To Do a Dangerous Thing with Style is Art

The single largest attractor to motorsport isn’t the amazing technology, or the humble personalities of the drivers, but the emotion. In any sport, there is nothing more thrilling than being on the right side of failure. Racing drivers always talk about finding and driving on the edge, the place where peak performance thrives. In NASCAR, that’s the point just before the grip is lost and the car snaps into a rotation. In Formula 1, it’s the very outside edges of the circuit, and in rallying it’s found flying between trees at hundreds of miles per hour, completely airborne. At edges such as these, excessive emotion cannot be tolerated. Complete concentration and utter commitment is necessary one hundred percent of the time, and anything less will kill you. Then what’s with all the aforementioned claims of emotion? In 2013, Sebastien Loeb’s heart rate throughout his climb of Pikes Peak jumped from a resting 92 beats per minute to 172 after only one minute and roughly 20 of the 156 corners that snake twelve miles up the mountain (Loeb). This increase in heart rate can be put down to the pure athletic ability and exertion required to drive such a powerful rocket of a machine at such speeds, but not entirely. While emotion may not be visible or even slightly detectable in drivers at the highest level, something other than needing a job keeps bringing them back to the cars that could very possibly be their coffins. Many people who have spent any amount of time in a performance-centric vehicle can likely tell you why, but not in the most exact manner. Adrenaline has been described as the chemical of emotion, and we humans love it. Although auto racing is one of the distant edges of sport and is almost entirely mechanical, we do it for very natural reasons. We love the thrill, and the adrenaline rush produced by such insane machines is one far greater than can be found in any natural sporting activity. But at what cost? When does the danger of this sport override the emotion? When does the ever-present balance tip too far away from safety and towards reckless thrill seeking? Just ask Group B rallying.

The great-great-grandfather of Loeb’s 2013 record-destroying car is the beautifully wild Peugeot 405 T16, which was featured in the cinema verite short film Climb Dance by Jean Louis Mourey. This car is actually an orphan of another racing series of equal insanity to the Pikes Peak Hillclimb, and that is Group B. The 405, along with various other racing machines by other manufacturers, was originally envisioned to compete in the golden era of rallying, where the rules were minimal and the speeds were never seen before, and haven’t been since. But the dream was short lived--only lasting from 1982 to 1986--cut short because of the undeniable danger. Many artifacts of the Group B class, including some awesome photographs and goosebump-inducing videos, can be found online, and I encourage at least a quick viewing, as the insanity of this division can hardly be put into words. But all at a cost, of course. Over its four year run of fame, there were three deaths and thirty-one injuries, in spectators alone. Six drivers and co-drivers died in crashes, almost all blamed on the speed of the cars being far too high to be driveable by any mortal human beings. A study by the governing body, the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile or FIA, came to the conclusion that the intense speeds and extremely tight courses created tunnel vision in the drivers, and if they weren’t at the top of their game, they would be unable to react fast enough to the changing course to keep the car on the road (Top Gear Staff). The recently released video game “Art of Rally” is centered mostly around quaint depictions of Group B cars, and manages to include every romantic aspect of that time, without all the death. One of the opening lines of the game is “to do a dangerous thing with style is art” and no nine words ring more true in any realm of reality than with motorsport.

