Geoff,
Excellent job that you are doing here! And it is really good to see so much positive support.
As you know, my usual policy is that if I have nothing critical to say, then I say nothing at all . However, this subject is too important to ignore. So, hoping I don't ruin all your good work...
The difficult part of this subject is "How to get the message INTO their heads?". During my brief career coaching junior footy (Rugby League) I decided that the best way is via a short list of easy to remember sayings or "Rules". These are relentlessly drummed into the kids' heads during training, along with the million little details of how to execute them. Then on game day it is just a matter of shouting "RULE N ...!" from the sideline, at the right time.
So, without further ado, Supervisors and Team Leaders are invited to select a short list from the following, or add their own.
~~~~~o0o~~~~~
Adages, Aphorisms, Maxims, Mottos, Principles, Proverbs, or just Good Old Sayings...
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From Z's "Seven Rules for winning Footy Games".
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Rule 1. Football is a simple game, keep it simple!
The most shouted rule! Even when playing games, kids want to complicate things!!!
Rule 2. Good teams beat great individuals. Support, Support, support!
Everyone pull in the same direction.
(Rules 3, 4 & 5 are footy related.)
Rule 6. Never, ever, ever, let the opposition pull your pants down.
Stay awake. Corollary: If the opposition are asleep (and in FSAE, most are ), then pants them!
Rule 7. Winning begins on Monday. Practise, practise, practise!
Applies all year, but don't turn up raceday with a never driven car.
Geoff's Level 4 Stuff.
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* War ... is the ground of death and life ... so it is imperative to examine it carefully.
Sun Tzu, "The Art of War". Fortunately FSAE is a game. If it was war the cars would be much faster.
* To make a small fortune in FSAE, start with a large one.
Be nice to your sponsors.
* If you keep doing what you've always done, you'll keep getting what you've always got.
Don't polish a turd.
* You can't cross a chasm by taking small steps.
Yep, sometimes you have to take that big leap.
* To make an omelette, you have to break eggs.
Someone is going to be unhappy.
* Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
You took the big leap last year but it didn't work. Don't go back to polishing turds...
On the other hand...
* If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
But don't forget,
* Tempus fugit.
"Time flies". And the closer to comp, the faster it flies!
And above all,
* KNOW THYSELF.
This chiselled into the wall of the Temple at Delphi. Also from Benjamin Franklin "There are three things extremely hard - steel, diamond, and to know one's self". Or Clint Eastwood, "Magnum Force" - "A man's got to know his limitations". Or Anon "Don't bite off more than you can chew". So don't start what you can't finish.
Level 3.
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* Things are numbers.
Pythagoras. FSAE cars are just a list of numbers. Choose wisely.
* Let no one ignorant of geometry enter here.
Above the entrance to Plato's Academy.
* There is no royal road to geometry.
Euclid to the Pharaoh Ptolemy. So practise, practise, practise!
* More is in vain when less will serve.
Isaac Newton, "Principia". Followed by "For Nature is pleased with simplicity, and affects not the pomp of superfluous causes."
* There are lies, damn lies, and STATISTICS!
Just kidding Kev (err..., not).
* Don't argue with a fool. First they drag you down to their level, then they beat you with experience.
Ah, those first "concept" meetings...
Level 2.
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* To finish first, first you must finish.
That means NOTHING can break in Endurance!!!
To build a fast car, through the ages;
* 1900 - Put a big engine in a small chassis.
* 1950 - Simplificate, and add more lightness.
* 2000 - Aero above all!
Hmmm, engine size restricted, so think about the other two...
* A wheel at each corner.
Maximum yaw control, minimum yaw resistance.
Level 1.
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* Measure twice, cut once.
Huh??? ... Oh!!!
* Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.
Murphy!!!
* The devil is in the details.
And he's a cruel, sadistic bastard, who'll rip your hearts out one lap from the end of Endurance!
~~~~~o0o~~~~~
And then, when it's all over, ... maybe???
* Vini, vidi, vici!
Julius Caesar - British tour (FSUK yr?), "I came, I saw, I conquered!"
And finally (for now...)
* My words are very easy to understand ... yet no one understands them.
Lao Tzu, "Tao Te Ching". Well, hopefully some do...
Z