Overview
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Episode Description
Pit Lane Light-Pulse: Reappraising the Choi Method: Part 1 An interview with Choi Moon-soo
“Back in the day, you’d see the car come down the pit lane and screech to a halt. Like clockwork, the pit crew would be waiting, tools in hand, and they’d descend on the thing like vultures on a carcass. Wheels off. The fuel line comes in. Temperature and electricity probes. Wheels on. Signal to the driver. Away it goes. In the early part of the 21st Century, many years ago, it took them about fourteen seconds. Before she disappeared, my sister got it down to two. When we started, a full turnover took about six seconds. The number’s not clear in my head. Feels so long ago, and so distinct from what the teams do now, with the Choi Method. Maybe the difference between two and six seconds doesn’t feel like a lot to you, but it’s a while, I tell you. Whole span. And she whittled it down, second by second. People talk about the Choi Method now like it’s any other part of the race. Fair enough. They print it on some of the ceramic engine mountings, too. Let folks know the Method will work: Choi Certified. Every time I hear it, a little hand closes around my heart for a second. Apparently some guys at an auto repair in Bangkok figured out how to make it work with a normal car. Liana was never secretive about how she did it. Her team had to know, and once the Method took hold, the other teams did too. Incheon Thunderbolt never tried to lock it down. Knowing Liana, there was some line in her contract that stopped them. She’d give talks, walk teams through it. Once you know how it’s done, it’s just a matter of practice. Just a matter of practice. They say the Austrians don’t call it a pit stop any more. You want to learn the Choi Method? Close your eyes. Can you hear it? It’s coming down the pit lane. Here we go.”
Opening Narration
Narrator 1: From the pier, I watch the bay / The rain is falling, the water ripples, what does it say? / Little stories come and gone, little heart attacks / A missing child, a stolen painting, engines on the track.
Narrator 2: Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials “A.C.” is an elevated resort city in Atlanta Country in the US state of New Jersey. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalks, and holographic beach. Atlantic City inspired the US version of the board game Monopoly, which uses various Atlantic City street names and destinations in the game. From 1921 until 2033 Atlantic City was the home of the Miss America pageant. In 1976, New Jersey voters legalised casino gambling in Atlantic City, and the first casino opened in 1978.
Narrator 1: From the shoreline I / witness three pasts / empty promises, radio stations, movie studio collapse / From [Bluff City/Blough City/Bluffington Beach] I take in the view / who is missing, when is going gone, what is left to do? / I’m right there but I’m there too, got a slot machine’s perspective / I’m in the third place, I’m in-between, I’m biting back, invective / I am Atlantic, I am City, I am black and blue / I am nothing, we are nothing, baby this town’s through / We’re in the marsh, outside your bar, cheek to cheek alone / dancing to the roar of the gravitycars and the pianos semi tones