Pedestrian killed in Waltham 10/19/16

You know how the conversation went yesterday. The Waltham police social media manager reports that twitter activists are complaining about a police statement made at the scene of a pedestrian killing. “Listen you need to be careful about what you say because people online are sensitive. I understand what you’re saying but these people get upset sometimes over nothing”

(or something to that effect)

You often see these stories end with:

• The investigation is ongoing
• Charges have not been filed
• The accident is still under investigation
• No further updates
• No further updates…...

..until the accidents fade from our memory, or another one happens and we mentally move onto the newest incident, leaving the last to quietly disappear. I noticed this after Alexander Montsenigos was killed by a dump truck in Wellesley. Details weren't reported, investigation ongoing until no criminal charges were filed for a person with a 7 page long driving violation record who left the scene of the crash.

The internal message at police departments must not be the same as the outward-facing one and because of that nothing ever really changes. The connection between police reports on accidents and feedback to the DPW and traffic engineers must not be strong because nothing ever really changes. Perhaps we look to police when someone is killed and not at the infrastructure that helped to cause the crash. Who will hold developers responsible? Police? It’s a confusing circle and everyone is blameless except the guy who might not have looked, or the woman with no helmet, or the guy that wasn’t crossing in the crosswalk. I could absolutely flood this essay with links but a few come to mind. They are all recent.

A few weeks ago a woman was hit on her bike in Sudbury by a tractor trailer.

The police statement on the crash was mostly apologizing for traffic problems but the comments on the statement were the most confusing part. “Thanks for keeping us safe!” wrote one enthusiastic Facebook supporter. This is my point. How is this keeping anyone safe? The entire system has failed when the reported result of a woman being hit by a truck is traffic, and not the woman who was hit. This woman just got hit by a truck. The crash has already happened and the police responded. The role of the police was completely reactive. No one was kept safe.  It’s likely that there is an investigation that will ultimately yield nothing.  On that same road, only a year before, a cyclist was killed during an event that was permitted by the town.

Since the first incident the road was completely repaved and relined in Old Sudbury center without a single allowance for a bike commuter.

Let’s look at some hard truths.  Who has to die to get massive sweeping change to happen?

A kid on a bike? (Nope)

A transportation czar? (I bet a lot of people read the article because irony is appealing)

A police officer?

Good question. Probably yes. They don’t ride bikes much around here.  Usually I see a couple of police mountain bikes on the bike rack of the police SUV but they only get ridden for parades. If a policeman is hit on a detail (looking for proximity to traffic) the driver is usually charged. I was passed on the highway by a drunk driver a few weeks ago who nearly hit a police car on detail and it made me feel terrible for the officer on duty. The cop didn’t notice at all and there was no way for me to indicate to that cop “go get that person!” It makes me appreciate the risks they take on the job. The risks that police take every day are actually part of their job. That doesn't’ make them less brave or deserving of less protection however it should make them aware of people who are not paid to stand in a crosswalk and therefore not make excuses for drivers that hit them. It should make them hyper-aware allies. It’s a strange thing that police are a revered group of risk takers when they are paid to take risks that the public is told to just accept.

Yesterday

Let’s  focus on yesterday’s accident. Here are the facts- a guy named Greg who worked in the kitchen at a local office park got off the MBTA bus as he likely did for the last 30 years and was hit by a speeding car as he crossed Wyman street in the crosswalk. He was knocked out of his shoes. He died. Greg is dead. Another person went to the hospital who was also hit. A police statement blaming the victims in this scenario assumes that both of these unrelated men threw themselves in front of a car that was traveling at high speed, both making the same mistake, both not looking..whatever. Two people were hit. A police statement blaming the victims ignores every story of every detail cop being hit while at work.

That was Waltham Sgt. Gallant reminding pea brained office workers that cars can kill people, in an article about a car killing someone. He seems to default to victim blaming. I found another article, (MANY actually) below, about a cyclist that was nearly killed in Waltham not long ago when instead of talking about the driver that pulled out in front of the cyclist from a side road he decided to remind all those pesky cyclists that you really need to wear a helmet.

Anyway, here’s what I think happened yesterday. I was not there when the crash happened. I think these two guys had just got off the bus and walked in front of it to cross the street. The SUV's driver, who is unnamed for whatever reason by the press, decided from the looks of it, to pass the bus on the double yellow and at high speed, hitting them both. There was no chance, if this were the scenario that the pedestrians would have seen the SUV coming. Look at the angle of the Lexus below. He’s returning from the oncoming lane.

