Professional racing driver Ollie Webb, who has previously driven cars on closed circuits at more than 250 miles per hour, has been sent on a speed awareness course.
The Le Mans racer was caught speeding, doing 52 miles per hour in a 50 zone in the middle of the night.
In a post on Instagram, he gave details on the circumstances of his speeding faux pas. “Speed awareness course tomorrow, first one ever and for 52 in a 50 on the M6 at 3am in the truck lane.”
Not to have his festive spirits dampened, he added “nothing will get me down though, as it’s finally starting to feel like Christmas”.
In another previous post, he noted how impressed he was with French hypercar maker Bugatti’s 300 mph record earlier this year, and reminisced about his escapades at 250 mph and beyond.
There is an irony, then, that he should be pulled up for going just 2 mph over the limit. While no speeding offence is necessarily tolerable, ordinarily, there is room for manoeuvre.
Ten percent plus 2 mph is generally the accepted range for discrepancy, meaning you should technically be able to “get away” with 57 mph in a 50 mph zone.
One commenter on his Instagram post shared exacerbation about the strictness of the situation, saying “the world has gone mad. 2 mph over the limit! Where’s the common sense,” to which Webb responded, “exactly”.
Still, there is humour in the darkest of times. Commenters on his Instagram post haven’t wasted any time in having a laugh about it.
The old “who do you think you are, Stirling Moss!?” advert springs to mind.
Ollie has had a varied career in racing, starting with karting, moving through lower-level formula racing, hill climbs and into GT racing. He’s a European Le Mans Series Champion, and a Dubai 24-hour winner. He’s also spent time in the LMP1 hot seat at Le Mans.