The Eff Wun circus troops off to the legendary Monza
circuit in Italy this weekend, and the Tifosi will be there in their
thousands. With the title chase slipping away from Ferrari it will be
imperative for Ferrari to give the home fans a win, or if nothing else,
Hakkinen’s head on a plate.
Personally I think David Coulthard has lost the plot,
yet again. Last meeting he was faster than everyone until Qualifying - the
time it mattered. In the race, his performance at best would be described
as “lack-lustre”. I would love to see him on the top step and he has
the ability to do it - but he’s far too erratic.
Villeneuve has reportedly re-signed with BAR for
another three years. I think he’s gone loopy. The man is an ex-world
champion fighting it out for 14th places with Pedro (send more dollars,
Daddy) Diniz. He should be in a much better team.
Johnny Herbert had an amazing weekend at Spa. Not only
did he out-qualify Eddie the Mouth, but he finished in front of him as
well. Something that has been very rare for him this year - finishing that
is!
Alain Prost must lie awake every night wondering just
what he has to do to get either of his cars to the finish line. It’s
been so long since Jean Alesi saw a chequered flag, he’s probably
forgotten what one looks like.
Again, Monza is a low downforce circuit, so expect to
see Button doing well. Join me trackside at Delaney’s for all the
action!
Last week I wrote about the FIA (Federation
Internationale de l’Automobile) and that it did not come into being
until 1946. I asked what had been a governing body which had ruled since
1904 till it was reconstituted as the FIA in 1946. And also, why was it
set up?
The answer was not simple, but was the AIACR (Alliance
Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus) set up because the French
wanted to change the rules of the Gordon Bennett Trophy, the first
international motor sporting regular competition.
And so to this week. A modern racing circuit had the
first stone laid by Vincenzo Lancia, but two days later all work was
stopped for three months by conservationists. Today, the conservationists
are still at it. What circuit is this?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first
correct answer to fax 427 596 or email [email protected].
Eff
Wun steering wheels are no simple pieces of equipment these days and if
you want to order one for the wall behind the bar, be prepared to spend
around five thousand good old fashioned English currency. That’s about
300,000 baht if you are not used to the Pommy pounds. And by the way, if
you want one at that bargain price you have to order them in batches of
ten!
The reason the thing costs so much is that it has all
sorts of electronic trickery in it to control almost all the functions the
driver can do from the cockpit.
The first is changing gear, done by paddles on both
sides of the wheel. One paddle for changing up and the other for changing
down. There is also a digital display in the centre of the wheel to let
the driver know exactly which gear it was that he ended up in if he loses
count. Very easily!
Just to keep the driver totally confused, there are
generally two more paddles lower down on the wheel that operate the clutch
- with either hand. Now you can see why Coulthard has all those bad starts
- it’s from sitting there trying to remember which finger is supposed to
be doing what. “Now do I change gear with my pinky, my pointing finger
or my nose finger?”
Scattered around the steering wheel are a selection of
different coloured buttons and toggle switches to control various other
functions of the car. There will always be a red “Kill Switch”, used
to cut the engine in an emergency such as a sticking throttle or fire. It
is clearly vital for this switch to be in a very accessible and obvious
position but, equally, it is very important that the driver doesn’t
press it by mistake! This has been done famously in the past.
The next switch, and this is generally a toggle, is for
the pit to car radio. It is important that the driver does not rest his
finger on this switch or he will then have effectively jammed all radio
transmissions to his pit. Remember Jean Alesi who ran out of fuel because
the pits couldn’t raise him on the radio and Jean didn’t see the pit
board (probably because it was in English, a language any self respecting
Frenchman is loathe to use).
A further button (usually yellow) will operate the
pit-lane speed limiter. This device, when pressed, will not allow the car
to exceed the 80 kph speed limit set by the FIA in the pit-lane. It does
this via electronic control with the central engine management system but
it is still the driver’s responsibility to bring the speed down to 80
kph or so before the button is pushed. This control also opens the
“cat-flap” over the fuel filler, which explains why you will see cars
dribbling down pit lane with the flap open.
Another button (sometimes coloured white) will be a
“Reverse Engage” button. Simply, before reverse can be engaged, this
button needs to be pressed. This is important because, due to the paddle
gear-change, it could be just too easy to change down all the gears, hit
neutral, and then select reverse by mistake. A very expensive mistake!
And yet there are more buttons which may be used for
“Pitlane Confirm”, “Wet Tyres Confirm” and “Engine Problem
Marker”. The first two are used as back-up systems for the radio - as
soon as the driver has decided to enter the pit-lane, he’ll press the
“Pitlane Confirm” button. This will register a large red light on the
telemetry data screen in the pit and confirms beyond doubt that the driver
is intending to come into the pits on that lap. Similarly, the “Wet
Tyres Confirm” gives the mechanics the chance to get 4 wheels all ready
- unless of course the driver is Eddie Irvine and the team is Ferrari!
Two further buttons, usually at the top of the steering
wheel and either side of the digital display, will control the brake
balance bias front to rear. Press one button to give yourself more front
bias. Press the other button to give yourself more rear bias.
We’re not finished yet. Two rotary 5-position control
switches in the lower portion of the wheel control functions such as
engine mixture, hydraulic differential settings or even intensity of
electric power steering.
Finally, the digital display indicator - usually
positioned centrally towards the top of the steering wheel - will have a
number of different functions that can be programmed in as required.
During a race, it will display RPM and which gear he is in, the car’s
lap time and any alarms that may become triggered if temperatures exceed
pre-set settings. This will cover oil temperature and pressure, water
temperature, fuel pressure, hydraulic pressure, etc., and these signals
are also sent directly to the pit garage to analyse and decide whether to
bring the car in, or let the driver deal with it after advice via the
radio.
No, the modern F1 steering wheel is a highly complex
piece of engineering, and a long way divorced from the circular handle for
the worm and tiller steering of some years back.
