Facebook knows that I am a man in my early 40s. Facebook can also probably determine that I am a nerd, based upon the things that I like. Their basic set of assumptions therefore will take them to the conclusion that I probably have some degree of disposable income and that I might like to purchase nerdy t-shirts. It is a valiant attempt but I don't really like t-shirts. Aw well.
Their attempt to make me part with my hard won money, led them to place an advert on my timeline featuring Neil De Grasse Tyson and a graphic design featuring a plot device from the inaccurately named Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy trilogy by Douglas Adams. I shan't bother to explain this but suffice to say that the answer to the great question of life, the universe, everything as given in the plot is "42".
Some of you beautiful nerds may recognise this graphic as a Venn Diagram with the answer being at the intersection of the three elements. I however saw something else which is even more nerdy.
The shape inscribed by the intersection of the three circles and within a fourth circle which is not shown is what is known as a Reuleaux Triangle. Just like a circle which might be described as a shape of infinite sides with side length of zero, the Reuleaux Triangle also has the property that if you were to draw a chord which exactly bisects the shape in twain, then no matter on what angle that chord is drawn it will be exactly the same length as every other possible like chord.
This is of course incredibly useful if you happen to be designing coins, as you can have coins that aren't circles but with roll perfectly in vending machines. The British 50 pence and 20 pence coins are perhaps the most famous examples of this.
The most nerdular use that I can think of this shape is the rotor within a Wankel Rotary engine. NSU played with them in the 1960s but it was Mazda in their Cosmo and their RX series of cars that I really love.
The Mazda 787B won the Le Mans 24 Hour race by being the fastest car that didn't happen to explode or crash that day; not necessarily because it was the fastest. Mazda won the 12 Hour race at Bathurst and then Eastern Creek four times in a row because Mazda made a proper effort to go out and win the thing. But of course, the most nerdular example that I can think of that sits at the intersection of this Venn Diagram is a less famous example.
Four time Bathurst winner Allan Moffat was at one time, Ford's favourite son. He was already a three time winner of Australia's greatest motor race, when he took the XC Falcon Coupe to a 1-2 victory. At the time, Holden couldn't stand getting a blood nose and rehired Peter Brock; who went on a rampage and won six times in seven years. Ford on the other hand, after having got their 1-2, lost interest and ended up dropping Moffat like a plate of cold spew.
He spent a bit of time in an uncompetitive Falcon and then managed to snag a deal with Mazda to run their factory team. He didn't actually win the Bathurst 1000 in the Mazda RX-7 but still put up some pretty good results.
If this was merely a story about the Reuleaux Triangle being at the heart of a Mazda RX-7 I would have already ended the story, however in 1984, Moffat was involved in a start line crash and had to jump into the second team car. That car had already been used previously in 1983 but was carrying Moffat's regular number of 43. That second car which was entered specifically as a backup carried the number 42.
This t-shirt is secretly sending a message to me and possibly nobody else in the world. The answer to life, the universe, everything, is not just "42" and it isn't the just shape of a Reuleaux Triangle, this t-shirt is sending me a message about one very specific and very special Mazda RX-7.
The really sad thing is that this kind of Mazda RX-7 is now very difficult to come by, 36 years later, and they are notoriously difficult to maintain because to replace the apex seals at the corners of the Reuleaux Triangle forces you to pull the engine to bits and put it back together again, every single time. I will probably never ever get the chance to drive one of these cars and I think that's a bit sad. The answer to life, the universe, everything, is apparently "no". No, you can't have one and no you can't drive one ever.
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