Petter Solberg
New Member
Written By: Dave Despain
Because lots of newspapers picked up on Wind Tunnel's "Worst Driver" poll, I wound up talking to several reporters last week, one of whom got me thinking, and you know how dangerous that can be. She made the point that driving race cars, which is what this show is about, is a lot different from driving street cars, which is what the poll was about. Well....yeah…but...
Race car driving is all about maintaining control under extreme conditions. That requires high levels of skill and concentration. I see a direct connection to street cars. In every traffic accident, there is a tiny window of opportunity just before impact when the outcome rides on a single issue...what does the driver do in that last available instant? Respond correctly - you can minimize the crash and perhaps avoid it completely. Respond incorrectly - you won't solve the impending problem and you may well make it worse.
Using a concrete example from a while back, do you remember all those Firestone tires that blew out on Ford Explorers triggering rollover crashes that killed over a hundred people? Remember the massive media coverage...all the editorializing about this horrible corporate crime perpetrated on innocent American drivers? Only once did I see anyone raise the most important question of all...what did the driver do when the tire blew?
"Car and Driver" magazine took an Explorer to the race track, rigged it so they could blow the front tire by remote control, did that repeatedly at speeds up to 70 miles per hour and never once put the Ford on its roof. Why? Good question. The magazine guys even tried jumping on the brakes and couldn't cause a flip.
So why did all those street Explorers go upside down? Why do Americans now believe that a simple blow-out will render them an innocent victim, incapable of controlling their vehicle? I'll tell you why...because there is a lot more emotional appeal and ratings potential in hyping a story about corporate malfeasance victimizing innocent people than there is in asking the hard question. Did 119 people die because somebody in Detroit screwed up or did they die because a bunch of bad drivers had no idea how to handle a relatively minor vehicle malfunction?
Am I excusing Ford and Firestone? Absolutely not. But if you're this close to a potentially fatal crash, are you gonna spend your tiny window of opportunity calculating your heir's settlement once the lawyers figure out who was to blame? Or do want to save your ass?
If it's the latter, we come full circle. You don't have to be a race driver to bring some basic skills and a little concentration to the task of driving. If we as a society were willing to acknowledge that fact, a lot fewer folks would die for no reason on America's highways.
http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/autoindustry/10701/
Because lots of newspapers picked up on Wind Tunnel's "Worst Driver" poll, I wound up talking to several reporters last week, one of whom got me thinking, and you know how dangerous that can be. She made the point that driving race cars, which is what this show is about, is a lot different from driving street cars, which is what the poll was about. Well....yeah…but...
Race car driving is all about maintaining control under extreme conditions. That requires high levels of skill and concentration. I see a direct connection to street cars. In every traffic accident, there is a tiny window of opportunity just before impact when the outcome rides on a single issue...what does the driver do in that last available instant? Respond correctly - you can minimize the crash and perhaps avoid it completely. Respond incorrectly - you won't solve the impending problem and you may well make it worse.
Using a concrete example from a while back, do you remember all those Firestone tires that blew out on Ford Explorers triggering rollover crashes that killed over a hundred people? Remember the massive media coverage...all the editorializing about this horrible corporate crime perpetrated on innocent American drivers? Only once did I see anyone raise the most important question of all...what did the driver do when the tire blew?
"Car and Driver" magazine took an Explorer to the race track, rigged it so they could blow the front tire by remote control, did that repeatedly at speeds up to 70 miles per hour and never once put the Ford on its roof. Why? Good question. The magazine guys even tried jumping on the brakes and couldn't cause a flip.
So why did all those street Explorers go upside down? Why do Americans now believe that a simple blow-out will render them an innocent victim, incapable of controlling their vehicle? I'll tell you why...because there is a lot more emotional appeal and ratings potential in hyping a story about corporate malfeasance victimizing innocent people than there is in asking the hard question. Did 119 people die because somebody in Detroit screwed up or did they die because a bunch of bad drivers had no idea how to handle a relatively minor vehicle malfunction?
Am I excusing Ford and Firestone? Absolutely not. But if you're this close to a potentially fatal crash, are you gonna spend your tiny window of opportunity calculating your heir's settlement once the lawyers figure out who was to blame? Or do want to save your ass?
If it's the latter, we come full circle. You don't have to be a race driver to bring some basic skills and a little concentration to the task of driving. If we as a society were willing to acknowledge that fact, a lot fewer folks would die for no reason on America's highways.
http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/autoindustry/10701/
