Car Racing with a Purpose

During the latter part of my college days, I was part of a car enthusiast group which comprises of my friends from school and other acquaintances. We were basically a group who loves everything about cars from how they look, the engines, racing, car shows, etc. Some of us love racing and we've even tried to race by ourselves. We even went as far as several provinces to watch drag racing events.

After a year or so, one of my friends made me aware of the reality that my vehicle is not for racing. He is actually right. My car isn't even near a sports car. It's a utility vehicle. I was actually trying really hard to apply some modifications that I thought would make it faster. I was able to pump a few HPs and I almost reached the top speed on the vehicle's speedometer which is 100 miles.

And then, I watched the film The Fast and the Furious : Tokyo Drift. Just like the previous movies in the franchise, this movie also involves cars and racing. This movie focuses on drifting though and is mostly set in Japan. There's a part in the movie where the 2 main characters were talking to each other in a car while driving on the streets of Japan.

I don't remember the exact words but it implies that if you do not have a purpose then why race at all? It doesn't matter if you win. It just proves that you're faster. That's all. If you're going to race, it has to be for something important.

It's just a movie but it does make sense to me. It caught me immediately and I started to reflect on my racing days. Yeah, I was a part of the street racing scene almost a decade ago and come to think of it, I thought that I was just racing for fun but there's nothing really important. I wasted gas, time and money for 15 to 20 second races?

For now, I'm not totally denying the fact that there's a possibility that I could really be a race car driver. But this time, if I get a chance, I will most likely do it professionally. The first thing that comes to my mind is that if I do become a professional race car driver, it will be my living. At that point, there's a good reason why I would race.

Well, it really depends on each of us what our reason is for racing. The important thing, I think, is to race for a reason that's important to you. Whether it's just for fun, for money or for pride and glory I guess that's perfectly fine. But I guess I'll have to race only if I have a very important reason to do so.

Source:
Movie
The Fast and the Furious : Tokyo Drift