Old Smokey. Thank you for a really first class piece of writing on the subject. It is now in my Favourites file. You mentioned that pilots should be "coiled" to stop up to V1. Interesting word use. I have observed many pilots using the rather strange technique during the take off run of coiling their hand over the front of the thrust levers in quite an unnatural grip, signifying apparently that they are poised with claw like grip like a bird on a branch, to rip back the levers against the stops if something happens to trigger the abort reflex.
Others simply open the throttles normally with a normal hand grip and take what comes if it happens. I confess to being of the latter. Someone "coiled" for an abort makes me uneasy especially on a limiting runway with the sea dashing against the rocks at the end of the stopway and the circling fins of white pointers occasionally appearing in the surf on the extended centre line.
"Coiled" means tensed and tensed can sometimes mean reacting instantly to sight or sound in an inappropriate manner. I prefer a "watching brief" up to V1 - it sounds less frightening.