Above is a photo of the street from the direction of travel. Note the bike “lane” I use every day. Note also, for kicks, where car tires occupy the street in relation to that "lane." At the crosswalk there is also an MBTA bus stop. This crosswalk is perfectly visible on a straight road with perfect line of sight.  The police statement mentions that the investigation is ongoing and that they wanted to see what the light conditions were at 6:51am as if cars weren’t equipped with headlights for the last 110 years. It sounded a lot like the police department was looking for a reason to pat this guy on the back and send him on his way. They even carried his dry cleaning from his smashed car!

At the time of the accident, it was still dark Gallant says. Nothing we can do.. It was dark. The investigation is ongoing.

Rally New York 2010

Rally New York 2010- perhaps the best weekend we had ever achieved as a team. Through the owner of our US based team we were hired to run an event for Turkish rally champion and WRC driver Volkan Isik. This was a huge opportunity for us and we were nervous about making the event as perfect for them as possible. The team- Volkan and Vedat who was the codriver flew in to New York mid week with a group of representatives and support staff including Osman who is here on Instagram also. We met at a private rally school in upstate NY before the event with the freshly prepared STI so we could get the car setup right for Volkan. This meant not only suspension tuning but also seating position and other small details. This, to be sure that he was comfortable and at home with the car. Our friend who owned the team did a heavy amount of translation for us because we spoke no Turkish and there was a period in the beginning that wasn’t going smoothly. 

The seat needed major adjustment but it was at it’s maximum so it had to come out, with the harness and this was before we drove an inch. The car, which earned the name Smokey after serving stints under Ramana, Burak Tuglu, Lauchlin O’Sullivan, Volkan, and later me was really tired. Smokey, like most Subaru rally cars had a good appetite for engines. It was a Super Production car which meant that the engine HAD to remain stock. This wasn’t good news for a Subaru engine. At this particular event the class for which we built the car didn’t exist so we were racing in the open class against faster cars with purpose built engines that could be pushed harder. These open class cars also had competition gearboxes with better ratios and dog ring gearsets instead of street-syncro setups. We had a great SP car but not a great open class car on our hands.

Smokey tended to keep an engine around for a rally or two. This meant a heavy investment every time it came out to play. For Rally New York and these special visitors I had built a fresh engine and the car was carefully setup as usual. For the first practice session we sent Volkan off on a loop (which I never saw) the property was built by a rich commercial developer from NYC for this purpose. He wanted a place to practice and we rented it from him. Others were there prepping for the rally as well, friends of the developer. They had parked their street cars and tow vehicles close to the berm over which you could see the dirt road where the car would later go by.  

Several cars passed at quick clips before we saw Volkan. I was sweating. I wanted a perfect weekend. There was so much investment in flying 5 people over, boarding them, prepping the car, paying for our team to be there to work on the car and transport it.. nothing could go wrong. Finally Volkan came by. The car was screaming. He passed us at about double the speed of all the other cars in practice, raining down a shower of rocks all over the other competitors street cars and tow vehicles parked about 3 ft from the road. They yelled and swore in heavy Irish accents, cursing him and also cursing their prospects of a good finish that weekend after seeing his speed.

Finally after what seemed like two hours of straight running (I was counting engine life in hours) Volkan came in. I was sure that the engine was half used up at this point. The brakes were smoking and the heat radiating from the engine bay as I opened the hood felt like opening an oven door. Volkan stepped out of the car and was swarmed by his team. I was full of trepidation about what might be translated to us about the setup.  He was happy. He told us that in Europe they have special gearboxes without syncros. He did a few laps without the clutch before realizing what was going on. No one told him that he’d be racing a production car against open class cars.

We spent the rest of the day driving to the worst ever place to stay. It’s called Villa Roma if anyone wants to check out my Yelp review. Once at the Vile Aroma we unpacked the car. I neglected to mention that during practice we suffered a broken motor mount and a tail light fell out  (no idea). We didn’t bring a spare motor mount so Ben offered to drive one out from Boston (4 hours) he was actually excited to do it which was cool. The service went into the night, replacing brake pads, motor mount, fluids and by morning the car looked fresh again and we were ready to rally.