While Group B was unable to find a balance that allowed it to continue its brilliant existence, other forms of motorsport have been more lucky. Formula One’s endurance may have come down less to luck and more to its ability to evolve. Formula One (abbreviated F1) is often cited as the top tier of motorsport, much like the NFL or other professional leagues. Formula racing, also called grand prix racing (which is characterized by open top, open wheel, single seater cars) is as comparable to rallying as football is to figure skating, there are some basic similarities between almost all motorsports. Formula One takes every standard aspect of racing, the same ideas that can be found at local track days, and applies millions of dollars and the cuttingest and edgiest technology available. While the FIA still governs the official rules and regulations of the sport, those rules allow for almost complete dominance by whichever team has the most monetary backing, and where they choose to spend that backing. In the six years since the rules changed to require teams to use only small-displacement hybridized and turbocharged engines, no team has won a drivers or constructors championship save Mercedes-AMG Petronas. Whether that’s down to the fact that half their name is made up by a massive oil company or simple engineering prowess is hotly debated within the sport’s fanbase. In this modern era, the thrill of watching F1 comes down to which team can change four tires the fastest, who can make Mercedes’ race the most difficult, and which driver will be unlucky and lose out enough to create an emotionally engaging moment. As a relatively new viewer of the sport, plenty of appeal lies in these attributes, and I find enough entertainment in such calculated and clinical racing--and at astonishing speeds no less--to be more than enough encouragement to get up early every couple Sundays. Four-time world champion Sebastien Vettel said that “the sport was no longer the one he had fallen in love with as a boy. ‘I love racing, I think the cars are great fun to drive; they are very fast, the fastest we’ve had. The problem is we have so many rules trying to basically put in writing what we can’t put in writing, and it’s just a bit of a mess’” (Parkes). But I hear the pinnacle of motorsport wasn’t always a bit of a mess. At times it was very much a mess, but on occasion it was as pure as racing can come. There are much older and wiser patrons of speed who were around long before Vettel, and say that it has lost its emotion and the thrill of truly dangerous racing. Sir Jackie Stewart won three world driver’s championships, but in the old days, when the same high speeds we see today weren’t present, but neither were any driver aids or communication from the team beside the track. The culture surrounding Formula One is more full of mythologies and stories of heroism than one might expect, considering how technical and statistically-savvy most of the fanbase is, but there is some of both worlds present in most of motorsport. One such myth specific to F1 surrounds a quote, supposedly by Sir Jackie Stewart; “I remember when sex was safe and racing was dangerous.” Other sources have attributed this to various other drivers of Stewart’s era, such as Jacky Ickx or Stirling Moss, and it’s very possible that it was simply created by a passionate fan with a good sense of humour. No matter who originally said it however, it holds true. Racing in general, along with Formula One, has become exponentially safer in the past fifty years. In F1, safety measures such as fireproof racing suits and crash-resistant carbon fiber monocoques have become mandatory, along with other more controversial regulations, such as a ban on refueling during a race. It is impossible to argue against most of these safety measures, as they are bare bones common sense, and anyone who would argue against them could be considered to be a sadist, possibly to an unsafe degree. But there are other issues which aren’t so clear cut, ones which supposedly dilute the true bloodline of motorsport in favor of a more filled out rulebook. Specific to Formula One, the introduction of a safety component dubbed ‘the halo’ was the latest point of controversy. As a structural addition to the car, it was meant to protect the already low-sat drivers in the event of a rollover, or car-on-car pileup. However, some purists of the sport claimed that it ruined the look of the cars, as well as removing the vital open cockpit aspect, which is one definitive trait of grand prix racing. Although the look of the car definitely changed, there are currently no hinges involved with climbing in through the top of the cars, leaving them to remain open top, and the safety benefits of the halos are nigh impossible to ignore. In the two years since 2018 that the halo has been mandatory, there have been innumerable instances where a certain crash could have ended very differently, possibly in a life lost, if the halo hadn’t been between the drivers head and various other fast moving and dangerous objects. While Formula One--and in turn most other forms of motorsport--has made incredible leaps and bounds in safety from Stewart’s days of flying death on four wheels to today, other areas of concern have been less attuned to the standards of the quickly changing modern world.

Looking to the past of all types of motorsport, in particular at standards for emissions and general concern for the state of the planet, much is left to be desired for the environmentally sensitive modern American. Luckily, times are changing, and electric vehicles are on the rise. One of the largest up-and-coming competitors of Formula One is Formula E, and some predict that the former may be replaced by the upstart series within fifty years. Formula E’s cars are reminiscent of some futuristic concept designs of F1 cars, only they are real, they race, and they do so completely under electric power. The sport is young, and still growing, but its place in the modern era seems much more easily acceptable than that of the gas guzzling, elitist cars of F1. And yet, with all my deep seated concern for the wellbeing of this planet, as well as my own future, I have an embarrassingly hard time enjoying Formula E, or even getting excited over any electric vehicles, as advanced and ludicrously fast as they may be. I am exactly the person Phillip Thomas of Hagerty describes here; “The purist who screams at the top of his lungs that the death of internal combustion is the death of our love affair with the automobile” (Thomas). I admit that I am deeply worried about my future with the internal combustion engine, and it makes me anxious to not know how long I have left with these machines that I am just beginning to love and understand. But amongst all the scares of self-driving cars and new cars being sold without manual transmissions or the ability to disable driver aids, there are much scarier tidings which demand more immediate attention. It’s hard to not see the world slowly crumbling and burning away, even harder when most of your life is set to happen in that unknown future. It’s almost equally difficult to acknowledge that the automobile as we know it is a very large part of that horrific image of the future. Car culture is very much alive and well, in America and across the world, but the huge shadow of obsolescence looms heavier over it with each step forward in electric vehicle technology. I say almost, because just like entertainment cannot be valued over lives in motorsport, a safe and comfortable culture cannot be valued over the health of the world which hosts that culture, because without the Earth, there would be no Ferraris to idolize or engines to tune. Similarly, without the global oil crisis of 1973, there would be no turbochargers bolted to the rally cars of Group B, and the extremely popular Japanese domestic import market would have never taken off here in the States.

