Hacker News Reader

Comment by beat | Hacker News Reader

I grew up around motorcycle drag racing, which exposed me to the sound of both motorcycle and car race engines at extremes. Top Fuel and Funnycar auto engines can really only be experienced in person - you can't get that sound from any sound system. They make the ground shake!

I was fortunate enough to hear motorcycle drag racing during the diverse design days of the 1970s. The choppy thrum of a Kawasaki Z1, the shrill buzz of three cylinder two stroke Kawasaki 750s, the intense bass of a twin-engine top fuel Harley... these sounds are still part of my consciousness, decades later.

View on HN

If I had only ever seen racing in TV I would have no idea what you were talking about. But I did have the pleasure of watching a few Indy 500 races in person. It is hard to describe the sound and feeling of the solid dirt/grass vibrating under your feet!

Yeah, and Indy cars are wimpy compared to Top Fuel drag racing. The power involved is kind of terrifying. And the failures, too! Watching a couple hundred pounds of supercharger blown right off the top of the engine and sailing through the air in a burst of flame...

I asked a crew chief once about driving a top fuel car. He said he only built them; the people who drove them were insane.

Stand anywhere near a Merlin V12 (think P-51 Mustang) when it starts up. It's an OMG visceral thrill. My dad used to drive them, said it was the best job in the world.

There is one of those in an airplane museum here in NL and I spent the better part of two hours looking at it, what a magnificent machine. If you look at it long enough you can reason out a lot of the functional bits (a part of the engine is cut-out so you get to see all the guts). Of course that's a static display, nothing to compare to hearing it run but I was just appreciating it as a mechanic. To fly it must be the thrill of a lifetime.

The Boeing Museum of Flight once offered rides in the back seat (very cramped) of a P51. I was first in line! Worth every penny (expensive). I didn't stop smiling for a week.

My dad being an ex-P51 driver, the local museum was kind enough to do a couple P51 low pass flyovers at his funeral. He would have loved it. One of his relatives remarked that he finally understood the fuss over that airplane.

http://i.imgur.com/QqlYM.jpg

There's even a book about the sound of the engine - "Sigh for a Merlin".

> The Boeing Museum of Flight once offered rides in the back seat (very cramped) of a P51. I was first in line! Worth every penny (expensive). I didn't stop smiling for a week.

Consider me very jealous.

> My dad being an ex-P51 driver, the local museum was kind enough to do a couple P51 low pass flyovers at his funeral. He would have loved it. One of his relatives remarked that he finally understood the fuss over that airplane.

That gives me gooseflesh.

That picture is really neat, the name of the plane seems to have worked out well!

Thank you for posting this.

All combat pilots have their OCD good luck charms, my dad's was naming his planes "Round Trip Ticket". And it did work, they always brought him home, despite sometimes getting holes in the airplane, and various other failures. He has a great picture of the side of his 'stang covered in oil, after it swallowed a valve. Fortunately, it was over the airfield at the time, as the 'stang wasn't going very far with the rotating junk that was left of the merlin.

> OCD

That's superstition, not OCD.

OCD is rituals for structure, Superstition is rituals in order to pursuade the powers that one imagines exist to look the other way in case of dealing misfortune (avoid walking under ladders, otherwise sensible advice, something might fall down) all the way up to praying to win the lottery or asking the priest to bless your land.

It's all centered around rituals. At least the OCD folks have (assuming it doesn't get out of hand) some positive benefits from their affliction.

> OCD is rituals for structure

No, it isn't. If you don't know anything about a severe, debilitating illness you should probably do a minimal bit of web searching before talking about it. There are literally hundreds of websites providing good quality information about OCD.

OCD is an illness where a person has obsessions (intrusive thoughts), and compulsions (rituals to cope with those intrusive thoughts).

This has nothing all to do with "structure".

OCD provides no benefit to people with the illness.

WHO have recognised OCD as one of the top 10 leading causing of debilitation (Years Lost to Disability) in people aged between 15 and 44.

http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/82/11/en/858.pdf

> Of the 10 leading causes of YLD in the world among individuals of all ages, four are psychiatric conditions, with unipolar depression being the leading cause (2). Among individuals between the ages of 15 and 44, panic disorder, drug use disorders, and obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) were included in the top 20 disorders.

> some positive benefits from their affliction.

As viciously stupid as saying "Cancer patients like the slimming effect of chemo".

Apologies, I had a friend in mind who has a mild case of OCD resulting in excessive cleaning because it makes her feel calm.

Obviously, it's excessive so a net negative and there are far more serious cases than that.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com