Miscellaneous Debris

Road Trip Rules

Rule #1: Avoid Interstate highways

Interstate highways are full of giant trucks and straight lines. Giant trucks and straight lines are to be avoided when driving. When planning a road trip, numbered state routes are the best choice. US highways are often quite good, even though they carry more truck traffic and more traffic in general. Numbered county roads probably require local knowledge.

Rule #2: No night driving

Rule #1 implies you want to see the country. It’s hard to see if it’s dark. So no night driving. In a low slung car it’s also important to see road hazards in plenty of time; certainly farther than my headlights shine.

The Robbins Color Adjacency Exclusion Rule

Cars of the same color cannot be next to each other. This applies to group drives for both road order and arranging cars for group photographs.

The 6P Principle

“Proper preparation prevents piss-poor performance.”

HPDE Day Paradoxes

Paradox #1: The car behind you is faster than you are.

Unless you just passed that Miata, he’s behind you because he caught up to you. That means he’s faster. Rather than try to lose him on the next straight, give him a break and point him by.

Paradox #2: Brakes are for going faster.

I actually had a driving instructor question this one. It should be obvious. Try doing a lap sometime without using your brakes at all. Compare it to your time when you use your brakes. You’ll find that without brakes you can’t go very fast if you want to stay on the black bit. And, also obvious, why are all those tuner shops trying so hard to sell you upgraded pads and discs?