Copyright © 1998

Porsche Club of America Out For A Spin November, 1998 Bruce Corwin Bruce968@PorscheNet.com

Porsche enthusiasts are, by nature, people who appreciate performance. We are constantly analyzing various systems of the car to optimize the performance of each component. What tire pressure should I use? Which spark plugs will give me maximum horsepower? Which oil? Which car wax? An eternal quest for optimization.
 
When I spent two days at Skip Barber last year, the instructors focused on how to get the most out of the machine. Much of it I had heard before, such as threshold braking, but I was surprised when one of the instructors brought to our attention the performance of a particular component, which I had never put much thought into. He was absolutely right. I had been using this system incorrectly for my entire driving career. Thinking myself pretty knowledgeable about driving, I was stunned to learn this simple little trick that could potentially save my life (or at least prevent an accident). First let me tell you a quick joke that will segue nicely. I don’t remember where I originally heard it (hopefully not in the Nor’easter!)
 
A young man in his modified 930 is waiting at a stop light when an old man pulls up along-side on his rusty, old moped. The old man leans in the window and says, "You hooligans shouldn't be driving around in these expensive, noisy cars. You should get a moped like mine, it's plenty fast enough!" As the light turns green, the young guy says, "Oh yeah?" and floors it. As he reaches 60 MPH, he notices that the old man is way behind, but keeping up, so he shifts to third gear and puts the pedal to the metal. At 100, he's shocked to see the old man catching up. At 120 the old man flies past and disappears into the distance.
 
Stunned, the kid pulls over. Pretty soon the old man on the moped zooms back and crashes into the front of the 930. The kid jumps out and runs to the old man who is lying in a crumpled heap on the road. The kid says, "Old timer, are you okay?  Is there anything I can do?" The old man feebly replies, "Yes, unhook my suspenders from your mirror!"
 
Now here is my performance tip. What the Skip Barber instructor taught me was the proper use of side mirrors. It may sound like a boring topic, but we’ve all had a situation where we went to change lanes and were surprised by a car in our blind spot. If used properly though, there is no blind spot! Most people set their mirrors by turning them in until you can see the side of your car. The result is that the field of view overlaps with the area already covered by the rearview mirror. Instead, turn the side mirrors out until you can no longer see any part of your car. It takes a little getting used to, but will soon feel perfectly normal.
 
Try it while you drive down the highway. First set the mirrors so you can see the side of your car. Let another car pass you and without turning your head, notice how the passing car is completely invisible to you for a certain period. Now turn the mirrors out and observe how a passing car is always visible, first in the rearview mirror, then the side mirror and finally your peripheral vision. Now you too can have high performance mirrors. Give it a try, it could save your life!