TRP is bursting at the seams with lists, deconstructions, how-to guides, neofanatical messiahs spouting "this is THE way" and their pundits.

There has been a subtextual mind splinter I can't pluck.

We, as men, are logical, rational thinkers as a whole.

Something doesn't go as planned? WHY? is the first and foremost question.

Why IS the best question you can ask. Trying to solve a problem? Deconstruct it.

Apply physics, philosophy, evopsyche, psychology, biology. Try to understand the nature of where the error originated. Use the knowledge of those who have gone before.

It's how we got to the top of the food chain. Take one asteroid, mix well, add a small mammal with the capacity to reason, and here we are, agonizing over why Brandy won't let me fuck her next Tuesday.

We are amazing in regards picking shit apart.

And there's the splinter.

We are horrible at assembly.

Even as a kid I had a tinkerers' mind. I yanked apart alarm clocks, transmissions my mechanic dad had corroding in his shop, trying to figure out how it all worked by dissecting down to the smallest possible pieces. An AT valve body is a mindfuck, springs and balls and passageways, all actuated by an unseeable force (hydraulics) when you do pull it apart to view the pieces, you lose the ability to see it in action. There's both a bit of observer effect and observer bias in there. And I always had a few leftover pieces.

To put it back together is the final masterstroke.

You need to understand the role of every piece, why the 2rd gear spring is thicker than the rest, why there needs to be relief valves, etc.

Overarching all, though, is you need to understand the purpose. Why are you creating this complicated bit of metal? So you can have the best of both worlds. Stupid housepulling torque, and crazyfast top end all in the same machine. Tough to create a unifying theory.

You can know every fluid path and how it's redirected by rpm. You know changing the atf viscosity changes the behaviour of the entire system.

There's the rub. Until you take all your info, bolt it all back together into something you're sure will run with the best,...

And actually go out to Bonneville and test it out, you're just an armchair viewer with some half-finished undriven "racer" in his garage. No forward motion, just posturing.

Take your shit out and check that it works.

Your buddy's faster?

Take your shit apart again, incorporate the new knowledge, bolt it back up and go check it out again.

Rubbin's racin.

There is a reason racing drives vehicle progression.

Take what you know from deconstruction. Use it to build the most awesome vehicle you know. But continue to update it... even if the chassis is solid, ecu upgrades are essential and neverending.

Know your pieces, yes. But the ability to rebuild the car, understand the purpose of the car, and be willing to apply updated info will be the difference between rusting away in some assholes' field versus returning to the podium every year.

Put it all back together as best you can, then go racin. Otherwise ask yourself why you're in the game.