Driven To Crime: True stories of wrongdoing in motor racing

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A serial conman and deluded ‘Walter Mitty’ fantasist, James Munroe — born James Cox —appeared to typify dull, unremarkable respectability but led a very public and extravagant double life. For the second round, at picturesque Oulton Park in Cheshire on 3rd May, there was special dispensation for Goodwin to drive solo because the ‘self-made multi-millionaire’, as Munroe had started to describe himself, was reported by Autosport magazine to be ‘away on business’. Indeed, his abiding memory of the team patron was watching him leave the Silverstone paddock as pillion passenger on the back of a motorcycle and disappear into the sunset.

Inevitably, like most youngsters with similar aspirations, there was neither the money nor the opportunity to fulfil his ambitions. This time Munroe took the start, with the team’s strategy resting on the hope that he would hold up most of the field before handing over to Goodwin after a short but steady stint. As only 106 examples were ever built, its rarity combined with its eye-watering cost ensured that ownership was confined to a very exclusive club.After an enthralling battle in qualifying, Goodwin just missed out on pole position, beaten by Tim Sugden’s EMKA-run McLaren.

In defence of his 36-year-old client, Peter Warne told the court: ‘Munroe describes himself, or his creation, as “a monster which he could not stop”.In 1995, soon after joining the company, he had established ghost companies — Execom Management Services Ltd, Thinexcel Management Services Ltd and Business Visions Ltd — and registered them at his home address of Almond Close, Wokingham, with he and his wife listed as directors.

There’s no doubt that Crispian’s book is a tough read, sometimes depressing, often crushing our idols; people and sportsmen we looked up to. For the next round, at Brands Hatch on 20th June, Munroe again took the start for a short stint before handing over to his ‘pro’ co-driver with the car two laps down. The whole of this enterprise was funded by unauthorised payments by McGraw Hill,’ said Sally Howells for the prosecution. Fee said that this sum had been transferred to a Jaguar dealership and that the paperwork was in the name of James Cox. This prompted sympathetic colleagues to arrange for flowers to be delivered to the hospital only for their kindness to be repaid with the discovery that no child of that name was at the hospital.His fellow competitors found him a very ordinary, quiet and unassuming man who made no attempt to mix with them.

Inspired by James Hunt’s Formula 1 exploits with Hesketh and having become friends with the World Champion’s younger brother at school, he competed in Formula Ford during the late 1970s but had to face the reality that his results were not going to earn him a place in F1. Although AM Racing’s previous experience had been mainly in the preparation and running of historic Le Mans cars, Spires had put together a very strong group of engineers and the operation proved to be well up to the required standard. In front of a huge crowd, Goodwin sprinted into the lead from the front row of the grid as the pack flooded down into Copse Corner on the first lap. Remarkably, he found responsible employment yet again, in March 2015, by which time he was 51 and once again using his real name, James Cox. Clearly a troubled individual, his curious mixture of insecurities, ego and stupidity had combined to form a dangerous cocktail.By the time he had reached his 20s, the nearest he had come to owning any kind of ‘performance car’ was very much more modest.