my old 1952 Vincent "Shadowised" Rapide, (with a 33 year old Brian Deller, the bike sold in 1987 and now in Canada, with, for the ignorant motorcycle fans a triangulated rear suspension of the type used by this make since 1926. and "rediscovered" by the Japanese in the 1980s.   It would "burble" along at 85 mph (140 kph) with only 3 850 rpm from the quiet and very reliable 998 cc V-twin engine that was very smooth, economic (65 mpg or 4,2 l/100 km fuel consumption overall) and no oil leaks.  With 110 mph in third gear at 5.500 rpm, top speed on models with higher compression pistons that used higher octane (90 oct.) fuel better than the 80 octane available in Britain in the early 1950s, and top speed was as much as 125 mph (200 kph) if you could find a suitable road as most were still country winding roads, hence the very soft and flexible engine for extreme riding pleasure without constantly changing gears, but the Vincent-HRD also held numerous Worlds' and national speed records even up to the 1990s. A truly remarkable machine that still has more than surviving examples running on the roads than any other such old and refined machinery regardless of bike or car.  New spares can still be bought, even crank-cases, cylinder heads and tyres.  Ah,drivelaws 0509.htm such fond memories!

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Tables of penalties for breaking the motoring laws in Spain as at May 2009.

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New Motorcycle (moto) Laws in Spain.

The following laws for motos are to come into effect a dated.  They will most likely be the same throughout the EU and they are due to the high rate of moto-accidents.

Note that car licence holders class “B” may ride machines up to 125 cc after having three years experience after gaining the B-licence and 49 cc after one yea with a B-licence, as described in more detail in book the book.