Suzuki Samurai was Re: [geeks] SPARC proprietary (waaaay

[Kurt Huhn]

On Sun, 19 Oct 2003 22:48:34 -0600 (MDT)
Dan Duncan wrote:
> 
> It builds certain skills, but it can't prepare you for situations
> which probably won't happen on a track.  How often does someone
> on a track brake for a squirrel?  How many tracks have blind curves?

Well, instead of a squirrel, it's everyone in front of you braking for
the #04 car that blew a tire and lost it in the second turn.  The end
result is the same, even if the particulars differ.  As a matter of
generalities, the same things happen on a racetrack as they do on
surface streets, just much faster and with much less time to react.

Now, how many tracks have blind curves?  I don't know.  Willow Springs,
Watkins Glenn, and Laguna Seca have, what I would call, reduced
visibility turns.  At the speed you're moving on those tracks, they're
essentially blind, since you're on the knife's edge overdriving your
visibility.  There are more, I'm sure.  And my memory could be hazy
about any of those tracks up there, it's been a *long* time.

> Stuff in the lab doesn't always apply to real life, because in
> real life there are far bigger idiots.
> 

Bingo!  Which is my beef with "If you rear-end someone you're
automatically at fault because, obviously, you were following too
closely."  That doesn't necessarily hold true in The Real World where
Chaos Theory reigns supreme.



-- 
Kurt                        "I'm utterly clueless...." 
kurt at k-huhn.com                          Verisign VP Chuck Gomes