Real Time View

The television shows that I watched, growing up in Australia, were dominated by American westerns. Televised mostly in black and white, which was meaningful the more I look back at those times and with little variation of plots, the endings always showed someone pulling off last-minute heroics. When it comes to the TV programming in Australia none was more exciting than the Lone Ranger who somehow managed to have access to a limitless supply of silver bullets. When a program needed heroics then why not a silver bullet? And with this much-loved western, the idiomatic term, silver bullet, entered our vocabulary. When Margo and I began taking cars onto race tracks more than a decade ago, much of the paddock talk centered on the benefits of one product over another. Just pour in this additive and you will realize immediate benefits. Swap out your tires and replace with these new compounds and you will find additional grip. Install this new wing and you will watch your lap times come down...

  There is always a car or two on the exhibition floor This past weekend we had the opportunity to combine just a little business with a weekend at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. If up until now you hadn’t come to the realization that Margo and I are both into cars then let me break the news gently, we had an opportunity to attend the three day carnival of speed (and noise) as a highlight of the quarter, but as Margo and I walked around the venue   we realized that we were indeed simply enjoying another event where similarities to past NonStop events couldn’t be ignored. Take for example the use the event made of the convention center. Packed into this venue were aisles littered with exhibits. Almost all the teams involved in racing that weekend had stalls attended by the marketing types you typically come across at any other event you care to name. Outside of the convention center there were many other stalls selling trinkets together with numerous food and drink pavil...