Automotive

ThomasM
[PuristS]
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A Super Car versus a Driver's Car - one of the most succinct descriptions I've ever read

With the inexorable intrusion and "progress" of digital technology into the world of automotive (and powersports in general) engineering ( automotive.watchprosite.com ) as well as the inescapable kowtowing to the government and mandated safety and "green" quotient of cars, I find myself increasingly disenchanted with the resulting products, even as the "performance figures" break old milestones and produce new thresholds; ever lower lap times at the N'Ring and other race tracks around the world (the fastest are still fastest, but the unskilled and untrained are closing the gap not through skill or practice but tech aids...); "improved safety" through electronic nannies (what ever happened to good old "good driving?") and ever lower "nasty emissions" and semi-eternal half lives of toxic elements (I can't argue with this one...)

It's all been a somewhat vague, discomforting feeling, and for someone who loves to abstract and deconstruct; to find elemental points and broad sweeping trends, this vagueness has been bothersome. What is the wellhead, the underlying tailwind, of this developmental trend, and how can driving enthusiasts who lead the manufacturers allow this to happen?

It seems all too easy to blame the bean counters and regulatory compliance officers in the big marques.

Porsche Carrera GT, 918, and 959; their GT cars and the evolution of the GT3 from 997 to 991

Ferrari 288, F40, F50, Enzo, and now La Ferrari

Lamborghini; BMW...

and suddenly, I read this (emphasis added mine) -

"(As I write this, we're moving ever closer to driving the McLaren P1, LaFerrari and getting a proper drive on the road in the Porsche 918 - technological tour de forces, all of them)

But what about the cars that were specifically designed for the driver, and not EU cycles or outright lap times?

What about the cars designed to reflect the skill level of the pilot and not to showcase the technical brilliance of the manufacturer?"

Nick Trott, Editor, EVO magazine September 2013

Brilliant, simply brilliant.