[wconley]

Amen to what PBanders and Quickurt said about driving aggressively on the street. If you do you will eventually hurt yourself, your car, or someone else. At the least, you cement in the minds of the public that only remembers that there was another Porsche, BMW, etc. driving like a jackass. If you need the adreneline rush, get it on the track and use your newfound skill to be a safer driver.

On the subject of mirrors I'll take a stab as this is a pet peave of mine over 15 years of teaching for BMW, Porsche, Corvette and racing schools. I'll go out on a limb and say that there is very little if any "blind spot" in most cars, including Boxsters if you set your mirrors correctly. Primarily, the first principle is that if you can see the same object, car or motorcycle in more than one mirror, you've got them set up incorrectly. This set up is best done at rest, in a parking lot or stopped in traffic with cars around you and behind you in both lanes to each side.

1) The rear view mirror is the easy one to set up and I'll presume I don't have to say anything hear other than to center it for the lane behind you in your normal driving position. Look at the rear view mirror and take note of the last thing you can see at the very left and right sides.

2) Adjust the driver's door mirror so that the inside edge of the mirror picks up where your rear view mirror left off. If you can see just the right half the front of a car in the rear view mirror (a car behind and in the lane to the left of your car), you should see only the left half of the same vehicle in your driver's door mirror.

3) Now adjust the passenger's door mirror in the same fashion. If you can see the left front half of a car in the lane to the right and behind your car in your rear view mirror, adjust the passenger mirror to just see the right half of the same car.

Now in the big picture, with your head facing forward, your eyes can take in everything in front of you, scan to the rear view mirror for what is directly behind you and behind to the left and right. As a car is passing you on the left, it moves across to the left in your rearview mirror until it begins to appear in your driver's door mirror. As it continues to pass, it moves across the door mirror from right to left until it can be seen in your peripherial vision out your door window. Short cars, smart cars and motorcycles may not be quite long enough but if you are as observant of the traffic around you as you should be, you will already know this. A car passing on the right will move across your mirrors into your peripheral vision in a similar fashion. I hope this description makes sense as you read it.

If you don't already have your mirrors adjusted like this, it will seem very odd at first when you look into one of the door mirrors and see nothing but guard rail or the side of the road when nothing is there. Even uncomfortable but that's the point - that you don't see anything in these mirrors unless there is something beside you. But if you give yourself a couple weeks to get used to this and the extra "vision" it gives you, I guarantee you will not go back. Where it really shows it's value is in an emergency situation when you can quickly scan your mirrors for a way around an accident while keeping your head and eyes pointed forward. You can scan with your eyes much quicker than you can ever turn your head.