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Partho Ray

Technology has transformed the steering wheel of a Formula One race car into a 12-in-1 wonder. Here's how it works.

DRIVING down the road, one can take his hands off the steering wheel now and then, be it to shift gears or simply play the radio.

However, it is a different scene in a Formula One race. Here, the driver has absolutely no time to take his hands off the steering wheel to shift gears or adjust the rear view mirrors.

You might be wondering why the steering wheel is so important in a race and why we are talking about it. After all, it is just that, a wheel to steer the car. But not many know that the steering wheel today plays a significant role in a race and it is the most technically advanced part of the car. It just does not help the driver to steer the car. It also helps him shift gears, store vital data collected by the microchips, talk back to the pits and drink water when he wants to, besides displaying data to the driver.

It was not long ago that the steering wheel for an F1 car was picked up from any streetcar and used for the race. It was plain equipment, round in shape and attached to the steering column with a metal plate in the centre. The teams used to believe that the bigger the steering wheel, the easier it was to turn the car. But with technology advances, the steering wheel has really shrunk in size, and most of the controls for the driver are fitted into it.

The first technical advance came in the form of a button to shift to neutral automatically. This was introduced by McLaren engineer John Barnard who made it easy for Nigel Mansell to shift gears.

Then, of course, there was another button to talk back to the pit engineers and another button to release a drink of water for the driver. Today, the steering wheel can perform 12 functions apart from steering the car. It is removed each time the driver gets into or out of the car, and those are the only times that it can be removed. The node that connects the steering wheel to the steering column is where the technology part lies. There are microchips and wires that connect the various instruments in the car to the steering wheel. During a race, if the driver experiences some malfunction in the engine, then he can just press a button in the steering wheel, record the data, and send it to the pit engineers who could find a solution for the malfunction.

With the steering wheel removed, if one connects a laptop or palm top to the node that connects the steering wheel to the steering column, data regarding the functioning of the car can be downloaded. The data so collected is so vital that teams such as McLaren do not use the same steering wheel, after winning a race, for a second time. .

partho@thehindu.co.in

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