In December 2007, author Patrick O’Brien (‘POB’) wrote in an Executive Summary of his rating system (bold in original):
"Racing performance has been
analysed, measured and quantified by such direct comparison as the time-speed
differential between competitors. Continued analyses subsequent to my 1994
study found that all that matters in assessing competitiveness in grand prix
racing is ‘the gap’; that is, the time intervals between competitors. Hence
this book’s title ‘The Gap’, which is the essence of racing. Based on actual
on-track and direct speed comparisons, performances have been quantified
arithmetically."
"The essence of this study is
that the drivers’ performances have been separated from the ‘package’, the
car-and-driver. Thus, for the first time a driver’s performance is able to be
measured in isolation against his peers, car-neutral. Simultaneously the
individual car performances too are separated out – such that the machines’
performances can be directly compared with their competitors, driver-neutral.
The package has hereby been split into its two performance components: car and
driver."
In his (prescient) haste to release in December 2016 his methodology so that others would be able to check his conclusions and continue using his rating system to analyse future racing performance, POB overlooked the original, 2007 title he’d given this work: ‘The Gap’. For the fifth anniversary of his death in 2017, his family decided to re-release this volume under the title he would have wanted. The contents of this volume remain unchanged.
To purchase this new edition, click on link:
