In a world of cloud computing and gadgets seemingly out of a sci-fi novel, a decidedly old-school hobby is all the rage in Silicon Valley: auto racing.
It makes sense. Driving cars at fast speeds around tracks requires a serious grip on physics and mechanics, plus a knack for problem solving.
From the New York Times:
When you get past the noise and the smell, the unbearable heat, the G-force, the surprising physical exertion and, always, the constant threat of injury or death — auto racing, like much else, comes down to math. There is an optimal path around a racetrack, a geometric arc of least resistance. It is the driver’s job to find this sweet spot of physics and stick to it, lap after lap, as consistently as a microprocessor crunching through an algorithm.
For tech people — who are accustomed to finding and manipulating hidden math — hitting the arc can be a moment of particular pleasure. “When you’re really in the zone in a racecar, it’s almost meditative,” said Jeff Huber, who has been driving racecars for more than a decade.
A few of the part-time grease monkeys mentioned by the times include Huber, an engineer and executive at Google, and Jeff Bonforte, Yahoo’s senior vice president for communications products.
One group of people missing at the track? Women. The Times notes that some could see time spent on the oval as another bastion of the tech industry’s domineering maleness.
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