Burnout ‘test’ costs boy racer his licence
A Kairanga auto electrician’s decision to test if a part on a Ford worked in front of a crowd of boy racers has put him off the road for six months.
Eli Stanley Lincoln, 18, pleaded guilty in the Palmerston North District Court on Tuesday to driving with sustained loss of traction.
He was caught by police doing the burnout in the early hours of August 20 on El Prado Drive, Palmerston North. About 50 other people were there watching him as he fish-tailed along the road. He told police he was ‘‘just checking if the diff worked’’.
Duty lawyer Mark Alderdice said the crowd was on the street, in an industrial area, to watch people do the kind of thing Lincoln did.
‘‘This was characterised by his over-enthusiasm in terms of - not to call it an addiction, but an appreciation of - motorsports. He knows what he did was illegal, but it was not done in a residential cul de sac. That’s no justification, but it was like-minded people congregating to do exactly this.’’
Lincoln, who works as an auto electrician, had no previous convictions, Alderdice said.
Judge Jim Large said Lincoln was ‘‘a young man who should have known better’’.
‘‘Your boss isn’t going to be happy today, because I have to disqualify you for at least six months.’’
People needed to get the message that doing burnouts on any streets was wrong, the judge said.
‘‘You may be with like-minded people in an industrial area, but that is no excuse.’’
Lincoln was fined $450 and disqualified from driving for six months.