Interlocking Internal Conflict

This isn't about the complex and maddening task of assembling an F-One car from plastic bricks.  That operation could drive one toward a mental break, but mental toughness is a prerequisite in F-One.  The series is an unforgiving crucible that turns pretenders into dust without fanfare.  We’ll all know soon enough if Snob has the mental fortitude to succeed.  Speaking of bricks, Snob has received some additional good news after the revelation that he may soon be able to source legitimate carbon fiber ones.

The research department has discovered that there is an established exchange for the purchase and sale of plastic bricks:  Bricklink.  This site will allow Snob to offload his defective bricks and piece together enough uniform pieces to build a cohesive model.  Up until now he has been using a darknet market to move the bricks, but moving them has become more difficult in recent weeks.  The existence of Bricklink should make him happy.  Time is short, so he needs to get cracking if the team has any hope of making the season opening race.

The actual internal conflict I am addressing today is the one that exists between our senses and the tendency to favor one over the others no matter how implausible the translation of the inputs is. 

It is holding seeing, hearing, smelling, or feeling over reality when reality differs from the inputs our senses are receiving.

This internal conflict plays out in milliseconds at every corner on every lap for me, but it is a lot more than that.  I see it in people’s minds as they age.  It is unfortunate that our minds play tricks on us at any age.  Are these deceptive acts of a malevolent entity, or the hard-coded genetic desire to keep the mind alive at all costs?

I’ve experienced a form of this while flying when I suffered a brief moment of spatial disorientation.  The plane hit turbulence and I became disoriented.  I was certain we were climbing, but the last control input I made had caused the vehicle to descend.  This was confirmed by a quick glance at the altimeter, but even to this day I would have sworn my senses were correct.  I guess I should be thankful I didn’t trust myself all the way into the ground.  That would have been an expensive and difficult client relationship nightmare to solve.

These days we keep most of our exploits ground based to avoid spatial disorientation at altitude where it could cause real harm.  That doesn’t mean it can’t happen on the ground and in a car.  The airplane has reference instruments for assistance when the body’s senses are in conflict with reality, but it is more complicated in the car.  The eyes, ears, hands, butt, and radio communications if you’re lucky are all a driver has to maintain proper vehicle orientation.  Sometimes the passenger can help, but I have not yet found screaming to be a useful directional indicator.  If you are ignorant to the fact that the mind plays tricks, you may drive with over-confidence.  Those cognizant of the fine line between perception and reality will probably be topped off with fear as they enter each corner.

You can see and feel understeer as it's happening when the front end refuses to point into the corner.  When the front-end dives into the corner with more than expected or desired vigor you are experiencing oversteer.  The mind has to quickly recognize which condition is occurring and employ proper corrective measures to stay on track.  What if you think the car is understeering, but it is the opposite?  Hopefully you’ll be able to get back on track for more laps after the off, but most likely the day has ended with the car in the tire wall.

One session ending spin into the tire wall is too many.  AcMo has been testing a yaw instrument for use in vehicle cockpits to assist drivers in recognizing the correct moment to panic.  The biggest issue is that the point at which the instrument is needed, it is not possible to remove focus from the vehicle’s trajectory to glance at the gauge, confirm its readings, and maintain or correct to the proper and desired course.  The obvious solution was to work on developing a robust head-up display to present this vehicle information when and where it will be of greatest assistance.

The current automotive HUD units weren’t cool enough to deploy for this project.  We did what any rational person would do and borrowed a HUD from a F-22 Raptor to retrofit into our test vehicle.

This is a sample image of the HUD.  Ignore most of the numbers and lines because they aren’t applicable to our use.

I feel a spin is about to happen despite all of the green numbers.

Don’t go around sharing our current supplier source with everyone.  We can’t have our supply chain disappear in the middle of development.  That would be bad.  This approach is not without its difficulties, but the reward has so far been worth the hassle.  We have been testing the absolute best available in display resolution and fidelity for the last few weeks.  Through the use of our telemetry system and onboard cameras, we are able to confirm that the vehicle’s sensors are calibrated to the HUD and that it provides a real-time indication of the vehicle’s current attitude.

This confirmation was derived from many hours of comprehensive testing during which we spun off the track at every corner in every direction to put our sensors through a rigorous battery of tests.  I am confident that we covered every conceivable spin scenario and have logged each one for further review and refinement.

Our exhaustive testing has allowed us to program a warning display that changes colors during excessive slip angle moments.  The display starts with a green warning that progresses to yellow, and ends with red indicating a slip angle greater than 47º.  When you see red on the display, it is time to brace for impact in our experience.

Now that we have almost reached a production solution for a commercial HUD, we are going to need to disable the targeting aspect since it can’t be used in the car until we are able to mount a rail gun.  There is also the price point.  At this time our Raptor derived solution is cost prohibitive for even the biggest track day ballers.  Until we can secure a cheaper supplier, or get access to more F-22s, this is going to stay a concept for a while longer.

As always, there are small bugs in the development process that need to be resolved before we can release this product to the demanding public.  We are working hard to eliminate the auto-locking targeting system since the test vehicle isn’t currently equipped with armaments.  There is also a tendency for the display to take control of the vehicle’s ECU and cause it to respond erratically.  The constant stall alarm is quite annoying and useless in this configuration.  We hope to have all of these bugs turned into features soon.

The data has shown how to watch any spin from the comfort of the driver’s seat both from the windshield, side windows, and also our HUD through its clever use of colors, but it has not yet told us how to prevent spins.  We think that solution rests with the driver.  We are proud to announce the debut of the AcMo No Spin Driving School©.  The curriculum is an exhaustive study of spin conditions designed to teach drivers to recognize when a spin is coming and how to cover their eyes just before, during, and after the spin.

AcMo innovations are making tracks safer for everyone one corner at a time.  Remember that we can’t know our limits until we first exceed them.  Our driving school with instructors teaches you how to blow past the limit with confidence on a repeatable basis.  This is a skill that can be used at any track and any corner to unlock the maximum performance available.

Find your limit.  Come spin with AcMo.