novel - Short story where non automated cars are outlawed, and the protagonist sees classic cars being raced illegally.

I believe this was part of a short story, or a novella. Automated transportation is the current technology. Vehicles must be automated and human control has been outlawed for safeties sake.

The protagonist observes the scene as he is flying from point A to Point B:

There is a stretch of concrete road, maintained by an underground group of outlawed car enthusiasts, and they are in the midst of (recklessly) racing these automobiles against other human drivers despite the dangers and in defiance of the law.

It is a brief scene, and has little to do with the overall story, so I'm having a difficult time recalling just which book it was a part of.

Likely read it in the 1980's.

Answer

I think this might be a scene from Flatlander published 1964 by Larry Niven, which was published in the Beowulf Shaefer compilation Crashlander published in 1994. At one point, Beowulf's friend Elephant takes him to see and join in where crazy rich guys race lovingly restored vintage automobiles on a stretch of highway. Beowulf is initially bored (he's a starship captain and these cars go nowhere near the speed of sound, let alone light) until he realizes that the cars are so old that they don't even have on board radar and becomes absolutely terrified.

It's a scene really not at all important to the story, but fun nonetheless.

Comments

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