Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / Racing Toward the Good: Dr. Mario Tecce on Driving as a Moral Paradigm

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Racing Toward the Good: Dr. Mario Tecce on Driving as a Moral Paradigm · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

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  Brake Fix's History of Motorsports series is brought to you in part
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  by the International Motor Racing Research Center, as well as the
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  Society of Automotive Historians, the Watkins Glen Area Chamber of
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  Commerce, and the Argettsinger family.
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  Racing is a paradigm for pursuing the best.
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  By Mario Felice Tecce, Dr.
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  Tecce received his M.
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  D.
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  and Ph.
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  D.
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  at the University of Naples in Italy, and is currently full professor of
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  biochemistry at the University of Salerno.
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  Besides his molecular research about cancer mechanisms, he
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  explored race car driving as a major reference paradigm of pursuing the
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  best end of free will exercise.
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  Having a strong interest and deep passion for car racing, he analyzed
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  Formula One seasons of the last 50 years and suggests that race car driving
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  can be a major example of general life choices between good and bad in a joint
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  competition to pursue the best possible.
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  Ladies and gentlemen, the next presentation that is up is
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  Mario Tecchi from Naples, Italy, joining us remotely from Naples.
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  And his presentation is Racing as a Paradigm for Pursuing the Best.
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  Mario, it's all yours.
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  Thank you very much.
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  Thank you, Bob.
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  And actually, I have to say that good morning to everybody.
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  That is very, very nice for me to be here, even if in a remote connection.
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  And I want to thank you, Bob, and Duke, uh, Geta Singer, and, uh,
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  Paul Baxter, but also all other organizers for allowing me to be here.
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  I'm going to talk to you about race car driving and how this activity
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  can be an example of doing good.
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  But before starting, I would just like to show a picture of where I work,
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  and here is my teaching building at my university, and I'm proud to show you
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  that the name of the building is F1.
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  So you can see I'm very, very happy to work in a place which is called F1, even
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  if it is just a numbering of our building.
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  But they like to think that it's because I'm a Formula One NTSS.
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  Now coming to the team, I'm going to try to analyze, we do race car driving,
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  mostly race car driving and driving.
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  Race car driving is something which is made of two things,
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  car development and driving.
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  Obviously during a race, the most important thing is driving.
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  But before that, even the human action of car development is important.
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  The point is, uh, to talk about driving and try to demonstrate
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  that this is a positive activity.
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  To do that, I will try to answer essentially three different questions.
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  First of all, what is race driving?
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  Is driving getting obsolete?
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  And finally, if driving is something good or bad.
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  Starting from that, I like to use this image.
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  You see this image, it's racing in the 60s.
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  Actually, it's a picture taken from a movie, Grand Prix.
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  Looking at this image, I also like to remember the last driver
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  which used leather clothes.
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  And this, this was...
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  Francois Savert, and actually I like to remember him even because
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  he won in Watkins Glen in 1971.
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  Also, we have to remember that he died in the same track two years later.
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  So even this example.
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  Give us the idea that racing is something that should be, can be very
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  nice when you think about winning over the driver, but also something
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  which is connected to the debt.
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  So this is something which sometime there was question about the value of racing.
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  Racing was something good or bad, but let's go to the first question.
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  What is driving?
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  We can say that driving generally, even beyond car driving, is An effort achieve
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  a particular objective, and when it's done implies making choices before.
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  While it is car driving will be steering, braking, accelerating,
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  but when has to decide when and how to steer, when and how to break.
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  So it's making a choice and then acting.
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  In general, human activities is done of choices and action,
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  and they can be good or bad.
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  The same can be for driving.
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  I would like to say that driving is just an occasion within our
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  life to be good and to do good.
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  And then we have to evaluate if this, uh, is like that, if
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  it is good or if it is not.
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  Now comparing what it is race car driving versus usual car driving, which is what
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  most of us, most of us are passionate, are enthusiastic about car racing, but
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  most of us just look at car racing.
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  What is the relationship between race car driving and usual car driving?
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  I think it's just a quantitative relation.
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  I mean, the differences are just quantitative.
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  I have a question, which is still from this movie, which I like
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  a lot, I think it's very, very important in the history of racing.
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  It is Grand Prix from John Frankenheimer, a movie from 1966,
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  which I think influenced what was the perception of racing.
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  Even in the following years, probably even today, there is this character
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  of this movie which, uh, why is it so marvelous to go very fast?
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  It's a simple question.
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  It was a character which didn't know anything about racing.
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  Joe was just plainly asking that.
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  Is it because speed is associated with hazard and violence?
