Maybe I’m Not Going Crazy

I keep following issues in which I see fundamental flaws of logic or connection to reality which no one else seems to see, and at times I wonder if maybe I am the one who has gone nuts. It’s true, of course, that you can’t “go nuts” if you started out that way, which undoubtedly I did, but I have always maintained some contact with the real world, a quality which seems to be in rare supply these days.

Take, for instance, the Formula 1 race cars of the “hybrid era,” and especially the model being developed for 2026. The current car develops 70% of its power from an internal combustion engine (V6) and 30% from battery power. So there are times during a race, in theory, that the race car only has some 40% of its motive power available when the V6 is recharging the battery. Actually, it never becomes that dire, but still… This is a race car?

Then I found out why this “hybrid” standard was developed, when I read an article discussing the F1 management conference at which it was adopted, specifically that, “some form of electrification would have to be included to provide synergies with road car technologies.”

Road car technologies. Really. Take a look at a Formula 1 race car and at, say, a 2011 Ford Fairlane and tell me how much “synergy” you can see between those two vehicles. The car’s profile? Windshield? Tires?

Next year, 2026, the power will be 50% from the V6 and 50% from the battery, and from the day that was announced I have asked how that would work on a race circuit where the cars are at full throttle for 75% or more of the circuit. When will they be able to charge the battery?

Again, reading an article of F1 management discussion, I read that the specs have had to, “embrace adaptive aerodynamic devices to mitigate potential power shortfalls on the straights.” Potential power loss? Well, that’s going to delight both the drivers and the fans, isn’t it.

The discussion went on to say that, “It’s understood that the solution envisioned by the FIA is to move to an 80:20 ratio in favor of the ICU, or even 90:10.” But that will require three years of development, so we are stuck with the 50:50 ratio until at least 2030.

Then there’s the mania for trashing health insurance companies. A recent article started off, “The six largest health insurers reported more than $1 trillion in revenue and more than $31 billion in net income,” and went on at some length about how horrible it was for a company to make $31 billion in profit.

First of all, it wasn’t one company, it was the total profit made by six companies. Secondly, that number represents a 3.1% profit margin, 3 cents on every dollar. On what planet is that not acceptable?

But more important, insurance companies do not create health care costs. Insurance companies pay health care costs. Admittedly, they don’t pay all of them. If they tried to do that there would be no more insurance companies, and nobody but consumers would be paying any health care costs.