As I child as I was a big race car fan. On TV watching the Wild World of Sports for the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. For years on end, I would have my parents get me AFX/Aurora Slot cars and would get stock cars and open wheel cars. Being a car buff was another one of my hobbies. In the 70’s in the race that seemed insane, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, I remember the Lowenbrau Porsche 962. Without the internet to learn everything I was stuck to books at the library. 

Porsche came into dominance after the Ford versus Ferrari wars of the late 1960’s. The car that was dominant was the 917. It was beautiful and nothing like anyone had ever seen, and for 3 years it dominated.  

It was built from an idea to twenty-five working cars in under ten months, surprising Ferrari who really had no time to reply.  

When these cars first came to the track, the drivers hated driving it. In fact, the Porsche drivers refused to drive it, and most preferred the earlier 908. They would drive the 908’s, which were refined and in their final form to win championships. The 917 cars were perfect in a wind tunnel, had incredibly low drag, but on the racetrack was impossible to drive. 

 With no Porsche drivers willing to race it, the leveraged a British driver, Jo Sieffert. After the race, the engineers decided something needed to be done. The story goes that the car had gnats all over its front and midsection, but none on the tail. This led them to believe there is a problem with downforce on the rear of the car.  

The Porsche engineers got sheets of aluminum, tap and self-tapping screws and went to work. They iterated over a series of changes and tested it out on the track. The engineers would get feedback from the drivers and make changes, till finally at one point the lap time was down over 5 seconds, and the drivers said, ‘Now this is a race car.’ 

Why do I tell this story? Every so often I find myself learning or sitting at my desk at home with ideas. I sit and design them, or even play the guitar. The only way to know if it works in real life, it to try it in real life. The only way to get better is to get feedback from others and adjust. Just like the engineers at Porsche as I wrote more in this blog, I got feedback from friends and random people which allowed me to find a style that was me. Following that pattern, I put some of my proof-of-concept software into a playground at work to get feedback from other developers and team members. It allowed me to iterate and build something useful. The Porsche engineers needed to push drivers to get feedback, or more they needed to be willing to ask for feedback to improve the car.  

The Porsche 917 went on to dominate for three years and started the Porsche vs Ferrari wars now that Ford had pulled back. The fact that the engineers were willing to get out of the lab and test it in real life, and were willing to take the feedback and make changes is the key. So, be a Porsche Engineer, no need to hide, get feedback in the real world, it is one way to get better. 

This opinion is mine, and mine only, my current or former employers have nothing to do with it. I do not write for any financial gain; I do not take advertising and any product company listed was not done for payment. But if you do like what I write you can donate to the charity I support (with my wife who passed away in 2017) Morgan Stanley’s Children’s Hospital or donate to your favorite charity. The fundraising site had to be restarted and NYP Hospital made changes to their donation sites. I pay to host my site out of my own pocket, my intention is to keep it free.  You are welcome to comment, but note it is moderated and all spam will be removed.

This Blog is a labor of love and was originally going to be a book. With the advent of being able to publish yourself on the web I chose this path. I will write many of these and not worry too much about grammar or spelling (I will try to come back later and fix it) but focus on content. I apologize in advance for my ADD as often topics may flip. I hope one day to turn this into a book and or a podcast, but for now it will remain a blog.  AI is not used in this writing other than using the web to find information. Images without notes are created using an AI tool that allows me to reuse them.