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  And this is something which is often brings the bad judgment about racing,
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  the violence, the danger, the deaths.
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  It is really the goal of racing, what it comes from speed.
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  Or another possible answer is Speed is marvelous because it can give us a special
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  feeling of achievement, of doing at best, even if this brings some violence.
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  But this is not the goal.
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  It's just something which has to be taken, has to be accepted, try
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  to get this special achievement.
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  Race car driving is competition.
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  Competition obviously is something which you can find in many other
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  aspects of life, but it is.
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  Race is competition.
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  What is competition?
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  Competition is trying to do the best possible using as
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  reference other participants.
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  At competition, I need other racers.
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  I cannot race alone.
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  I need the other racers as reference.
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  And if we want to remember the origin of this word, the origin is from two
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  Latin words, which are cum eter, which is Searching together for the best.
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  So competition is something which is not doing against others, but
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  together you cannot do competition.
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  You can race without other racers.
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  Next question, is car driving and also then race car
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  driving become obsolete here?
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  We will see autonomous vehicles substituting traditional cars.
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  We will likely use cars like now we use elevators.
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  We're just saying where we want to go and they will do everything for us.
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  What about driving then?
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  Not obsolete, it will be uncommon.
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  Comparison can be made with horse riding.
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  I mean, 100 years ago, every, I mean, most people was riding horses.
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  Now there are still races about people riding horses, but it is very uncommon
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  to find a person able to ride a horse.
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  So what would happen to race car driving?
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  Probably race car driving will continue, but the difference will
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  be there will not be normal drivers.
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  We will not drive our car.
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  So it will be difficult to identify ourselves with drivers.
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  But driving a race car driving will still be an occasion
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  to do something good or bad.
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  So this is our major question.
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  Is race car driving something good or something bad?
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  In the past, especially when big accidents, big, uh, amount of
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  deaths were seen in the races.
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  Now it is more rare because, uh, there is more safety in racing,
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  thanks to all that is more safety.
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  Some, in the past, race car death was considered very bad.
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  I think, I mean, should finally, I hope to convince you finally that.
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  Driving and race car driving can be good or bad as most human action.
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  There is not a general answer, but everything can be good or bad.
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  And then we go back, I mean, to a major question.
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  What makes human actions good or bad?
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  Including also racing.
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  Maybe it's my hypothesis that doing good is what we do according to our nature.
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  Maybe that we are naturally aimed to do good.
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  To convince you about that, I will try to look to some examples in car racing.
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  The first example from which I want to start is about Gilles
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  Villeneuve, a big racer, champion.
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  I think it was a very important example of, uh, living to be good and to do good.
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  Always trying to do the best, even exceeding.
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  I have these two images about him.
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  This is a famous picture from a Greek Italian photographer,
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  which is Ercole Colombo.
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  And you see her driving a race in 1981, even trying to to do maybe more than there
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  is possible, always trying to do the best.
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  He was not a crazy man, like somebody was saying.
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  He was just always trying to do the best, even if it was very difficult,
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  even if his car was not adequate.
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  And then on the right, you see his fatal accident in 1982.
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  His life, his way of living, his way of racing.
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  His personality is an example of somebody believing that the goal
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  of life is firstly to do good.
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  And I think this, this is an example of faith.
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  Faith in the goal of life, which is an example of faith and remembering,
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  talking to an audience in Watkins, I cannot skip to remember, is a
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  special win in 1979 in Watkins.
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  He was first, he won, more importantly, he did an incredible driving that
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  weekend, on the Friday of that weekend, of the race weekend.
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  He was nine seconds faster than anyone else, and this is, it was
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  an awful day, very bad weather, but he still tried and he did the best.
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  He was nine seconds faster is something, even on that three times, very special.
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  This was obviously including his, uh, teammate George Sch, who just won the, the
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  championship in that tier, and might be a way to show that possibly he deserved more
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  than him the championship, but it was, uh, a special nine and didn't challenge
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  his teammate, uh, on the, on the tier.
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  And now, looking to this Ferrari of 1979, I cannot forget Enzo Ferrari.
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  He is the man who was able to build chassis and engines from the
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  beginning of 60 for almost 30 years.
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  A very, very special man.
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  who left us, but is still with us.
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  I mean, in our thoughts, looking to do good, be good.
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  I want to remember what allows us to do good.
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  And these are the fundamental virtues.
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  First of all, virtues can be defined as usual and stable disposition.
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  I will show you that we can easily, often recognize them in race car driving.
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  There are seven.
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  They are the three major virtues, which are faith, Hope and love, which
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  are the most important, allowing to select the goals of life, which are
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  the first to be used in the stream.