The morning of the rally and I felt like the biggest challenges were behind us. The team was in good spirits and once underway we sat in service hoping to have an intact car pull in mid morning. The first thing I do is check the oil when the car comes in. I do that while the rest of the crew is sliding the jack under the front, then the rear of the car to slide the pin stands in. We work as fast as possible because if something is found we want all of the easy mandatory checks out of the way. Everything looked good. The underbelly of the car was getting HAMMERED. This terrain was shale and jagged rocks and it was claiming the kevlar protection as it’s own. By the second service we were winning against EVERY car by over seven minutes. The kevlar underbody protection was full of holes. I smashed an aluminum can and snaked it into a hole in the kevlar that protected the gas tank. Fingers crossed.

The team was pumped. We felt like we had this event in the bag. There were only a couple of stages left and the other top drivers (heavy Irish contingent) Tom Lawless were suffering mechanicals. We had already had a flat earlier in the day on stage two but clawed back at Lawless putting good time into him despite his open class car. At the final service there were mumblings about a protest. We caught wind of a problem and our team owner left to talk to the organizers. Someone requested the FIA rulebook and shockingly there wasn’t one on hand so the promoter had to leave and drive home, print one and drive back while the rally was still going.

The rally ended that evening. Day two and the car was pretty much cooked. Good old Smokey had held on for us once again. The team owner, from Turkey was on cloud 9. We were too. It was a great first outing. A huge victory and our shop was now working successfully with international drivers. We won the rally by minutes. The team owner and exchanged glances and he was crying with happiness. That was fleeting.

A few minutes later we heard that the awards ceremony would be delayed. We weren’t sure why. We checked with a steward and they told us that a protest had been entered and it was against us! The protest was entered by a friend of Lawless who had not even finished the rally himself. Usually protests are political enough that the complainer will ask a friend to submit it. In this case it was very unusual for a non-finisher to enter a protest and as far as I’m concerned it’s of questionable legality. Lawless and the Irish contingent didn’t want this newcomer to win at their rally where the finish line was flanked by Irish flags. The protest against us was for illegal service. Volkan had flatted twice on one stage and the protest claimed that a team car was “in the area”  By FIA rules team cars are not allowed near transits or stages but no one helped from the team and the team members in the car were just lost. It was a perfectly unintentional mistake that had no effect. A usual penalty would be something like 10 seconds. Ours was the FIA maximum of 45 minutes. This put us into like 8th place. This is why people probably take medication for mood swings. We fought into the night with the organizers. Volkan told them that they were a joke in the most polite and professional way he could. He won outright. No one was on his level but the political climate of this particular event navigated Lawless to the top.  Just my particular opinion on things I’m sure others will disagree.

The best thing to come of that weekend is that I’m still friends with Osman, Volkan and Ebru. We would have never met otherwise.

Jacob 2010

I helped a kid out with his car a few weeks back.
..still bothering me that he didn't pay.

After installing an alternator I gave him the bill
"I only have a hundred" he said
One third what I had spent on the job which was now done.
"I swear I got you" I got a good job now"

He needed to get to work. He needed to produce, to earn.
These red eyes don't glaze over-red for free.

3 weeks later and "he doesn't got me"

"Don't fuck me kid, you won't fuck me on this, right?"

"No I got you I PROMISE. I got a job catering now, thousand a week"

Three-thousands later and I need to earn more because no one's "got me."

The Counterfeit Industry 2014

I went to college, now about 15 years ago I studied the benefits of globalization. Visiting business leaders gave presentations, eagerly attended by management students who were about to graduate into a hot economy. Globalization, we were told, would mean a leveling of the world economy, an expansive supply chain and ultimately benefit for all involved. Salaries would normalize and jobs in the US exported to China or Europe would be of no great consequence because that meant we’d all be managers and the lost jobs weren’t ones we wanted anyway.

In 2014 the situation isn’t that way. Wages never normalized. The profit realized from low cost has not been passed onto the worker in most cases. The worker, for most of our US consumer products is enslaved to our desire for low cost goods, perpetuating the cycle of lost US manufacturing, rising unemployment and abused workers in China and the far east.

I just watched a very interesting documentary on counterfeit products that focused on China and ventured into Thailand. Many things I knew already, having been fascinated by this situation for years. A few items made the list that I was unaware of and it has changed my perspective from one of curiosity to one of dismay.

