QotW: What’s a telltale sign of a bad driver?

As car enthusiasts we have a fairly decent idea of how to handle our vehicles and how they function. Sadly, that isn’t the case for the majority of the car-owning public. Yet nearly everyone in America is allowed to captain a 4000-pound slab of steel with not much screening. Sharing the road with them can be absolutely terrifying, or at the very least rage-inducing. Whether it’s squatting in the left lane or having side mirrors aimed at the door handles, there are clues that you might be traveling with a less-than-stellar wheelman.

What’s a telltale sign of a bad driver?

The most entertaining comment by next week will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “If you could travel to one moment in time, when would it be and what would you do?“.

Our time travelers can be put into one of three categories. The first, like Negishi no Keibajo or TheJWT, would go to a specific era just to absorb the vibes, whether it’s to immerse oneself in 1960s Japan or relive a particularly great summer in Okayama in 2022. The second, like Taylor C., would be to change a specific outcome, like an accident that damaged a beloved Z.

The third category is to witness a distinct moment in history. Coincidentally they happen to involve Mazda endurance races. K Hiraishi would go back to June 23, 1991 at 16:00 local time in France to see Mazda win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. And daniel, the winner this week, would go back to 1968 to see Mazda prep the then-new rotary engine for the 84-hour Marathon de la Route at the Nürburgring.

1968 Mazda headquarters while preparing the Cosmo Sport 110S for the 84 Hours of Nürburgring endurance race.

Why? Just a year earlier, a “new” technology, a new type of engine, had been launched. How much more futuristic could there be? Add to that perhaps a lack of understanding of the circuit’s challenge, in addition to the race’s length… if we consider that just over 20 years earlier, Japan was a disaster during WWII… how could we not have faith in those engineers doing the impossible?

If there’s one thing I believe drives Mazda, it’s never giving up. If there’s one thing that interests Toyota in partnering with them, it’s that spirit. How could we not want to witness firsthand a high point in that genesis that guides them?

Omedetou, your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop!