11:30 Jun 24, 2011 

j'aime peut-être trop l'ironie :-)

23:00 Jun 23, 2011 

????? when did I say it was weird for women to be involved in racing?Would have answered the same if it was "collaborateurs de choc".

19:35 Jun 23, 2011 

thanks so much to everyone for all the answers and discussion entries, which were both enlightening and entertaining! And also very imaginative as I could have used many of them. I finally went with "outstanding colleagues" as translation had to be sent and I've been at conference all day. So points will go to Thomas as he put me on right track from beginning:-). I'll try to find out who they are and what they look like because now I'm curious!

17:01 Jun 23, 2011 

I did not write this particular piece but I've written enough texts, read enough books and other fiction and non-fiction work of all varieties to know irony and puns when they are present... Here you can't decide there is a pun just because you think it's weird for women to be involved in racing... There's nothing in the text to support the theory of a pun...
@Petitavoine,oui pour hit squad et pour troupe de choc, des as aussi mais honnêtement je trouve que c'est aller loin d'y voir de l'ironie...

07:41 Jun 23, 2011 

selon Bourth. C'est ce que j'aurais dit aussi. Il y a quand même un peu d'ironie dans "collaboratrices de choc", (peut-être qu'elles sont très jolies et vous laissent sous le choc), mais il y a aussi la vague idée, à mon avis, de "troupe de choc" (militaire pour commando raids ...), donc ce sont aussi des as.

04:23 Jun 23, 2011 

I think we all know what it means, but unless you wrote the text yourself (did you ;-) ) how can you affirm that no pun is intended given the racing context ?

02:40 Jun 23, 2011 

de choc just means brillant as in efficient and classy in what you do...

23:54 Jun 22, 2011 

you're right of course! Motorsport full of dolly birds. LOL. "pare choc" had not even come to mind!:-)) Thanks for the laugh, now I have a hit team of boobs and bottoms in the pits!

23:38 Jun 22, 2011 

(only joking; do, and I'll report you to moderators), but I think there is every chance women working in motor sport, in whatever capacity - only outside engineering, maybe - WILL be gorgeous. And that might well be the, er, bottom ... line. Competence might not come into it. Look at the grid lineup of a F1 race and the young ladies holding the signs or the umbrellas, watch the lead-up to a F1 race on TV and you'll see all the dollybirds in the pits, try selling a car at a motor show without a scantily clad broad adorning the bonnet (and I ain't talking Silver Ladies). There may even be an allusion here to the pare- choc of the collaboratrices in question.

23:08 Jun 22, 2011 

when I looked up background info on the race I saw there are 2 women responsible for dealing with competitors etc so I assume (though they might indeed be gorgeous!!) they help sort out all the organisational details. So yes, a hit squad of sorts! I was getting waylaid by other possible meanings of "collision/clash/crash" for "choc" and just wondered if that was the type of hit team in place though couldn't figure out why they'd be female?

22:32 Jun 22, 2011 

you'd need to know more about these people. The expression might just be a euphemism for "stunningly beautiful" or they might constitute a "hit squad" (in the nicest possible way), the people he puts onto difficult tasks requiring a prompt (but non-violent) solution.