Alibaba, as I’ve mentioned the last time I wrote about this stuff has since come out with it’s newer sales platform, a “Buy-it-now” only version of Ebay for Chinese sellers named AliExpress. I’ve been buying small items off AliExpress with zeal. I bought some small bike parts, then some sunglasses, a battery charger, a jacket that was produced for Tour De France workers, some camera batteries and even considered buying a bike frame to race on. (they didn’t sell my size) Everything was shipped within a week and the products, when replicas, were nearly perfect in every way. Feedback was encouraged. Was the seller honest? Was the product good? Yes and yes I answered. The answer isn’t quite as clear though. Are they honest? The basic tenets of capitalism rely on an imbalance of knowledge between the buyer and seller but seldom mentioned are morality and honesty. Is the seller honest if their product is of perfect quality but is a complete copy, a theft of intellectual property? Is it moral? Is it moral for us to capitalize on the transaction by paying 1/10th of the product’s value knowing it’s probably been made by a child? Is it moral for the marketing company to increase profits and not pay the worker a living wage? We know the answers.

I bought Ray-Ban Wayfarers from an AliExpress seller. It was motivated by two things- one to spend a small amount of money. The second, as a method to prove that I source my goods as far up the supply chain as possible, a challenge. I understood through reading about Luxottica and their “saving” of Ray-Ban and their monopoly of the sunglasses industry that they were reproducing our beloved US goods post-takeover, in China. Why then should I pay USA-Oakley or Italian Ray-ban prices if they come from China? Why would I, the consumer choose to essentially pay Luxottica $90 when I can go to their producer and buy the same sunglasses for $4.95? When the Wayfarers arrived at my house from China, 4 days after I ordered them the packaging was a perfect replica- the brochure “printed in USA” The glasses “made in Italy” the case embossed, the lense laser-etched “RB”

I find the proposition of buying at this unbelievable low wholesale level so interesting that it’s hard to resist searching for every normally store-purchased goods on AliExpress. Tonight I found a documentary on counterfeiting in China that investigated the effect on Europe and the United States, first for the fashion industry, then on something far more impactful, the drug industry. This was something that I never considered before and therefore something that never influenced my decision to usurp retail channels. This is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV_bDXgeg7Q

In 2009 when fake auto parts started to enter the market I correctly identified them as a threat to us as a shop that sold “real” parts through authorized suppliers. At the time the copies weren’t good. They were easily identifiable as low quality and this made our job of communicating risk to the customer easy. Only a few years later they’re far more advanced. Copies are so good that even the packaging is indiscernible from “real.” I’ve said this before though, considered it before. What if these car parts served a more important role in our lives. What if they were drugs to fight breast cancer?  insulin? birth control? What about condoms that have terrible quality control and are sold under brand names you know, on the shelf at the pharmacy you patronize? This is real. 10% of drugs sold in Russia are counterfeit. This means millions of people are taking drugs that are fake and often have no medication in them. In many cases these fake drugs are making it into normal pharmacies in the UK and drug companies aren’t doing enough about it. Compounds cannot be accurately tested or verified by the layperson. Companies don’t want to confirm a problem or, drugs or otherwise, because they fear consumer confidence will be hurt. “Fake Advil has been found” Ok we say, we’ll buy another brand.. Why would they bother. What about when a family finds porn on the Disney DVD they bought? It’s because it was counterfeit.

Watch the video.

My interest in this subject is enhanced because it encompasses EVERYTHING in life. Our desire to own more, save more, appear successful, satisfy our need for responsible spending. More than that companies with whom we’ve invested as part of our retirements are successful because they rely on this system. Our jobs rely heavily on foreign manufacturing, our cars, clothes, our whole economy. We aren’t readily willing to sacrifice our lifestyles, our phones, cars and clothing for the betterment of humankind. We are essentially structuring our lives on a global credit system. What would our cost of living be if everything were produced by fairly paid workers? Impossible. This explains the global income inequality as well as that of our own country. There may come a time when quality is impossible to find and our debt to China will make a manufacturing shift politically unsavory. This isn’t a two-page criticism of China. This is self-examination.

