Gather around the fire, friends, and let me spin you a semi long tale.
Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, a World Class Championship
car race was being held - and the Evil Empire ruled. They all had these
huge, powerful machines, with their fearless drivers, that dominated the
racing circuits. Time brewed larger, and even more powerful machines.
The hills reverberated with their thundering passage. The quality of
the vehicles was judged, and demonstrated by the enormous quantities of
torque produced that allowed challenges of climbing steep hills in top
gear from a dead stop.
At dawn, one overcast day, at the World Championship Race, they were
lined up. Enormous engines were thundering at idle. The biggest, most
powerful cars and drivers in the world, awaiting the start of the long,
hard European Grand Championship race.
Then, what should appear but a new Challenger. It was met with
disbelief, and loud disdain. "What, you bring a bright blue child's toy
to this battle. It is an insult!". "Does your mommy know you have your
pedal car here?" "Watch out, I might just run over you, hiding beneath
my hubcaps!" "Where is the one for the other foot?" Boorish disdain
and laughter filled the air. The Challenger just smiled slightly, in a
quiet way. He towered over his machine, as opposed to the Champions who
climbed up high to their steed's controls.
After a long, grueling duel, the Champions found the new Challenger
cooling off at the finish line, many hours ahead of them, awaiting their
arrival. The bright blue French Bugatti had beaten Europe's finest 12
Liter cars, ending one era and beginning another.
There has been an argument about low speed torque vs. high rpm for a
long time, before, after, and currently.
But, as the wise man pointed out, "races go to finishers". Just look at
today's Grand Prix and sports car racing machines. Unarguably the
fastest we have ever seen. And those screams of high rpms, and
multi-speed auto shift gearboxes, are a fitting conclusion to the
argument that Bugatti, then NOVI , and BRM started years earlier.
Then again, on a personal note, I took off from a stoplight with
traffic, the other day, keeping up with what the surrounding traffic
would allow. When I went to shift from first to second I ended up in fourth!
I had unknowingly started in the wrong gate, third gear! I couldn't
tell, it just moved on out with the fastest traffic would allow. Of
course I did have the Mk II wide ratio gear set with the good ratios,
but I am still smiling. The young hot-rodder still remembers tearing up
the street in the big iron.
Irony, such a sting.
Steve
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Steve Laifman
Editor
http://www.TigersUnited.com
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