Clever solution gives McLaren traction

Is this clever or not really in the spirit of the sport?

The secret of McLaren's run of pace in the last weeks may have been revealed by a British newspaper.

A technical report published on the Daily Telegraph website said back-to-back Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton, and his teammate Heikki Kovalainen, are making use of a unique four-paddle steering wheel.

With the conventional two paddles for changing gears, the extra two paddles allow the drivers to easily select different engine torque settings throughout the course of a lap, the renowned writer Mark Hughes claimed.

The solution could be allowing McLaren drivers to limit wheelspin under acceleration out of corners, thus making canny use of the new-for-2008 ban on traction control.

"This is part of McLaren's current performance superiority over Ferrari," Hughes added.

[en.f1-live.com]

I sort of get the feeling they are gong to be told to stop doing it if its true.

marcl Wrote:
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> I sort of get the feeling they are gong to be told
> to stop doing it if its true.


very clever, good that there is still some innovation in the sport. if they ban it, they should do it now, because otherwise by the end of the season every other team will have it too

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X (@ed24f1)

What they do is just changing engine settings. That's not forbidden. They aren't using TC, so they aren't breaking any rules. Though they will when the FIA implement a rule that forbids it...

And it was Mr Jethro who spotted it first

[www.grandprixgames.org]

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

They are not breaking any rules as you could say its the same as drivers changing the break balance for each corner plus the driver is having to do it. But it is pre programmed so that might be the problem and the settings do limit wheel spin so no idea. For all we know other teams are doing this as well already.

I just having a feeling that like the 2nd brake pedal they will be told to stop.

hooray, mclaren get pwned again! :D

I never saw anything wrong with the second brake pedal, I thought it was a very clever idea and was annoyed when they were told to stop using it. However, if the FIA want to carry on their [sarcasm] brilliant consistency [/sarcasm] then it should probably be banned.

I think McL pwned the rest of the field for finding a way round the TC ban.

PWNED! :P

all they've basically done is move the switch for engine torque settings to a lever, a fairly intelligent solution. id be surprised if drivers didnt alter torque settings and such as they drive round teh track anyway

Sim

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Nickv Wrote:
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> I think McL pwned the rest of the field for
> finding a way round the TC ban.
>
> PWNED! :P


Not if the Ferrari International Assistance have any thing to do with it

I think the rule was you are not allowed to change settings more than 3 times in a lap but can not fully remember tbh.

they should NOT get banned, as it's just changing engine setting's

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its pretty obvious they do have a traction advantage in the last few races, from the onboard cams, ou can hear that hamilton can pretty much floor it out of any turn without wheel spin. hope the other teams do the same now so that hamilton doesnt runaway with the championship

marcl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Is this clever or not really in the spirit of the
> sport?
>
> The secret of McLaren's run of pace in the last
> weeks may have been revealed by a British
> newspaper.
>
> A technical report published on the Daily
> Telegraph website said back-to-back Grand Prix
> winner Lewis Hamilton, and his teammate Heikki
> Kovalainen, are making use of a unique four-paddle
> steering wheel.
>
> With the conventional two paddles for changing
> gears, the extra two paddles allow the drivers to
> easily select different engine torque settings
> throughout the course of a lap, the renowned
> writer Mark Hughes claimed.
>
> The solution could be allowing McLaren drivers to
> limit wheelspin under acceleration out of corners,
> thus making canny use of the new-for-2008 ban on
> traction control.
>
> "This is part of McLaren's current performance
> superiority over Ferrari," Hughes added.
>
> [en.f1-live.com]
> 080722141047.shtml
>
> I sort of get the feeling they are gong to be told
> to stop doing it if its true.


I WONDERED what that extra switch was for. Thanks for giving me credit Chet!

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I think its better to be forbidden, not becouse mclaren came up with it, and i know its smart, but otherwise in no time every team has it, and we'll see races about equal as before with tc again.

They are already tbh. It's not like the grid has been totally shuffled. No driver has really struggled so far and we have hardly seen spins because of the lack of TC (Massa is the only exception though )

The only way to forcibly ban traction control would be to ban changing the engine mapping, and disallow the drivers to change the engine mapping via the wheel. Banning changing the fuel mix might add incentive for smart racers, as I believe it was CCWS/IRL where the drivers basically can save fuel by lifting off the throttle, rather than changing the fuel mix, and it encourages smarter driving.

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Everyone knows that million-to-one chances happen 9 times out of 10; indeed, it's a common requirement in fairy tales. If the human didn't have to overcome huge odds, what would be the point? Terry Pratchett - The Science Of Discworld

GPGSL S5 Race driver for IED.

A clever interpretation of the rules, but then so was their third brake pedal in 1998

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Sorry, but whats wrong here? Torque settings have been around longer than most of the members of this forum. All that has happened is they moved it to a leaver so they can do 2 things in 1 action. That's not traction control at all.

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DaveEllis Wrote:
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> Sorry, but whats wrong here? Torque settings have
> been around longer than most of the members of
> this forum. All that has happened is they moved it
> to a leaver so they can do 2 things in 1 action.
> That's not traction control at all.


yes but according to the rules you are not allowed to do changes to the enginemapping with the same clutch that handles gear changing but with these 2 different clutch it's possible to change both gears and engine mapping at the very same time without using the same clutch.