Embracing China 2013

It seems that the auto industry is just as confused as the consumer over matters of domestic versus foreign manufacturing. The other day at work my brother noted that a couple of years ago, before car magazines became thin with the recession, a popular topic for editorials and letter submission was Chinese manufacturing. In 2009 Jay Chen wrote an editorial article in Sport Compact Car, now Modified as his swan song for the magazine, lamenting the rise in popularity of knock off parts. He noted their presence as a shift in the industry to a “Fast and Furious” trend of unloading parts on the cheap. He wrote:

“The market is flooded by cheap China-made copies sold through eBay. Knock-off parts, stingy buyers, and the shift of parts sales to the Internet have caused the demise of many manufacturers and magazines, good and bad” That was three years ago.

Only three years later the landscape has completely changed. The auto industry is expanding aggressively.  US companies, nearly starved to death on the home front by their own doing, are investing billions in China. GM is building new plants there now while closing them here. For auto manufacturers like GM, China represents a new opportunity for sales as the Chinese economy opens for trade. China may feel the same as GM about the US market. Economic influences on the US dollar and trade bargains as offerings against US debt both encourage the Chinese manufacturer to sell goods on our shores. The consumer, simultaneously hit by their own bad economy is magnetically forced to these less expensive products in an effort to save money. Of course, the purpose of this article isn’t solely about China, but about copies, about knock-off parts and copyright infringement. That conversation can’t happen without first setting a groundwork for what enables such things to happen. The lack of protection trade-partner countries offer each other to protect their domestic intellectual property, the exposure that companies face when manufacturing overseas in an effort to seek lowest-cost production and then the fickle consumer who demands low prices and low unemployment on the home-front all allow for a perfect environment for copying more expensive products and reproducing them in China.

The idea of a copied product being an insult and a threat to market presence is purely western. In Russia, China and other eastern countries and continents the reproduction is not only an art but a compliment. It’s been happening for years with watches, cameras, guns, boats, cars, Warplanes, even the Space Shuttle! Nearly everything has been copied. Before the Internet, Ebay, Alibaba and other global trade sites the copying served an important role, providing products that were otherwise unavailable, providing the public with a useful product. The choice wasn’t over price, but whether to have it or not. Now that essentially all products are available all over the world at all times, we would rather see ‘our’ originals sold worldwide than have our product cannibalized and resold at a price that we could never meet. The solution is to cry foul and we can only cry foul when the law allows.

In the case of GM the Chinese-built car will be no worse than the one made here, the same way that the BMW built in North Carolina is no worse than that built in Munich. The reader is left conclude that it’s not the location of manufacture, but the opportunity and reason for choosing that location.

Back to car parts for a moment, specifically one that performance enthusiasts can appreciate, the turbocharger. The turbo represents a perfect example of the consumer’s schizophrenic relationship between their perception of quality and their reluctance to spend money. If we were to tell Jay Chen in 2009 that his magazine would be full of advertisements from companies doing exactly what he claimed to be causing the demise of the industry in 2009 he wouldn’t believe us. He would never have predicted that the parts sold on Ebay in 2007 would be the new standard of quality for the industry and ultimately save his print publication from bankruptcy in 2011 with full page ads for turbos made, designed and marketed by Chinese companies. Furthermore he never predicted that these very companies producing counterfeit parts would also be saving the name brand companies by manufacturing for them at lower cost. The term “knockoff” has been completely redefined, especially in relation to the turbo, our example part. Chinese parts now have names and without naming them specifically, we see that the differentiation between knock-off and name brand isn’t more than a full page advert.

The China-turbo conundrum started a while back and if someone did their research they’d see Mike Huml’s name from Slowboy and Built Industries and various other commercial enterprises. By his own admission Mike sent a Mitsubishi Evo III 16g turbo to China in 2005 to be replicated.

“In closing, we feel genuinely bad that we sent an MHI turbo to China over 6 months ago to see if a less expensive turbo could be made and brought to market. When we learned of the quality and issues in manufacturing, we decided to pass on bringing these to our loyal DSM customers. We could not offer such an inferior product, for any price.

Regards,

Mike Huml “

What Mike said was somewhat confusing as it suggested he decided to forgo the opportunity to buy from China. He later was sued by turbochargers.com David Rafes for defamation after Mike accused him in an online article of selling inferior, cheap turbos made in China. That was 4 years after Mike himself introduced manufacturers to the opportunity. He perhaps showed them that there was a demand from enthusiasts by sending this turbo to be replicated. Many reputable performance outlets sell turbos made in China. They’re named and numbered with the latest fashions and people buy them every day. Does this mean that they’re knockoffs? If the product cycle goes on and the knockoffs are refined and re designed are they still knockoffs? This is happening.

