How Much Tech is Too Much?

[lkjohnson1950]

Totally agree with Ant's opinions here.

http://www.motor1.com/news/94241/analysis-when-does-racing-car-complexity-go-too-far/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=www_2016-08-17

[Ian]

Ditto there Scott.

[John S]

Engineering Porn....... and....... more-adept knob twiddlers.    

Don't you just love the way modern motor racing is going to the dogs.

By the way Ian it was Lonny who started this topic - not Scott.

[Scott]

By the way Ian it was Lonny who started this topic - not Scott.

Ian either has to get new glasses or figure out how the zoom feature works in Windows.   


Great post.  I'm not sure though.  In one sense it gives a bit of weight to bringing back full telemetry and just let the driver handle the basics, but on the other hand, maybe the teams should have two settings for all the electronics - wet and dry.  Give a brake bias adjustor and radio and drink buttons.  Throttle, brake, clutch and gear paddles to round out the controls. 
 

[cosworth151]

I"m a life long techno-geek and even I think that it's gone way too far. The only thing I'd add to Scott's idea is a speed limited pit mode.

[Ian]

  You're dead right John, I'll just blame my age, sorry Lonny.

[Steve A.]

There has been.way too much tech for quite a while now.

[Monty]

I'm so far on the fence I have splinters in my nether region!
I just want really fast cars racing wheel to wheel and it does bother me that the Tech has become 'OTT'. However, we are the first bunch of enthusiasts that complain when the FIA impose regulations.
If we say 'no tech' we could push the cars to standard engines, standard gearboxes, perhaps manual gearshift and what have we done?? Reinvented Formula Ford!
I think the answer may be in stopping or slowing developments so the cars do not get increasingly complicated almost every race. However, I have no idea how you could do this. There are already limits on budget, the enforced summer shut-down, tokens for engine developments, etc., etc.

[Jericoke]

I like that F1 is high tech, and I love the idea that what they do in F1 trickles down into real world automotive applications.

So make that the guiding spirit of F1.  Never will I adjust the brake balance in my grocery runner, much less while in the middle of a high speed corner.  However, my grocery runner might benefit from automatically adjusting my brake balance depending on fuel load, cargo load and driving habits, so let the car do that for me.  High tech, yet practical.

What I'm saying is anything an F1 driver can manually change in their car should be something someone driving a family car would be expected to change in their own car.  Pedals, steering, gear shift, a few engine modes and the radio.  Let the car automate the rest, on its own, without engineers fiddling with settings over the radio.

[Monty]

...only problem with tech in the family car is the master plan to stop us driving.
I really do not want to sit in a bubble that autonomously takes me from A to B (killing a few people on the way when the sensors do not recognise a white truck against a bright background!).

[J.Clark]

It is an interesting article to say the least; however, I will always be one who thinks that racing should be more about the driver (and the car) than about the technology.

I can appreciate the technology, and all of the "wonderful" applications it can have on the family car.  I was on a three hour trip with a friend the other day, and the technology was on complete display.  While it is to some degree, supposed to help keep drivers from being distracted, I thought (watching it used by my friend), that the average driver would probably be more distracted - just as the Formula 1 driver occasionally has to request instructions from the pit wall regarding settings and etc.

His phone was connected by blue-tooth to the truck's radio/entertainment unit.  He could pull up weather radar, make and receive phone calls and a host of other options could also be performed.  It did require manipulation of various buttons, most of which were on the steering wheel, by controlling the menue selections available.  Unless one was constantly practicing the use of this system for all of those options, it would be quite distracting while selecting from the menu.  Voice commands were only available after having selected the item from the menu.

That said, I recall an interview with Schu once, after he had driven a car from the '70s era of F1.  It was a V12 with a manually shifted transmission using both feet and having to clutch to shift gears.  His comment, when asked what it was like, was something like, "That car is dangerous to drive.  You have take a hand off of the wheel to shift gears, push in the clutch, the accelerator is quite tricky to not have the back come loose exiting a corner . . "

I recall thinking at the time, he must have just gained even more respect for those early F1 drivers.

The bottom line for me is simple.  I would rather see more required of the driver and less aids from technology, even if all cars were equally equipped with the tech tools.

[lkjohnson1950]

The fact that nearly all tech must be controlled by the driver is most of the problem. Maybe the solution is to limit what can be on the steering wheel? If Lewis problem would have caused a DNF in Azerbaijan, maybe it shouldn't be fixable in car? I think the seriousness of the problem is underlined by the fact that whatever the drivers may or may not have done after, the initial cause of the accident in Spain was that Nico pushed the wrong button and sent the car into the wrong engine mode. That simply should not happen.