| McLarens secret is within the steering wheel |
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Monday, 21 July 2008 19:46
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Wondered why Hamilton could accelerate so fast with such little wheel spin? Why he can start so well? Well the answer lies in McLarens steering wheel. It is believed they almost have a manual traction control system on their wheel. Spotted by the Telegraph as follows: "McLaren's steering wheel features four paddle levers rather than the usual two. The upper two are conventional gear-change paddles, one for upshifting, one for down. The lower two allow different engine torque settings to be chosen. Using two fingers at the same time allows the car always to have the most favourable engine torque setting for each gear, thus giving the driver a tool for limiting wheelspin out of slow corners without then suffering a reduction in power in the higher gears, where wheelspin is not an issue. The rules stipulate that any change in torque settings cannot be triggered by the same driver input as a gear change. Having two separate levers gets around that rule, while still allowing the change of gear and torque setting to take place simultaneously. This is part of McLaren's current performance superiority over Ferrari." Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/07/21/smpoin121.xml |
| Last Updated on Monday, 21 July 2008 22:31 |