The latest comparative analysis over quality versus location is to state that mainland China doesn’t produce a product comparable to that of Taiwan. All of this is really not important though. It’s the cycle that’s important. The idea that we get comfortable with a topic, or an idea that at first is really difficult to accept and it soon becomes the new normal.

Many, or can I write all turbos (or all types!) are now made in China. Name a brand and it’s been made in China. Even turbos that come on cars as OEM equipment. At some point the consumer needs to remove the “where” and insert a “why?” to derive information with which to make a decision over a purchase. If a seller is looking simply for inexpensive, low cost product like Mike was in 2005 in hiring a firm to literally copy Mitsubishi’s work then that would define a “why?” The spread between cost and retail was a huge profit. There were no development costs. If a company like Garrett is to develop it’s own proprietary designs on a yearly basis, testing and refining them over and over then it’s sensible to seek a low-cost manufacturing model to defer the high costs of development. In the case of copying there is no development. There is also no law against such copying in China apparently. That’s the “why” when the intentions of the seller dictate the quality of a product more than the factory location.

Imagine living for a moment in the 70s when the first production turbo cars were rolling off the plant floors. The notion of a knock off then could be the second turbo 4 cylinder car to be manufactured. In the case of most parts we enjoy today the lineage of sales and manufacture suggest that everything is a knockoff. Turbos that bolt on in factory locations, standard fuel injectors that are modified, ECU ROMs changed to suit those parts. All the work of engineers who developed the technology for the manufacturer.

For a less controversial angle on the topic consider a semi-fictional company in China hired to do a run of 5000 turbochargers for a US company. The contract ends and the company is still tooled to produce. There’s no law to force them to stop. They are doing this on their own accord. Months later they appear here on Ebay. Are those knockoffs? The company who hired the manufacturer is essentially taking a calculated risk in choosing the potential of this outcome combined with huge profits over legally protected US based manufacturing.

The politics of counterfeiting are nearly impossible to skirt. Using Mike K’s recent post about the Cusco Catch can on Moto IQ- If the catch can is remade (albeit poorly)  and sold on Ebay for ¼ the cost, does the lower cost reflect the lower quality? Is it ethical for Cusco to sell a nicer part, still made by the same people for 4x the amount? Does the consumer seek fair pricing based on production cost or ultimate quality? A famous Subaru tuning company was selling a “high flow” waterpump for over $200 that was simply a Japanese OEM replacement. They made no changes. The pump probably worked better as tested by the company but they make no changes to it. It’s also being branded as theirs. Is this a counterfeit or a misleading label?

It’s all very confusing. Companies subject themselves to being copied while trying to pull every penny from a product by manufacturing in China, resellers circumvent the development process by sending products to be reverse-engineered, the consumer continues to buy from Ebay sellers who are guilty of remaking known designs, Ebay continues to allow listings that display copied items.  The consumer is never told the truth about what is made where. Things are carefully labeled “designed” or “assembled” or perhaps “built” in USA or Japan. Sometimes there is simply false labeling and the consumer is fooled outright. My recommendation is to choose on quality. Learn for yourself why the product is better. Learn about who is selling it and why they make something in one country over another. Ask questions. If they don’t get answered assume the worst. Also, if you’re sick and need cheap medicine be sure to pay the most money for the brand name. No one likes a knockoff.

On Humvees, IEDs and Race Cars

A day at the Track/ A night in Iraq.

I walked over to the technical inspection area at the racetrack. I wasn’t racing, just helping out.   My friend was there for the first time with his BMW and talking to the technical inspector, agitated because the inspector and the usual group of regular car racers were crowding around, looking at his engine and insisting that his car was in a class far above where it should be.

The car should be in SPC. They were trying to put it in PC where real racing cars are classed. My friend’s is a normal street car with a really good motor. It looks fancy and it makes a lot of power, still not a PC car.

Racers are wound up in the morning. They have all of these feelings that they can’t place. Trepidation, anticipation, lots of adrenalin and anxiety coursing the body and it manifests through arguing and through dumb conversation.

