From Porsche magazine, April 1971.

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I call it the "Lamborghini glance". To be honest one of them recently
passed my car on the autobahn. I was behind a truck when I saw him
coming in my mirror-he too had to slow down for the truck. Once past
I moved to the right and naturally accelerated hard but it didn't do
any good. His acceleration was better. Not a lot but enough to go by.

I didn't even try to ride his slipstream, knowing a Miura is simply
quicker. When the road is clear and its driver has the ability one
will do 175, or perhaps a bit more. You can seldom use a Miura to its
limits on a German autobahn, that's for sure. But when you want to be
you are a little quicker than a 911 S.

Of course the Lamborghini costs as much here as three 911 S's.

You will understand what I meant by the Lamborghini glance. I presume
you have one too. At least I have observed it in many Porsche
drivers. Even if they are doing 120, 125 or 130 mph they always look
in the rear-view mirror before moving into the left lane of a
freeway. It is unlikely that you will be passed at 130 for two
reasons. To begin with that requires a car faster than our 911.
Secondly the driver would have to use it harder.

But we all know Miuras exist, along with a few other (Italian) cars
which might not be "better" than our Porsche but are still faster.
And one might just be coming up behind. The possibility is perhaps
1:100,000 but that doesn't matter-the possibility does exist.

Besides we don't run our Porsches flat out all the time. I imagine
you too have a certain "working speed" which you use as a comfortable
canter rather than always running at full gallop. When the autobahn
is clear I get up to 125 or 130, but never really go faster than
that, to the 135 maximum. If somebody is running his 911 S flat out,
or driving say a Mercedes 6.3 hard, he might close up and want to
pass. So I must always use the mirror before moving left.

After all, overtaking on a normal highway I must also figure that a
harddriven Lamborghini might come the other way and calculate passing
distances to suit. We must all count on that, on super-fast cars
coming towards us. Nobody can apologize later by saying, "he
approached too fast".

I don't know if you agree with all this. My experience on German
freeways and high-speed highways indicates other drivers use their
mirrors more carefully the faster their cars and the harder they
drive them. This is a seeming paradox since the faster you drive the
less often you are passed. Fast drivers face the situation of a
faster car demanding their lane far less frequently than normal
drivers.

Only a few days ago I had the rare experience of finding two German
autobahn drivers running flat out, close to their top speeds. The
first was in an Audi 100 LS, a quite lively car for a "standard"
sedan. He was at its limit, over 105 but the driver moved immediately
to the right after passing though I wouldn't have taken it amiss if
he had stayed on the left since there was a bus ahead. A respectable
distance ahead, true, but the Audi was doing its best. Its driver had
looked in his mirror properly and, above all, calculated accurately
that he could continue on the right without slowing. That Porsche
could pass without slowing the Audi, even at those speeds, thanks to
its acceleration.

And this is what happened. It was a harmonious procedure,
coordination between 105 and 125. As I passed I raised a hand to say
thanks for the precision of his moves.

Shortly thereafter I closed up on a BMW 2002 TI under similar
circumstances and he moved to the right just as promptly. It may have
been a half hour later when a 280 Mercedes freed the left lane for me
very fairly. Again it was a situation where a driver in the same car
doing 80 rather than 110, or an average driver in a car with a top
speed of 85 or 90 might well have muttered to himself, "that Porsche
can just wait until I pass another car at least". Such a man simply
wouldn't have moved right.

I must add that I had not blinked at the Audi, nor at the BMW or
Mercedes. The drivers moved of their own accord, continuing at speed
because they saw clearly there was room to move over and it would
please a faster car if he could go on.

I am very much against "bulling through" in the left lane. I blink
once or twice and if the man still won't move tell myself it is
either a stubborn ass or a man who doesn't know any better. A man who
simply can't calculate how quickly I will be past and realize there
is ample time for him to move over. There are a surprising number in
Germany who have no idea of closing distances whatsoever.

People like the Audi driver are thus doubly pleasing. In summary it
is probably true to say that really fast cars as a rule are driven
very correctly and considerately. A feeling of responsibility has
grown with the driving ability; perhaps a feeling of superiority as
well ... We don't want to plumb the murky depths of psychology here.
I really only wanted to explain what I mean by the "Lamborghini
glance". Am I right in presuming you have it too?