{"id":496010,"date":"2016-11-01T02:07:22","date_gmt":"2016-11-01T09:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=37516"},"modified":"2024-10-29T20:58:32","modified_gmt":"2024-10-29T20:58:32","slug":"my-friend-dave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/my-friend-dave\/","title":{"rendered":"My Friend Dave"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I could talk about David Purley, or Dave as I\u2019ve always known him, all day long, but for the sake of this piece I\u2019ll restrict it to a few lines to give readers a glimpse into my view of a truly great character and a very good friend. As boys, we both lived in Bognor Regis, West Sussex, or \u201cBloody Bognor\u201d as we called it\u2014not too far from Goodwood. I lived on the west side at Pagham, in fact I still have a property there today, and Dave lived on the east side at Middleton. We knew each other probably from the age of 16 or 17, I think he was two, or three years younger than me. He was a real \u201clad about town\u201d as his dad was very rich, owning the LEC Refrigeration factory, and provided employment for many of the local people. From our first meeting it was clear that Dave wasn\u2019t going to follow the \u201cnormal\u201d route anywhere. He was a man\u2019s man\u2026 and a woman\u2019s man too. He would always make his own decisions and do what he wanted to do. He would always turn up at the local disco on a smart \u2019bike, but not superly dressed, usually just T-shirt and jeans and the obligatory crash helmet\u2014he was a \u201cnatural\u201d on his machine. We became really close\u2014indeed, he married my girlfriend!<\/p>\n

A couple of years passed and then by degrees, especially when I got into racing, we\u2019d not see each other for maybe months\u2014of course he joined the Army, progressing to the Parachute Regiment and saw battle in Aden. I recall one particular incident when he came to visit my house on Boxing Day, we\u2019d have a small party after the local festive \u201cpram\u201d race. He arrived in his father\u2019s Mach 1 Mustang. We went for a drive on what would be fairly deserted village roads, given the time of year. I was at the wheel. I took a lovely sequence of sharp \u201cS\u201d bends a little too wide and fast, when out of the blue a motorcyclist appeared in the middle of the road heading straight for us\u2014he obviously didn\u2019t think there\u2019d be any other traffic around either. Fortunately, with a great deal of opposite lock, I managed to miss the cyclist. A rather relieved Dave said, \u201cThat\u2019s my dad\u2019s car Derek; you can\u2019t drive it like that. I\u2019ll get you back for this one day.\u201d Ultimately, he did. He landed his plane in a field just by the front door of my house\u2014the single engine light aircraft owned by the family was called the \u201cReims Rocket.\u201d He said, \u201cCome on Derek, let\u2019s go for a fly.\u201d We flew to a place called Bembridge on the Isle of Wight, a two-hour trip by car and ferry, but just a few minutes by plane. We landed at a local airfield and had a couple of pints and a pie in the local pub. On the way back, Dave asked me to put some books lying on the floor under my seat, his request had no meaning until he said, \u201cWe\u2019ll do a few acrobatics.\u201d It was a beautiful day, clear skies. He did a couple of rolls and loop-the-loops, by that time I wasn\u2019t feeling too good\u2014the drink and pie wanted to revisit!! I asked him to land on the beach and I\u2019d watch him. \u201cJust getting you back for Boxing Day,\u201d he said with a big grin on his face.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n