When motoring was in its infancy, Britain s speed limits were, to say the least, overly cautious. In 1865 we had the notorious “Red Flag Act”, which limited motor vehicles to 4mph (2mph in town) and insisted on having a chap walk ahead warning the general populace of their approach. The limit was raised to 20mph in 1903, and in 1931 it was abolished all together. In 1935, a 30mph limit was introduced in built-up areas by that beacon of road safety, Leslie Hore-Belisha, Minister of Transport.
But out of town, you could pretty much do what you want – there was no maximum speed limit. You could tear up the M1 (built in 1959) as fast as you like. And people did. This was mostly fine – after all, the cars of the 1960s weren t especially fast. But along with families pootling sedately up to Northampton to see granny, there were a few who took liberties. Take the Thames Ditton-based maker of sports cars (and, at the time, sky-blue “invalid carriages”) AC Cars. In 1964, it wa