The first oil crisis occurred around the same time that concern for the environment, and the impact of the automobile on said environment, was first burgeoning into the public spotlight. I can gratefully say that without the 400% increase in gas prices in the early 1970’s, some of the greatest technological advancements in motorsport may have never been forced into existence. One of these is forced induction. As a quick summary, the basic idea of the turbocharger is to reuse the exhaust gasses from an engine to compress and force more air back into the engine, creating more power and fewer emissions. Group B cars were some of the first to use the turbo to its full potential, but sports car racing was the class to take it most seriously as a permanent solution, and with the most long-lasting success. The American grand touring prototype (GTP) class of the IMSA racing series was most famous for its extremely successful turbo technology filtering down through manufacturers such as Nissan and Buick into their road cars, and turbos have stuck ever since. There is an impressive amount of historical footage of these turbo’d prototype racers available on the Internet, if you’re willing to count the 1980’s as recent history. To me, the more hidden footage of sports car racing in the magical 80’s is more precious than the relatively well known Climb Dance. It’s not exactly archival footage, although it wouldn’t be a bad life’s work to ensure that this niche segment of human history is preserved forevermore. These recordings have most likely been digitized from someone’s VHS recorder, or more likely from someone’s grandfather’s VHS recorder. They include occasional gems of televised advertisement, all beautifully period correct, and all invaluable in reinforcing the aura of the whole event for viewers such as myself, who were not fortunate enough to be alive to witness these great races firsthand. I could be considered a nerd on many levels, two of which concern recent American history and purpose-built race cars. One of my personal favorite examples is the 1988 IMSA GTP race from Watkins Glen, New York, which can be viewed here (Sportscar 365) The broadcast quality is of course far below today’s standard, and I occasionally use these multi-hour races more as background entertainment while I am busy at other tasks because while they can become somewhat monotonous, I think that their value as accessible time capsules, as well as showcases of some of the coolest cars ever built, far outweighs what others might call an unforgivable boringness. There are numerous examples of these throwback portals available all over the internet, most complete with synthesizer-infuzed smooth jazz over ESPN title cards from a simpler time. But this specific two hour instance includes exactly what I have been searching for, without knowing it. Six minutes and twenty seconds into this version of the video, announcer Ken Squire mentions that “this is always a game of balance” (Sportscar365).

Squire is of course referring to the extremely technical aerodynamic setup required for the cars to perform at their peak, but the meaning of his statement goes far beyond any race cars. Specifically, he uses the word “balance,” a word which has few to no synonyms that can easily replace it and retain the same connotation. In my eyes, balance is the perfect word. It is visually appealing--divided in two by a tall letter, which is flanked by two identical shorter letters. It feels nice on the tongue, the way the sounds themselves seem to be perfectly round and satisfyingly stout at the same time. But the meaning of the word stretches much deeper than just weight distribution or societal justice. Balance is inherently evident in everything that works. The Chinese symbol yin yang is one famous representation of universal balance, and it has been for 3,500 years. Thought Co. author Jun Shan describes yin as “characterized as an inward energy that is feminine, still, dark, and negative. On the other hand, yang is characterized as outward energy, masculine, hot, bright, and positive” (Shan). Notice that the terms “good” and “evil” aren’t used here, and that they rarely are in most descriptions of yin-yang or any of its surrounding philosophy. I digress, good and evil are not terms often associated with race cars, either. They are simply machines, and when they kill it is tragic, but they have no intention of doing so (most don’t at least). But other instances of balance are present, such as aerodynamic balance, or balancing weight over front and rear axles. The rulebooks are attempts at balancing the safety and value of participant’s lives with an entertaining and challenging spectacle. Because of this, motorsport is a beautifully handy metaphor for a great many things. In my life at least, balance is the most important factor of good living, and like a gymnast, balance is a racing driver’s best tool.

