TimeOut

ThomasM
[PuristS]
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a 599 owner (and sometime track driver) recommended...

"If you're looking for a classic text on the subject, I still think that nothing better has been written than Taruffi's original book on the racing line (The Technique of Motor Racing).  Taruffi is often credited with inventing the concept of the "line," and the book is a gem -- not a page-turner, but it's all in there."

Hi, Andrew,

This exchange was interesting for me, but in the end, less interesting for the driver in the video.

I am always interested in the meta of things - what assumptions and biases are behind what we see, feel, conclude, say and write, to give meta context for human interactions.

The driver, and most people, I daresay, are only interested in the specific topic at hand, on which in this case, most of the comments proferred were malapropros in the specific, even if they were correct in absolu.

example: To have even one alcoholic drink before driving within a short period of time impairs one's reactions, hence it is not a good idea to do it. So too not having enough sleep.  How many totally abstain from alcohol and other reaction and judgement impairing substances and actions before getting behind the wheel? How many have at least 8 hours of sleep before piloting a motor vehicle?

The driver hasn't had a high performance class in a long time, and it has been some decades since he has raced (with good results) and he admits some bad habits may have crept in during the intervening years. On the other hand, to make such a big todo about hand position at such ridiculously low speeds is akin to reading the riot act to someone getting behind the wheel who "only" slept 4 hours the night before, or who just had a fight with their wife/husband.  ?!? and the assumptions about rev range, speeds, and relative performance and percentage of utilization were just...wrong.

So, the takeaway is, the driver felt (perhaps unintentionally) offput by some of the snide comments (perhaps joking?) amidst the malapropos-for-the-circumstances-pedantry which seemed more than a little condescending; even though he sincerely kept an open mind as long as he could (at my urging)  that maybe someone else was seeing something he was missing.

I always find any exchange interesting, either for the literal topic of discussion itself, or for the meta dynamics revealed.

Maybe that's why I am so damned hard headed about keeping Belles Lettres open...

Cheers,

TM