A Test of Consistency

One thing this weekend’s experiments proved is that it’s not all about the car. It’s how it’s driven.

Sure, the car plays a part, but the driver adds a greater share to its overall performance.

The best way to illustrate this is a couple of experiments - of consistency

The first event, a hill climb employed a controlled (well almost) set of vehicles. Two sets of vehicles, all identical, different only by engine displacement, were the test units. The course was set, times were recorded. Let a couple of drivers loose and we’ve got the experiment running.

By the end of the session the cars were wearing out and times were getting whacked. A couple made good though, the rest, including myself were, err… not as precise. Well the objective was to get as close to a set time as possible. It was a test of consistency in the conventional sense. Perhaps in this case, experience played a factor – one which manifested itself quite clearly in the resulting times. It’s what separated precision (skill, if you will) from statistic.

On to the second event: no control over the vehicles or drivers. Just the course and the fuel used, not that that factored much for control. The objective this time was to extract as little force from the vehicle as possible. Take three participants from the first event with contrasting results and inject them into this one, you achieve opposite results. The one who received the lowest results the first round won the laurels, the winners from the previous were, well, pretty far behind. Note that the three used similar vehicles, the difference being transmission. The winner was equipped with a manual. Note also that the three had an equal amount of experience with this kind of challenge. This was a test of efficiency, a kind of consistency that shows in the results.

On another note, a peculiar entry in the second event was a Mercedes Benz V12 coupe. When we saw the vehicle, we couldn’t help but laugh. The owner would walk away with half a tank of gas at best. He ended up garnering 18 km/li and an additional 20K worth of gas for his phenomenal effort.

Maybe it’s not experience. Maybe it’s aptitude. There’s no doubting consistency.

For a while I thought I’d be an excellent rally driver. Gran Turismo seems to think so. Mazda thinks otherwise. Fuel economy challenges seem like my calling, hawking more with every victory. My helmet will rest on a mantle for now, at least until I’ve had some training from the Cookie Cutter. While it’s hardly exciting, it does have its rewards. Let’s just say I wish I had an F-150 right now, coz I’ve got a boat load of gas to take it around.

I won't be consistently efficient if I had that.