Sports car driver who did 127mph gets year's ban

A COMPANY director who tested his supercar at 127mph on a Scottish motorway prior to a world speed record bid has been banned from driving for a year.

Amateur racing driver Richard Billings was also fined 1,000 and ordered to re-sit and pass the extended driving test before being allowed back on the road.

Billings told Perth Sheriff Court his supercharged, 250mph Ford GT sports car would be left unused in a garage for the next 12 months.

The health and safety officer had earlier denied driving dangerously on the M90 between Perth and Inverkeithing in the 125,000 car in September 2008. He admitted doing 127.5mph but claimed the car was faulty and had started speeding up of its own accord just as it passed a police patrol.

Sheriff Michael Fletcher said he rejected Billings' version of events and found him guilty.

Billings, 46, from Huntington, Cambridgeshire, told the court he had spent 14,000 on a supercharger to make the car go faster ahead of a world record bid on the Bonneville Salt Flats in the United States.