F-1 team radio's origin

Hi .

I have got a question concerning team radio. Namely, when eactly did it appear in F-1 to the extent we know it now, by means of which drivers can communicate with their engineers, get info about their position, laps to go, the strategy etc.

When was the last time the F-1 drivers drove their cars being "blindfold" with no external information?

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Team radio was first used during races in 1984, so I'd imagine the last time drivers had no direct radio communication was in the mid-1980s.

[www.f1technical.net]

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2009 11:50PM by EC83.

Wasn't it Renault who pioneered it? I remember Clive James quite taking the proverbial pee over their technological advantage over the rest of the field!

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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.

Clive James = LOL

Not sure, and Google isn't yielding me much info on it, but they might well have. I do know Renault made headlines in the same era(1985) when they became the first team to run a camera car in the German GP.

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I seem to vividly remember Clive James saying how Renault had to tell Derek Warwick ways to slow down and save fuel at Imola 1984 in order to save fuel. But his best quote was about Kyalami that year: "Anything as fast as the McLarens fell apart, anything as reliable finished later!"

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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.

Off the top of my head, my favourite Clive James comments were about Keke Rosberg needing a special helmet with a cigarette hole in the front of it, and Huub Rothengatter "trying to hump Dumfries' rear wheel" at Paul Ricard in '86 :P
But there were plenty more that made me LMAO

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In fairness, drivers have pretty much never driven without external communication though. For time immemorable, as long as there have been laps, drivers have been able to communicate with team members by the pit-wall/equivalent, through signs, hand signals, etc...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2009 03:46AM by The Lopper.

i don't know,

but i did read an article once titled, 'bugging the wolf' in which the writer was listening in on radio convestations between jody scheckter and his engineer at the 1977 swedish GP. (but that could have been via an intercom system) i recall with the first ones, the engineers, plugged themselves into the car to talk

marwood82 Wrote:
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> i don't know,
>
> but i did read an article once titled, 'bugging
> the wolf' in which the writer was listening in on
> radio convestations between jody scheckter and his
> engineer at the 1977 swedish GP. (but that could
> have been via an intercom system) i recall with
> the first ones, the engineers, plugged themselves
> into the car to talk

Yes, that's true. A Discovery Channel documentary titled 'The Secret Life of Formula 1' said that Colin Chapman was one of the first to use this system so that he could talk easily to the guys about the car whilst in the pits. The bloke was a pilot and implemented the same communication technology in F1.

Chapman does it again! (Early 70's)