Passion For Engineering

Should have written this piece last year on my first visit itself but as always, realization strikes from repeated visits to temples.

I am not too sure how many Questians have noticed this. Quest Global has an interesting association with two taglines. ‘Born to Engineer’ and ‘Passion for Engineering’. Why two, one might wonder. There is a profound difference. They define two different entities and their relationship. ‘Born to Engineer’ defines Quest Global itself, while the second, ‘Passion for Engineering’ defines every Questian who belongs to her fold. Quest Global, was created ‘to engineer’ and hence, ‘Born to Engineer’- a pure-play engineering outfit. But because, most of us are not ‘born engineers’ with innate talent, the least it expects out of every one of its citizens (or ‘Quest’ian) is an undying ‘passion for engineering’. If you do not share it, you should not be working for her perhaps! That’s the bottom line.

Engineering (if you really look it up) is plain ‘problem solving’ using fundamental principles of science (physics, math, chemistry). Problems can of course be solved. But the real ‘problem’ is, there are more than one ways to solve it. And hence, the beauty really lies in the choices we make; how we balance and rationalize those competing factors to distil out that harmony. Achieving simplicity or that ‘bare minimum’ is art, and therein resides beauty. I cannot think of a more complex popular endeavour of Mankind than ‘The Automobil’ where his intellect has been spent pursuing timeless beauty in engineering.

But quite frankly, this connection to passion never occurred to me. I was never a big fan of passion. To me, passion always meant, undue importance to something. Like being swayed beyond oneself, as The Buddha warned - not to be imprisoned by an idea. I always upheld objectivity.

But the Red - a color, brought alive by that little village - Maranello (ironically, it is something that my home state Kerala shares as well, for an entirely different reason though!) shook me to the core.  The whole village lives it. Wherever you look - the restaurants, streets and the motels…everywhere. Red.

And standing in the corridor of Museo Ferrari, listening to Enzo Ferrari describe what Ferrari stands for, was just too much...overwhelming. For the first time I felt what it meant to be passionate in a profession.  I used to condescend people who blindly follow or die hard aping an ideal. Like they had no individuality. But if you see one of those beasts, Enzo and his league built! say the LeFerrari, up close...my oh my!

When engineering nears near perfection, it truly becomes art. Only art can destroy boundaries. Design or Style is the external expression or ‘Form’ while the Engineering that realizes it, is the underlying Substance. And when both (Substance and Form) attains full potential, it is pure magic, a treat to your senses. Paradoxically, it is also a never-ending pursuit. Enzo captured it best “The best Ferrari that has ever been built is the next.” Indeed, the best is always yet to come!

Roaming the streets, I strangely felt sad. For I have never seen such a ‘celebration’ of engineering back home. In Kerala, the Red denotes another great past. As always, we have had many firsts, including the legacy of first indigenous Indian car, Aravind Automobiles…long lost but now reborn!

Enzo gave his village, a great vision and passion. One pride that unites. ‘We are Ferrari. We have to be the Best’. Audaciously proud. Shamelessly and ferociously passionate. And I realized standing there, if you have to be one, you have to have total commitment. To me, undying loyalty, meant being blinded, losing your individuality, your objectivity. But as Eugen Herrigel in Zen in the Art of Archery hints, perfection comes from total surrender. Enzo showed the way and a tradition followed…Lamborghini, Bugatti, Pagani, Maserati, Mazzanti…all out of a small nation, each village, like their famed valleys. Each, known for their finest winery!

Walk through these Temples of modern civilization and hear the gods themselves teach. Porsche Pavilion, Wolfsburg…Ferry Porsche “In the beginning I looked around but couldn’t find the car I dreamed of, so I decided to build it myself”

Or the BMW Museum, Munich. On the wall so these temples, you see so many inscriptions which reiterate the passion.  It was indeed a strange realization that you need to dissolve yourself in an ideal to realize it. Meditate upon it. 

 “When we develop the design of a BMW we’re always thinking about the relationship between the driver, the car and the road. That’s the basis of all our car vehicles’ character.”

“Good Design …needs right motivation. To come up with ground breaking design innovations we have to think freely and have the courage to go further than ever before”.

“For us, the final impact involves the interactions of all senses. It’s about emotions. What feelings does it trigger in me?”

At the BMW Motorrad and each of these museums, I see parents explaining to their kids how these great machines were invented and how they work, what they achieved in a point in time, then help the kids mount on these modern horses(bikes) or experience the distinct roar of a V8... Finally, I get it. Why we lag behind in innovation in engineering. You have to catch them young – kindle a fire and nurture. Let it grow.

 Finally, I leave you with my favorite message. The God Father of Super Cars himself, Enzo Ferrari - “If you think about it, your child is an extension of yourself. You take it to school and when it does well in its studies, when it comes first in its class, you are proud of your child. The same thing happens to a constructor when he turns forged materials into living engineering, into a harmony of sound. 

I remember one day Von Karajan wrote to me “When I listen to your 12-cylinders, they unleash a harmony that no maestro could ever play.” 

It’s obvious that you have to dream a car first. Then ask your co-workers if they will be able to turn it into reality, if they share the dream of a person that want success.

But I think the secret of Ferrari’s success has something to do with us using ultramodern machines to achieve results minuscule tolerances. And using the manual skills of our collaborators for specific assemblies and finishes to give a shape,  I’d even say a line, a contour, to something that is no longer a production car. I find that races were and are still today – an unquenchable source of innovations and improvements because they make it fast and easy to transfer the benefits you achieve in building racing engines to a limited production run.

You find something different in our cars. I’m not saying it will always be better but it will be something different. Why? Because it involve human intellect…”

 You have to agree. Enzo was a poet at heart.