Message-ID: <3B34EB00.6FF97B4@strickland.net>
Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2001 21:16:16 +0200
From: "Dr. Stuart Strickland" <stuart@strickland.net>
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.05 [de] (Win95; I)
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: John Lieberman <johnlee@softdisk.com>
Subject: Re: Big Brother is watching
References: <000301c0fb31$14c073a0$90f499cd@oemcomputer>
<3B34DEEB.9CB3FA80@softdisk.com>
I'd hesitated to respond to this thread at all, since the whole idea is so
far from my imagination of anything that might actually happen in the real
world. It seems, however, that others' experiences confirm a sinister
threat. In Germany (where I find myself at the moment) there's less
concern about warranties than about insurance claims. Almost every
insurance policy you can get here will refuse payment for accidents
incurred at events where "attaining a maximum speed" is the objective.
This results in some rather peculiar situations:
-- an single car accident during an autocross event will not be covered
since the event is timed and the objective is to achieve the lowest time.
-- a single or multi-car accident during training laps on the Nurburgring
is covered since the ring has the legal status of a one-way public tollway
with no speed limit.
-- car clubs try to get around the insurance regulations by staging
"consistency" events, where the aim is to match your own speed rather than
to beat someone elses. But, in fact, everyone is out for the fastest
time.
Something here has gone amiss.
My Mazda is no longer under warranty so I can safely admit that I
autocrossed it countless times without ever thinking about the wear on the
car or that I might void the warranty. Whether you call it racing or not,
I don't think a car that fails to withstand the stress of autocrossing is
worth owning and a manufacturer that tries to hide its own mistakes by
blaming the faults of its car on the behaviour of its customers deserves
to be lose our business.
Stuart
|