While metaphors and race cars are both wonderful things, the real world is ever knocking at our mind’s door, and sometimes it must be let in. “In 2019, there were 38,800 deaths from auto collisions in the U.S. We can significantly reduce those deaths by cutting the speed limit in half. We could reduce that to a small fraction if we only permitted essential travel, or designated drivers (public transportation, taxis, and ride services). We can eliminate auto deaths completely by simply banning cars. But we won’t do any of those. It would be too much of a cost on our economy, productivity, employment, convenience, and leisure. Lives are not worth that much to us. So to maintain the level of freedom we have from driving cars, we are ok with 35,000–40,000 people unnecessarily and prematurely dying every year” (Ma). We actively choose not to make sacrifices, because some other sacrifices seem more worthy of our commitment. This is an extreme example of what I call a balance of sacrifices, an ideal that, just like the broader and simpler universal balance we discussed earlier, can be found in any place it’s looked for. While the balance of yin and yang is one of many elemental and basic dualities, a balance of sacrifices is much more grounded, and I think much more feasible. As human beings evolved from ancestors who lived in constant fear of death, it is only natural that we approach things with the glass half empty. If we make a decision based upon which is the lesser evil, then we will inevitably make the better choice, as picking the worse evil would almost always result in less desirable results. The world is made of particles, waves, and compromise. Nothing in balance will ever be without something lost, and no victory will ever be without some sacrifice. No emissions-free electric vehicle will be built without the mining of irreplaceable minerals. No beautiful painting will ever exist without hours spent indoors and away from family. No rose without its thorns.

Again, Ma explains the struggle more perfectly than I ever could, this time in terms related to the recent coronavirus pandemic. “The balance of freedom and safety applies to every aspect of our society. It’s a hard reality to admit for either side. Those who value freedom more tend to ignore that they support limitations on freedom in numerous ways. Those that value safety more ignore that there is an acceptable level of danger and death they are willing to tolerate for convenience” (Ma). Ma makes it clear that there is no right answer, no perfect method to achieve balance. To the coronavirus, or any large-scale politico-social issue; to the problem of traffic-related deaths; to valuing the regulation and control of motorsport over its inherent thrill; to the looming choice between saving our planet and keeping true car culture alive. All that is left for us to do is to try. All we can do is make sacrifices, hopefully always choose the lesser evils, and drive fast cars while we have the life left to do so.


Annotated Works Cited

Duxbury, Anna. “History of Safety Devices in Formula 1: The Halo, Barriers & More.” Autosport.com, Autosport, 26 May 2020, www.autosport.com/f1/news/1496... the most important safety advancements within the pinnacle of motorsport, Formula 1, are outlined and described. From protective clothing to purpose built barriers to standardized components within the cars, The safety and regulation of the sport has increased exponentially in it's 70 years of existence.

Elford, Vic. Targa Florio 1970 Alfa Romeo Tipo 33, YouTube/AlfaModels, 18 Aug. 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF_oF-... is an awesome version of a film published in 1973, about the 1970 running of the most famous road race in Sicily; the Targa Florio. Narrated by Alfa Romeo driver Vic Elford, the environment of almost ruleless racing on public roads is communicated almost perfectly. While it might not have meant to be humour, but some of the sentences are pure gold, especially concerning how relaxed Elford is when describing the dangers of practice, during which the roads are completely open to the public. Stock animals and children alike.

Funskeletor. “Art of Rally.” Video Game, June 2020, http://artofrally.com/

Art of Rally is a wonderfully simple top-down video game based upon the golden era of rallying, Group B. It’s the perfect blend between beautiful to look at, satisfying to play, and surprisingly relaxing.

Loeb, Sebastien. “Sébastien Loeb World Record - 'On-Board' POV | Pikes Peak 2013.” YouTube, Pole Position Motorsport, 4 July 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6YKqa... footage of Sebastien Loeb's record shattering Pikes Peak International Hill Climb run in a Peugeot 208 T16.

Ma, Steven. “Freedom vs Safety: What Matters More?” Medium, An Injustice!, 9 May 2020, medium.com/an-injustice/freedom-vs-safety-what-matters-more-9115227f004e.

This is a wonderful example of the balance which we so badly need in this unstable time in the United States. Ma writes specifically to the hotly debated issue of the coronavirus lockdowns, their constitutional legality, and their general morality. Many relevant and useful connections and parallels are made.

