Courtesy of ShopOwner by Vic Tarasik
enity and insanity of cycling the Tour de France; or any other competitive sport, they all have one thing in common: mid-way adjustments just might make the difference in achieving victory!
As we close the books on spring and the season turns to summer, it is the perfect time to review the trajectory we are on as a shop and make minor and sometimes major corrections. Sometimes the strategy you began the year with isn’t getting you where you expected.
LAX to JFK
Even just a little bit off can make a huge difference at the end of your journey. One of the best examples of this can be illustrated by looking at a flight from LAX to JFK.
By air, the trip is right at 2,469 miles, so just imagine if, just after takeoff, the pilot is off course by 1 degree. It’s not a lot when you think about it, but over the duration of the flight that tiny increment turns into a massive miss. Each mile the plane travels, the plane is off course by 92 feet, so when the plane arrives in NY it will be off course by 40 miles – you may be landing in Mahwah, NJ, or the Atlantic Ocean.
The little things do make a difference the longer they are left in place. This is the second most popular flight route in the U.S. – considering that 26,000 planes take that route each year, so you can see the importance of a pilot ensuring he’s on course each and every flight.
Closer to home, in motorsports racing, choose the wrong tire compound and traction wanes; even worse, your tire fails completely due to rapid wear and can cause catastrophic failure. Crew chiefs keep a close eye on track temp, tire wear and climate conditions, making adjustments to the car and tires throughout the race.
Let’s take a look at some of the critical indicators that will help us to stay on track for the best results possible.
