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The Hotted Up Car

Year by year, cars get faster and more powerful. One can now buy a production motorcar that will reach 200kmh. Exactly *where* one could safely reach that speed is another question, but the fact is, there are machines available that have the potential to reach that speed.     Yet how many drivers have the skills to drive a car safely at that sort of speed? The authorities hasten to tell us that speed kills, speed is a bad thing, speed makes a bigger mess. And all of that is true when that flat-to-the floor throttle is under the foot of the average driver. The drivers who think they are good yet have never taken any advanced training in their life and have read or studied very little in the way of information of advanced driving skills. A driving head filled with precious little but the belief that he is a good driver.             In many cases, the modern car is faster than is safe in the hands of the average driver. So why do the manufacturers make these sorts of machines? Because people buy them. You've met the kind of guy, the one who just has to buy the latest car because it is the fastest ever made. This guy wants to be *fast*. But what about the guys who can't afford to buy a new, faster car to get *fast*. Often these guys will try to adapt their car to get more speed, changing the cams, fitting lightweight parts, or even just installing skirts and a fancy spoiler. They think that more speed is the route to being *fast*. Maybe they are being left behind by drivers amongst their peer group. They want to keep up or, even better, pass! So they feel they have two alternatives: they can accept that their car is as good as it is every going to get, and so are they - but this leaves them with no hope for ever being able to mix it with the faster drivers. Or they can question the fact that their car is as good as it's ever going to get, and start to fool around with it. As long as there's something to fool around with, something to improve, there's hope.       Other Articles The Hotted Up Car Driven To Distraction Driving Happy Emotional Intelligence Filling The Jar Car Capabilities Tyre Secrets Unfortunately, this usually this serves as a deflection from the truth, from seeing where the real problem is: their own driving ability. For the driver who "improves" his present car, there is added quicksand should they work on the car and/or motor without really knowing what they're doing. For example, they may fit a aftermarket camshaft in order to get more power, not realising that because of the way camshafts are dependant upon the individual characteristics of each motor, that camshaft may not actually improve anything. Indeed, it may make the car slower than stock. Also, the more power/speed you have available, the more skill you need to keep the momentum up. Everybody wants to be able to just slam on the brakes, stop, accelerate out of the corner, and pass somebody. But it doesn't work that way.        On any road just made for a fast car, no matter what car that guy buys in his quest for speed, the winner will always be the smooth guy who can drive. But when it comes to a lifetime of driving, the winner will always be the one who gets there - eveytime.