More Unscrambled Three

As a young boy, Stuart Nunn travelled with his parents all across the country and even out to the continent to spectate at road race and motocross meetings. When he was still very young, David took Stuart under his wing, and they travelled together for many years. Like most who spent time in David’s company, Stuart has plenty of tales to tell and this is one of my favourites. 

‘Every time I went racing with Dave there would be a story to remember. We were coming home from a meeting in Belgium one day and Dave was towing a ‘Bickers chariot’ (one of the trailers he built in the late 1960s and early 70s) and we got a puncture in one of the trailer tyres. We were going to Calais to get a ferry and in them days you had to go with the boats. So, he says, “We can’t stop Stu, we’ve got to keep going.” Then after no time the tyre flew off, so I said. “Tyre’s gone, Dave, we should stop.” and he goes, “No, were alright.” So, he keeps going, at about 70 mph, with sparks flying up everywhere as if we’ve got a grinder behind the car. Again, he says, “I’ll keep goin’ boy. It’ll be alright.” Then the rim wore away and then we’re running on the brake drum. By this time, it would have been near midnight, and we’d got the ferry to catch, but I said, “Dave, mate. We’ve got to stop.” but he didn’t stop until the brake drum and brake had gone and we were running on the axle. This was on the motorway from Ghent to Calais and he jumps over a fence into this field and comes back with this post. Don’t ask how he found it, ‘cause it was pitch black. So, he wedges this post under the axle and we use one of the bike straps to fix it on and he drove it like that all the way along the motorway to Calais. When we got to the port, he just drove it straight on the boat and the people there just couldn’t believe it. He got more fun out of seeing their faces than he did racing all weekend.’