The quote cited above does not appear in transcripts of the Nuremberg
trials because although Goering spoke these words during the course of
the proceedings, he did not offer them at his trial. His comments were
made privately to Gustave Gilbert, a German-speaking intelligence
officer and psychologist who was granted free access by the Allies to
all the prisoners held in the Nuremberg jail. Gilbert kept a journal
of his observations of the proceedings and his conversations with the
prisoners, which he later published in the book Nuremberg Diary. The
quote offered above was part of a conversation Gilbert held with a
dejected Hermann Goering in his cell on the evening of 18 April 1946,
as the trials were halted for a three-day Easter recess.

Snopes.com
http://www.snopes.com/quotes/goering.htm

Here is the complete quote, with a comment by Gilbert that occurred
midway through it:

“Nazi leader Hermann Goering, interviewed by Gustave Gilbert during
the Easter recess of the Nuremberg trials, 1946 April 18, quoted in
Gilbert’s book ‘Nuremberg Diary.’

Goering: Why, of course, the people don’t want war. Why would some
poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that
he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece.

Naturally, the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia, nor in
England, nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is
understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who
determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the
people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or
a parliament, or a communist dictatorship.

Gilbert: There is one difference. In a democracy the people have some
say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the
United States only Congress can declare wars.

Goering: Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the
bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them
they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of
patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in
any country.”

I’ve been doing HPDE events at local race tracks for the past 10 months in my 05 ZCP, and have been pretty happy with how the car felt at higher speeds. Prior to this past week, I’ve had the following modifications to the car:

• GC Coilovers (Single Adjustable Konis, 440f / 550r)
• GC Camber plates
• Front end: Camber: -2.6 deg, zero toe
• Rear end: Camber: -2.0 deg (the minimum for the ride height), 1/16 toe in
• Motul RBF-600 brake fluid
• Stoptech SS braided teflon lines
• PF-01 pads on the front (Axxis Ultimate for Auto-X)

Autocrossing on this setup left a bit to be desired. The safety-biased handling that works well for my intermediate level skills at higher speeds just turns piggish at autocross speeds.

At last month’s autocross, my first practice run was my best time for the day. That’s pathetic. It showed me that I was trying to drive WAY to fast, and just overdriving the understeering balance of the car.

I recently managed to put together a set of four 18×9 OEM wheels, and did one track day with those, running a 10mm spacer on the rear. Better handling in the slow sections (e.g. turn 11 at Thunderhill), still very controllable and safe feeling.

Yesterday was the first autocross event I did with the “square” wheel and tire setup. I decided not to run the spacer in the rear for autocross, since the rear end isn’t hurting for grip.

Prior to the event I maxxed out the negative camber in the front of the car to approximately -3.25 degrees (very approximately). Driving the hour down to the Marina airport was a handful — additional negative camber also adds toe-out to the front tires. That combined with the big tires up front made the car want to follow any dip, crack, or micrometer-measurable imperfection in the road. Luckily, I made it without incident.

In autocross conditions, the car is now (finally!) in its element. Gone is the necessity to have absurdly low corner entrance speeds to compensate for the low-speed understeer. The car is neutral feeling throughout the corner, and the tail is very (too?) easily coaxed out with a little gas or a strong lift.

Watch one run.

Yesterday, I started out taking it pretty easy, and made a conscious effort to build from there, going as far as to not use full throttle anywhere until the third run. But based on how the car felt, it was VERY difficult to hold back. It just felt too good, entering and exiting turns with an eagerness I hadn’t felt from it before.

I had two much more experienced drivers ride along with me, and they were both taken aback by this E46 M3’s ability to get around the corners.

So it was a great day out there. I have a new found enthusiasm for doing autocross in this car.

Prior to coming home, I set the front camber back to my street/track setting, and had a nice relaxing drive back north, with a big smile on my face…

What a fantastic day at Thunderhill! High 70’s, clear skies, green grass — it doesn’t get much better than that up in Willows.I met my folks at the Best Western in Willows on Thursday evening. They had driven down from Washington, and were visiting family in Chico. It’s a half-hour drive from there to Willows. JohnR and I caravaned up from the Bay Area for the event.

It was my first outing with NCRC, and Pops’ first time on a road course. We shared my car, running in two different run groups. NCRC does a great job of running a track event. It’s more casual than the BMWCCA events I’ve been to, but it works.

My first couple of sessions were done solo — sans instructor. That’s all fine and good, but this was a different configuration of the track than I’ve driven on. Rather than the steep uphill, 90 degree left-hander, and sharp downhill “Cyclone” Turn 5, we ran “The Bypass”, which is a blind over-crest, off-camber right hand sweeper. My first time though it I felt like I was going to fly off the track. Solo sessions are fun, but there is very little learning that can happen at my level (skill- and confidence-).

Pops had a great instructor from the start. Jay Hudson is a long-time instructor, and a recent Club Racer. His patience and skills in the art of high performance driving instruction really made a great day for my dad. Pops came away from the day with a feeling of acomplishment, and a fine regard for the proper line on a race track. I’m very excited for his next trip to Thunderhill, since I think he’ll be more comfortable dialing in some speed to his experience.

I was lucky enough to catch a session with Jim Bassett in the passenger seat. Jim wasn’t signed up as an instructor, but I know that he’s one of the most talented guys out there. To get any time with him in a car — either riding along or driving — is a valuable thing. He showed me a brilliant line through The Bypass that allowed me to proceed with confidence through the rest of the day.

My “official” instructor was Margaret Cheng, who currently races a Spec Miata, and is known to most of the guys she races against as a force to be reckoned with. She showed me that she is an incredible instructor too — her confidence and encouragement really helped me to find more speed and stability on the track. I’ve never been so high up on the berms before, and at the same time, never carried as much speed through some of the turns — especially Turn 9.

So really a great day at the track. The car felt awesome all day. It was my first time running a “square” wheel/tire setup — I’ve got a set of four OE 18×9″ wheels with 255/40-18 OE Continental tires. They’re noisy and squealy, but a great tire to learn on. It was also the first day running dedicated track brake pads — Performance Friction PF01s. They were AWESOME throughout the day. They seemed to bite harder the hotter they got. I experienced zero fade all day, and this was running double-duty with my dad driving the car too. I made sure to bleed the brakes the night before, and top off the Motul RBF-600 brake fluid. I’m sure that helped a bit.

I’ve signed up for the BMWCCA school at Thunderhill in August, and am registered to do an event with Hank Watts’ Coastal Driving School at Sears, err Infineon in June. I’m really looking forward to continuing this addiction, and hope to get Arti out to the track one of these days — as soon as we can leave Marina with her Nana and Nani overnight…

Photos are here.

Videos are here.