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  But then, to realize our goals, we need these cardinal virtues, which are four.
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  Prudence.
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  justice, fortitude, and temperance.
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  Let's start from faith, hope, and love.
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  The first example I want to show you is a very special man, Bruce McLaren,
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  a very special driver, but also one driver who was also able to win
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  with a car built from his factory.
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  He was both a car constructor and a special driver.
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  And I want to show you the Which he pronounced in this ology of the steam.
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  We died in May in 1964.
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  Who is to say that he had not seen more, done more and learned more in his 26
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  years than many people do in a lifetime.
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  I feel that life is measured in achievement, not in years alone.
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  I like this way to celebrate.
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  He was losing a friend, a teammate, but he was not questioning racing.
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  And I think this is an example of determination to win,
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  even taking every risks.
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  Even of dying, but this doesn't mean to be, to have a complete
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  unawareness of life values.
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  I don't consider people like him very because he died a few years later.
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  He was not a crazy man because he was taking risks.
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  It doesn't mean that he didn't realize that he would die or
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  didn't give value to his life.
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  It was just that he was looking to this major goal, to do good.
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  This is the starting read in, in 1994, he was going to die
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  a few minutes after the start.
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  And, uh, it was a very sad weekend.
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  The day before another driver, Roland Lux Arzenberger, died in the same track.
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  He was there and he was, uh, still determined to race,
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  uh, determination to win.
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  Together with this image, I like to show this other image of 1993, the
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  day before in Donington, where he did, uh, probably the most important
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  first lap of race, an incredible lap.
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  He overtook a lot of other cars, won races, and his car was not,
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  absolutely not the best car.
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  He was a special driver, and he had faith in the idea that he
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  had to do good, to do the best.
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  Switching to hope, the first example I want to give you is very recently, a
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  special and recent driver, Lewis Hamilton.
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  Still choosing to go do anyway.
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  I, I like to remember still in the United States, 2015, US pre Prix in
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  Austin, actually it won the race, but this was the final rat session.
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  The, the, the weather was whole food that day.
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  It was very, very difficult and it was still.
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  The fastest and much more than any other trying to do the best and not having any
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  fear and doing it way to talk about hope, but more than that, the major example
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  of hope that they want to show you is this, this other Formula One driver
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  Gunnar Nilsson, a Swedish driver, he was driving for Lotus team in 1976 and 1977.
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  He was a very good driver.
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  He was able to win a Grand Prix in 1977 and probably was going
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  to have a very good career.
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  But sadly, his career was stopped from cancer.
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  Very, very active in starting a Cancer Research Foundation,
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  which is still acting now.
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  He wasn't able to drive.
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  He wasn't able to win.
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  Actually, he was, uh, Supposedly drive.
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  In 1978, Lotus 78 was uh, winning Lotus.
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  Actually, this was the, which Mario Andre won the championship.
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  Instead, he dedicated this 1978 to start this Cancer Research Foundation.
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  Uh, somebody say even avoiding therapies to be able to work more on this project.
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  I think this is an example of hope about the major vir.
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  Now the third one to talk about is love, and now I want
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  to talk about Jackie Stewart.
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  Jackie Stewart is, uh, three times World Championship and uh, there is
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  no, not that much to say about him.
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  He is a very famous, very well-known very well special driver.
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  I just want to remember year, the year 1973 where he won his third championship
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  with Hero and there is in months and was an incredible day for him.
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  He was supposed to easily win his championship because he needed just
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  a few points, but he had a puncture.
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  He had a puncture and at that time this was not a usual
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  thing to stop or tire change.
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  He exited from the pits as last.
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  And then did an incredible driving and was finally making a lot of overtakes driving
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  in a very incredible way, he was able to finish fourth and win the championship
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  was an incredible still remember that day.
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  This is 73.
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  Now another picture of him is, uh, many, many years later
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  in the 2019 is still here.
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  Another blue car.
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  This is not the theater, this is the MA track by which he
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  won the championship in 1969.
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  There are two other cars with the songs following him, which are the
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  two cars by which we won the other two championship you see here,
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  stops in the surf with festival.
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  He stop the scar.
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  Two images, which are.
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  related to the same person.
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  They're very similar.
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  They're very related.
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  In both occasions, he's doing his best to do good, to be good and to do good.
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  Finally, now I want to talk of the other four Virtues still in
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  racing and to talk about these four other cardinal virtues to get the
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  fastest possible lap time in Monza.
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  This is the track of Monza and it is the start finish line.
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  Let's start look just to get to this start finish and start a good lap.
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  We have to make the best possible way, the curva parabolica, the parabolic
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  turn, it's also called the alboreto turn, to remember the other big driver.