Magary, Drew. Zak Brown's Impossible Task: Saving McLaren Racing. Road & Track, 4 Aug. 2020, www.roadandtrack.com/motorspor... Mclaren Racing was founded 1963, Bruce Mclaren handled the money and the logistics, as well as the car design and some of the driving. Now, Zak Brown, the current CEO of Mclaren's Formula 1 team, has the sole purpose of keeping the team relevant and competitive. Formula 1 has become one of the fastest changing sports on the planet, and the necessary specialization of roles is only one result. Brown has no real concern with how well any specific part of the car operates, only that the machine as a whole--referring to both the car and the team--operates at peak efficiency.

Marcus, Ted. Jacky Ickx – the Le Mans Legend Who Changed the Start of the Race. Dyler, 3 May 2014, dyler.com/posts/26/jacky-ickx-the-le-mans-legend-who-changed-the-start-of-the-race.

Here, the story of Jacky Ickx’s protest at the 1969 race of the Le Mans style start is recounted. Previously, drivers started the race opposite the cars, and would run across the track, often getting under way before donning their helmets or fastening their seat belts. Ickx protested this unsafe start by walking to his car and fully fastening himself in before driving away, starting last place as a result. Only one lap in, John Woolfe was killed in a crash, as he left without his belts fastened. 371 laps after that, Ickx won the race, effectively changing racing's approach to safety forever after.

Metz, Cade, and Kate Conger. “Uber, After Years of Trying, Is Handing Off Its Self-Driving Car Project.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 7 Dec. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/12/07/tec... summary of the most recent developments concerning the world of self-driving cars and one of its biggest beneficiaries, in theory, Uber. After a high-flow period of investment, things seem to be slowing down for a sector that was previously said to be the possible salvation of Uber. It's clear that a balance between technology for technology's sake and technology for the sake of humankind needs to be found for this segment to excel in the way it has been predicted to.

Mourey, Jean Louis. “Climb Dance - 1988 Pikes Peak Hill Climb, Ari Vatanen.” YouTube, TestDriven, 29 Mar. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEuZG3... short French film highlighting the thrill of climbing Pikes Peak, before it was paved. The film features Finnish driver Ari Vatanen piloting the Peugeot 405 T16, along with some sweet jazz.

Parkes, Ian. “Formula One Has a Problem, and Everyone Knows It.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 12 July 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/07/12/sports/autoracing/formula-one-mercedes-dominant.html?auth=login-email.

A great summary of the major issues and forthcoming (pre-COVID) changes happening in Formula One, the pinnacle of modern motorsport. With ever-advancing technologies and funding gaps between teams that are only growing, the future of the sport is more in jeopardy than ever, as viewership dies out and the excitement seems to run away, just like the Mercedes Silver Arrows have done with every championship since the last rule changes in 2014.

Shan, Jun. “What Do Yin and Yang Represent?” ThoughtCo, 3 Feb. 2020, www.thoughtco.com/yin-and-yang... the ancient Chinese concept of a cosmic balance is explored and summarized in the well known symbol yin-yang. Here the origin, symbolism, meaning, and various uses in modern society.

Sportscar365, Staff. “IMSA Flashback: Watkins Glen 1988.” Sportscar365, 30 May 2019, sportscar365.com/features/videos/imsa-flashback-watkins-glen-1988/.

A video recording of the 1988 IMSA GTP race at Watkins Glen in New York state, and a fine example of one of my favorite parts of the internet, which is these time capsules of what we now call vintage racing.

Thomas, Phillip. “EVs Aren't the Enemy of Car Culture.” Hagerty Media, Hagerty, 6 Sept. 2019, www.hagerty.com/media/news/evs-arent-the-enemy-of-car-culture/.

A highly recommended read, for those who are interested at all in the future of the automobile (specifically fast ones). This article serves to somewhat soothe my somewhat anxious mind, concerning the future of the internal combustion engine. It scares me a little that I have no idea how long I have left with these machines I'm just learning to love and understand. This article helps with that, a little.

Top Gear Staff. “The Corner That Killed Group B.” Top Gear, BBC Studios, 28 Apr. 2015, www.topgear.com/car-news/motor... kind of an obituary to Henri Toivonen, his co-driver Sergio Cresto, and Group B rally cars. All died on one fatal corner on the D18 road in southern France. On May 2, 1986, their Lancia Delta S4 race car crashed off the edge and went up in flames, killing both passenger and driver. The Group B class of cars was immediately banned, backed up by claims that the cars were simply too fast for the drivers to be able to control.