My friend didn’t know what to say. When I walked over he looked at me, asking for help without having to say anything. I interjected and eventually the inspector placed him in the correct class, SPC. My friend was thankful and the barrage persisted. They recommended that he have a roll cage. This recommendation was made because the power play was still in effect, they were proven wrong by me on the classification but still wanted to give the new member difficulty.

“You should get a roll cage to run this car”

Really? Why?

“It’s safer”

and so the conversation started.

“I’ve been in a lot worse situations, trust me.”

I knew where this was headed. My friend was a soldier in Iraq. He’s now a cop in Boston.

“I don’t think so buddy” The group shook their heads at the new guy who clearly had no understanding of what high speed dangers lay ahead. They wanted to create that anxiety for him that they were feeling. It wasn’t working.

“Trust me,” he said  “I have been in more dangerous situations.”

“Guys!” I interjected. I knew this was about to get out of hand. A contest of who had bigger balls and I knew my friend, even if he didn’t like racing at all had bigger balls than all of us.

They dispersed and I told my friend that they were always hard on the new guy, not to worry.

And an hour later it was over. He didn’t like racing. He did two laps and decided it was too fast, too risky for his beloved car but still something stuck with me about that discourse, and about the whole experience enough that weeks later I’m writing about it.

We all like to write about irony and there’s an irony here. Danger is very relative to our aversion to it. There is danger that we choose to be in and danger that we’re placed in. We choose to race cars. We choose our level of protection while we’re in the car, roll cage; no roll cage.  If the car presents the opportunity for enough danger we mandate it through rules. What we don’t choose is driving through minefields, driving through IED’s getting shot at and of course as a direct comparison, driving without seatbelts, 4 wide in the back of an unarmored Hummer through the desert.

In Iraq my friend swapped seats in a Hummer with a fellow friend and soldier. Once they got underway they ran over a mine and his friend blew up in the seat he was supposed to be in.  My friend almost lost his arm in that incendent.  It was  cut open from wrist to elbow leaving a huge hypertrophic scar suggesting it was wide open like a hot dog bun.  He chose to be in the Army. He did not choose to have no seatbelt in the Hummer, or to have no underbody armor. He did not choose the route they took or what his mission would be on that day.

Whether we like it or not excitement we feel is based on limits that are set through prior experiences. Excitement is not synonymous with fun. Excitement can also be scary. Racing wasn’t exciting enough for him in any form to justify damaging his new car. This is something that I struggle with understanding but it makes more sense when the “high” level for excitement is set with near death.

2011

On Autocross

I need to get something off my chest. AUTOCROSS IS A JOKE. It is so boring I'd rather bamboo my fingernails than hang out with a bunch of people who have found a way to capture car-forum culture and replicate it perfectly in a parking lot with cones strewn about. The autocrosser has  mastered the post-experience cell-phone photo gloat session before the event is even over, talking about infinite spring rates and Ackerman angle. At the office the autocross competitor is a hero, cranking up the risk level in their weekend story to the level of a track day, then back down to console their spouse and convince them it’s for car control, and safety, for the baby.  It's a perfect metaphor, to everything on the internet; talk for 6 hours about an experience and actually DO SOMETHING for 30 seconds. There could be an autocross world championship a block from my house and I wouldn't go. I'd rather go to a car show; which isn’t saying much.

The last (and I mean that in two ways) autocross I went to required corner-work under the stewardship of a “veteran” who demanded I not touch my cell phone during the event and told me that we were on a very dangerous turn despite being on the inside-exit of a 90 degree bend and it requiring the top of 1st gear. For two hours, standing there,  I was subjected to the strangest combination of very basic questions from him on how to run a business and then statements by this person that they were opening a new shop of their own; which still hasn’t happened.

I was flagged for noise after one run, on an airstrip, at an airport, in an abandoned town. So much for bringing race cars to a car race. Rather than hang out with my new friends for 4 more hours to teach them what they were about to then re-tell me, I decided to forfeit my $20 dollars or whatever it cost and go home.

The autocross I went to before that was an even shorter event. I got into an argument over spilled coolant with a woman who turned out to be the event steward. She insisted that my car was leaking coolant onto the pavement next to her car. Upon short investigation we realized that it was actually HER car that was leaking and that my car wasn’t miraculously turning water, with which it was filled, into coolant.

2013