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  To do the best parabolica, we need prudence.
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  What is prudence?
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  It is the virtue to distinguish true good in every situation
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  of making the right choices.
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  It is not fear.
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  It is not diffidence.
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  How can you use prudence here?
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  To choose the best measure of braking and accelerating.
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  This is a term which opens gradually.
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  So, it has to be started, obviously, braking before the turn, but
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  then gradually accelerating.
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  So, it has to be continually, potentially adjusted, the right
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  braking and the right acceleration.
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  So, to do this at best, we need prudence.
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  Then, going to the start finish straight, and then we are now getting to the
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  start finish line, we need justice.
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  This is a portion of the track where the driving ability is not very important,
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  only the power of the engine is giving you the highest speed, but now it
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  is important to prevent any risk.
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  I mean, there are a lot of rules to can overtake, especially in
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  these days, but before any rule, there is the justice to be used.
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  What is justice?
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  It is the determination to respect the rights of those
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  that have relationship with us.
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  So, a driver in this point of the track has to consider either
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  overtaking or defending the position to prevent any risk, and
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  this is the need for just justice.
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  Then we reach the first chicane.
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  First chicane is a point where there is a very big braking to be done from about 340
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  km per hour, which is 210 miles, to about 80, which is about 50 miles per hour.
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  So a very big braking obviously has to be done correctly because getting through
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  this chicane there is this curva grande, which is done essentially as a straight,
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  and so it is important to make it at the best, at the highest possible speed.
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  Then to do this braking at the best we need fortitude, which is the virtue that
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  guarantees determination in difficulties.
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  Trying to do good.
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  We lose that to wait the right moment to break are very,
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  very hard to change the spin.
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  And then going over again, the next two important points of the track, do
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  we get to this variant of the La Roja and then to the Lesmo cars again, going
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  through the variant of La Roja, we need fortitude again to properly break and
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  then get to the Lesmo course in the.
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  best possible time.
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  Again, Lesmo tires need cadence, because they are very fast, these two brands,
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  these two Lesmo tires, and only moderate braking is necessary to get at the fastest
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  possible speed to the next straight, which is bringing us to the Variante Ascari.
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  Here, the virtue which is important is temperance.
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  What is temperance?
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  It is the virtue that moderates wishes and provides an
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  appropriate balance using goods.
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  Here, it is important to moderate the impulse of overspeeding.
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  Why?
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  Because, uh, I mean, this is a very fast track.
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  Old, old Munza track is a very fast track, but at this point, the risk
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  is to enter at a too high speed.
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  Entering at a too high speed in this, uh, Varianta Scala essentially have
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  three different turns, left and right and left turns, and then entering at a
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  too high speed makes you exit too slow.
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  So it is necessary to moderate wishes, I mean, to moderate the impulse of
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  overspeeding to get again to the next state, which brings again to
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  the parabolica to complete our lab.
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  So, during the, uh, Monza lap, we needed all the four cardinal virtues.
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  Concluding our, my speech, I hope to have given you some ideas, uh, about, uh, the
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  fact that driving in the fastest way, driving in, uh, racing, is a possible way
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  to live to be good and to good, at best.
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  And then this means also properly targeting the future, but the
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  point is, uh, living to be good and to do good is the goal of life.
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  I mean, the goal of our life is this, I, this is my idea.
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  Obviously, this is a personal, I can just give you some other
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  examples of this way of thinking and they will use the words of, uh.
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  In his given comedy.
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  When Alexis ask his fellows not to miss the chance to explore the
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  unknown world to go over and, uh, I read the words where are original
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  Italian words, but they, I will read you English translation and this are
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  considered the seed that gave you birth.
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  You are not made to live as but to be followers of.
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  And knowledge.
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  So, knowledge.
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  Knowledge is something which comes from the study, from the experience, which
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  allows us, which drives us in our choices.
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  As a last image, again, I would like to indicate you this driver, which is in my
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  heart, is Gilles Villeneuve as an example.
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  I mean, one of the major examples in tracing of living
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  to do good and to be good.
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  And, uh, giving you a citation which is from St.
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  Paul, a citation which is aimed to everybody but seems
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  particularly fit for racers.
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  And that is, uh, do you not know that the runners in the stadium all run
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  in race, but only one wins the prize?
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  Thank you very much for your attention.
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  Thank you, Mario.
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  Thank you very much.
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  This episode is brought to you in part by the International
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  Motor Racing Research Center.
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  Its charter is to collect, share, and preserve the history
• 25:13
  of motorsports, spanning continents, eras, and race series.
• 25:16
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