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Clip description
Peter Wherrett does a piece to camera to emphasise what not to do while driving. He follows that up with a sequence of driving shots to show how stress can be the equivalent of a heart attack, so it’s no surprise to learn that this can seriously affect a driver’s road skills.
Curator’s notes
Peter Wherrett is a motoring journalist and ex-racing car driver. He’s great talent and when he cautions about drink driving, and other dangers like stress, we listen. Here, the simple technique of slightly slowing the camera, so everything looks faster as we drive through the city, very effectively recreates the sense of driving while stressed – our pulse rate goes up just watching it. Wherrett’s simple, low-key delivery is also great.
Torque began in 1974 and continued to rate highly in its evening timeslot for the ABC until it came to an end in 1980. Peter Wherrett always said he made the series with the public broadcaster because he wanted to be able to pull no punches about those vehicles that had safety or engineering problems. It was this forthright honesty that attracted the audience to Torque over the years.
