The drift car seems much lighter in construction than the race car. For example, the roof on the race car has the reinforcers while the drift car's roof reinforcers have been stripped out. No wonder the drift car won the start...it probably has a good advantage when it comes to power-to-weight ratio.

In the pilot episode, Finch explains the Machine's habits to Reese. Most of the time the numbers are victims. The problem is something like the Uncertainty Principle in physics...human nature could go either way. Die from tainted narcotics or recover from the bad trip and murder the pusher? Get killed in a mugging…