Man arrested for driving at 88 mph in DeLorean says he wasn't trying to travel through time

[midian182]

What would you do if you were the proud owner of a DeLorean? It may be illegal on public roads, but many "Back to the Future" fans would probably try to get it to 88 mph. In the UK, that’s exactly what one person managed. But instead of traveling through time, he got arrested for his troubles.

55-year-old Nigel Mills was caught by police driving the iconic vehicle at 89 mph on an Essex highway. He denied that he was attempting to time travel, and no flux capacitor was found in the gull-winged car.

“I wasn’t trying to time travel,” Mills told The Guardian. “It was at 11am on Sunday and the road was completely clear.”

In the movie trilogy, 88 mph is, of course, the speed the Delorean needs to reach in order to activate the flux capacitor – the device that makes leaping back or forward through time possible.

Mills said he paid £22,000 (around $29,000) for the DeLorean as he was a car fan and his family enjoyed the movies. “When I’m out in it a few people recognize it, they slow down and take pictures – drivers take pictures out of their windows or try to film you and I get approached at petrol stations,” he said.

Mills added that he only takes the DeLorean out a few times a year, and was only having a bit of a “run around” when the police clocked his speeding.

Thankfully for Mills, his case at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court was dismissed by the Judge after the prosecution offered no evidence. Biff Tannen's involvement has not been confirmed.

Image credit: BRENTWOOD GAZETTE / SWNS.COM

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/66356-man-arrested-driving-88-mph-delorean-wasnt-trying.html

 

[davislane1]

Arrested for doing 89? What was the limit for the road?

 

[Reehahs]

60 mph if single carriage or 70 mph if dual carriage.

 

[Skyyy]

The U.K. still uses MPH? I clicked through to the article and no mention of KPH conversions.

I guess a full switch to the metric system is hard. They still measure beer in pints.

 

[DelJo63]

No flux capacitor?? that's a scarilegious! must have bought a fake

 

[Neutronman]

He would have been ticketed not arrested!

 

[madboyv1]

The U.K. still uses MPH? I clicked through to the article and no mention of KPH conversions.

I guess a full switch to the metric system is hard. They still measure beer in pints.

Yeah I'm sorta surprised too. At the same time the article would have probably reported his speed in mph anyways because of the significance/relevance of that particular speed to the car he was driving. The effect would otherwise be lost if they reported that he was going 143 kph.

 

[lipe123]

The U.K. still uses MPH? I clicked through to the article and no mention of KPH conversions.

I guess a full switch to the metric system is hard. They still measure beer in pints.

The "imperial" was INVENTED in Britain.
They will never properly change to metric, maybe in another 100 years.

Canada has supposedly changed to metric AGES ago and still everyone around 30 years or older use imperial, drives me absolutely nuts.

 

[amstech]

I got a 114 in a 55MPH zone in my old 1991 240SX.
Had a conditional license for about 6 months after.

My 1995 Z28 would do 145+MPH but I only did that once or twice on an open freeway with no cars in sight.

 

[Rippleman]

The U.K. still uses MPH? I clicked through to the article and no mention of KPH conversions.

I guess a full switch to the metric system is hard. They still measure beer in pints.

The "imperial" was INVENTED in Britain.
They will never properly change to metric, maybe in another 100 years.

Canada has supposedly changed to metric AGES ago and still everyone around 30 years or older use imperial, drives me absolutely nuts.

42 year old Canadian: I use a mixed bag of it... if distance on roads, I go by KM's. If I go by building something, I go by Feet/inches. If I go by gas it's in liters. If I talk about weight its pounds. If I go by height, its inches. etc etc.

 

[Jibberish18]

Two things if I were that officer. The fact that I as an officer of the law knowingly stopped at him JUST short of time traveling (the quantum worm hole was probably building up the energy to open) and the fact that a under powered heavy steel unaerodynamic box of a car even hit 88 mph would mean that I would have just given him a warning at most.

"Listen buddy, go find a back road somewhere to try this whole time travel bit on"

 

[EndlessWaves]

The U.K. still uses MPH? I clicked through to the article and no mention of KPH conversions.

I guess a full switch to the metric system is hard. They still measure beer in pints.

The "imperial" was INVENTED in Britain.
They will never properly change to metric, maybe in another 100 years

The strangest thing here in Britain is that we buy fuel in litres but measure economy in miles per gallon.

Thankfully it looks like we'll be going metric with electric cars, with Kilowatts and Kilowatt-Hours getting a lot of use. I don't even know what the imperial measure of battery capacity would be, a horsepower-hour?

Miles are probably hear to stay though, replacing them with the unwieldy four syllable kilometres would be an uphill battle and road budgets are already fairly stretched.

Any bets on whether we'll end up with Miles per Kilowatt or Kilowatts per __ miles?

 

[Adhmuz]

I got a 114 in a 55MPH zone in my old 1991 240SX.
Had a conditional license for about 6 months after.

My 1995 Z28 would do 145+MPH but I only did that once or twice on an open freeway with no cars in sight.

That's nice, but not really relevant...

This article is nothing more than a grab at people's attention. Someone also didn't read the original article properly by the looks of it just the title and skimmed through the article... "55-year-old Nigel Mills simply wound up with a present day speeding ticket."

 

[amstech]

That's nice, but not really relevant...
"

Shhhh. It's bedtime.

 

[Camikazi]

The U.K. still uses MPH? I clicked through to the article and no mention of KPH conversions.

I guess a full switch to the metric system is hard. They still measure beer in pints.

Human weight in stones, speeds in imperial and temps in metric, the UK is more messed up with units than the US.

 

[RBBrittain]

Since he's in the UK, he needs a TARDIS to time-travel. Preferably driven by a Time Lord.

 

[RBBrittain]

Even the U.S. uses kilowatts and kilowatt-hours for electricity (Doc Brown himself referred to "jigawatts" which is an alternate form of "gigawatts"), so I doubt electric cars will make the mile go away in either U.S. or UK. Especially if Brexit actually happens.

 

[Timonius]

The U.K. still uses MPH? I clicked through to the article and no mention of KPH conversions.

I guess a full switch to the metric system is hard. They still measure beer in pints.

The "imperial" was INVENTED in Britain.
They will never properly change to metric, maybe in another 100 years.

Canada has supposedly changed to metric AGES ago and still everyone around 30 years or older use imperial, drives me absolutely nuts.

I grew up with the metric system, yet sadly the only thing still imperial around me is height and weight. When will people get that metric makes you appear taller and lighter, lol.

 

[matrix86]

"Proud" owner? There's nothing to be proud about. Those cars are pieces of junk. There's only 2 reasons the car is popular:

A. Nostalgia

B. Wing doors

 

[Phr3d]

Guessing he didn't travel very far at that speed, as the lil' 4-banger has a near universal reputation for overheating..
bumr, dood

 

[Uncle Al]

I'm wondering if he had an original engine in it? The car was notoriously under powered, but the old small block Chevy V6 fit nicely in it and with a few minor modifications you then had a REAL sports car!

 

[Phr3d]

I'm wondering if he had an original engine in it? The car was notoriously under powered, but the old small block Chevy V6 fit nicely in it and with a few minor modifications you then had a REAL sports car!

we-uhll, it was faster and more reliable, but the Vega suspension would still make it difficult to compete with any Other early 80's sports cars, or euro-sedans for that matter.. (this ASSumes that you do not see an early 80's Corvette or Camaro as sports cars, of course).