Do you have the need for speed?
Are you competitive? I play sports and love to compete. I teach my kids to play fair and follow the rules. It’s about good sportsmanship, not always about winning. Is driving more like a competitive game for you, or is it a necessity? What would you call “winning” for a driver?
The reason I ask this question is because a lot of drivers feel it’s okay to surpass the speed limit in such a way that it appears there’s no speed limit at all. Why drive well over the speed limit? Is it a thrill for you, or a need? These types of drivers will do 60 km/h or more in a school zone and 100 km/h or more on secondary highways. Drivers who feel they can do this, without regard for public safety, haven’t thought this all the way through. Have they thought about “what if?” What if they lost control of their vehicle? They haven’t taken a professional course on how to handle the vehicle at that speed, so why are they?
What if another driver pulled out suddenly because they weren’t expecting someone to drive so fast? This would cause the speeding driver to suddenly brake or swerve out of the way. A sudden swerve will almost always cause panic, plus a loss of control.
The truth of the matter is that street racing belongs on a controlled track. There’s no place for it on public roads. Innocent people are taken from us because of someone’s need for thrilling activities. This includes passengers, not just drivers. There’s always a place for thrills. If you have the ‘need for speed’, why not join a carting club? If you truly understood speed and inertia, you would need to understand how and when to steer around corners. On a track, there are no pedestrians or drivers in your way who are driving much slower than you. You would be taught to do it properly.
Ken Wilden, who raced in a variety series in Canada and the US, including Formula Atlantic, Indy Lights and the Trans Am series to name a few, has always said to learn your craft from a professional. Racing is a fun sport, but it’s a sport. “If guys want to race, they should go to one of many racing schools available”, says Ken. Once you learn how to do it properly, you’ll have more respect for other road users. One of the participants on Canada’s Worst Driver, season 2, had the need for speed. He took his needs to the go-cart track. He now understands there’s a place for it.
The only race you have on public roads is the human race. Other road users aren’t expecting you to be driving so fast on public roads. Your excessive speed affects their choices as well. So, let’s keep our speed down and keep the racing on the track where it belongs!
Well said. I had a passion to become a race driver, in 1989 I started with a course at Jim Russell in Mt. Tremblant Quebec, 3 day F1600 race cars, no wings learn about apexes gearing and how to widen corners through an apex. Belongs on a track, not a street, but keeping your eye ahead on the track is useful for the road.
I followed that with a 2 day F2000 course, much faster cars at about 140mph with wings, corners were taken differently with both cars, the non wing did not require a brake tap in a dropping corner. Instructors take you around in a car or minivan at fair speed to point out how each corner should be taken, and point at the tire tracks into oblivion where some did it wrong.
If you fail, you can pay to complete it again, one was doing that when I was there, they didn’t learn anything, it wasn’t 3 corners into lap 2 that he wrecked a car again. I did enjoy speed but was older than many of the participants who were already using the cars in a mechanics course, so I started out much slower, I got lapped twice in first session, once in 2nd session, and was never lapped in last session. I won the slalom event against an older man that does slaloms in his Corvette every weekend. The next year I did grad runnoffs, where it rained, and I never spun in the rain, in fact I prefer heavy rain because I drive the conditions and people who cannot cope will politely pull out of my way. They pick 10 out of the grads for a final test, the instructors wanted to pick me for my high learning curve and steady progress, but being at the back unlapped didn’t seem fair to the guys ahead. I could have gone to Britain if they did. I aimed to go to Winfield school in France by age 27 (limit) at age 26 I lost my job, and Winfield dropped their limit to age 25. My racing career consists of charity go-kart events over the years. I was hoping to be next Nigel Mansell, world champion at age 39. At narly 44 I write traffic comedy.
This is a good post. Having been on the road for a couple of weeks house hunting, I have found the crazies are out there.
Here is ample evidence of same. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7W6jT1Ge1A