Quote:
Originally Posted by arpad_m
I hear (and respect) you, Norm, loud and clear.
There is no stopping the progress of technology, but what we should make sure is that we don't lose what's valuable in the process, which IMO is us being in control of tech instead of the other way around. That is my main beef with electric cars, by the way, not their "new" drivetrain (that is actually older than the internal combustion engine). Interestingly, a similar observation can easily be made even in my field of computer science & engineering, but I will not digress here.
Purely mechanical linkages are very limited, be it for fuel injection, throttle control, gear selection, braking or even mundane things like window operation.  |
Not necessarily
everything. But certainly for the things that I can control in real time without any form of assistance. Especially assistances defined and programmed by somebody else, who most likely does not drive the same way(s) as I would under identical circumstances.
I'd still be fine with a purely mechanical throttle and better than just OK with brakes that don't try to do anything for me (in a same-day lap time comparison between having the ABS on my GT inop vs operating properly, I actually turned better lap times with it inop, though with slightly less consistency . . . so ABS isn't exactly helping me even when using the brakes really hard).
I'm fine with getting help with engine fueling and ignition - even back in the days of carburetors and points ignitions/magnetos those were tasks that were done for you; you just had to be able to feel what you could do/get away with doing. There's a definite reward when you do get it right, and if you're not seeing getting it a bit wrong as incentive to get better the next time I don't know what to say about that as a driver's attitude.
I think at most, you had to deal with a manual choke for starting and warmup purposes.
Norm