Page 1: Sometimes a story is so good the reader doesn't want to look to closely into the details for fear of finding out it isn't true. Take this photo, for example, found at Jalopnik.com. A fellow posted the photo on Flickr of a ticket he allegedly received for driving 210 mph in a Bugatti on a California toll road. The images you see here are screen captures of what the Flickr page and the ticket looked like, but the gentleman's Flickr page was amended this morning, and the ticket photo has mysteriously vanished. Hmmm. Maybe his lawyer told him to take it down. Or maybe the incident didn't really happen.
The whole thing looked suspicious from the start. Scroll through the gentleman's Flickr photos and one might presume that he very much likes to display images of himself. But there is precious little in the photos that suggests the kind of lifestyle that might result in a high speed run down the road in a Bugatti. And tellingly, there are no pictures of the car itself.
Maybe it really did happen. But it sure looks fishy.
Page 2: This story is presented with some skepticism at RideLust.com, to wit:
“During its review of the CCR’s successor, the CCX, BBC television program Top Gear reported that the Koenigsegg CCR holds the fastest speeding ticket in the United States allegedly occurred in May 2003 in Texas. It was supposedly 242mph (389 km/h) in a 75mph zone. The car was involved in the San Francisco to Miami Gumball 3000 Rally.”
Go to Genctuning.org to watch the "Top Gear" video in which the host tries to put the Koenigsegg through its paces, and in passing, mentions the story about the speeding ticket.
But did it really happen? For something this noteworthy, there is amazingly little information about it on the net. All that turns up is a vague reference to wikipedia and an occasional link to a wikipedia entry which bounces us back to the Top Gear show.
Call this one a great story, but also call it unprovable.
Page 3: The internet is such a wonderful thing, and there is so much information available to us with a mere key stroke. Some complain about the lack of editors and the easy ability to fabricate a story. But contrary to what some say, Google is making us smarter. Anyone can fact check anyone else, and braggarts need to be extra cautious or else the people they are trying to impress may come away with an impression not nearly as favorable as the one they hoped for.
It does look pretty suss, I am sure that if he had got the ticket while on the Gumball Rally it would have been mentioned on the DVD/TV Show they make.
Posted by: Koenigsegg | January 10, 2010 at 08:10 PM
Good point, Koenigsegg.
Posted by: Geo | January 11, 2010 at 06:02 AM