€100,000 jacks up the ante in pit stop wars

[Blog Zbod]

Auto Motor und Sport are reporting that Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull have new jacks that automatically drop the car when all four wheelmen have pressed the "done" button on their airguns. Eliminating the jack man's reaction time from the procedure allegedly saves as much as half a second per pit stop.

AMuS state the driver no longer watches for his pit signal light, he watches in his rear view mirror instead. As soon as he sees the car has begun to drop, he engages first gear and mashes the loud pedal.

Bet that keeps the front jack man on his toes.


The new radio-controlled jacks cost a paltry 100,000€.

 

[Mephistopheles]

£17.99

 

[Wombcat]

Yeah. They should get back to that. And that the riders need to change the tires themselves. Would be fun to watch. Pitstops might be a bit slower though.

 

[gethinceri]

1 lollipop guy
4 tyre gun guys
2 jack guys
Manual lollipop
Windyguns
Lever jacks

Fuck the tech nonsense, we know how it can all be done from DTM etc.

 

[Incubus]

Presumably they'll have to re-think the way the pit-crew gauges the distance to whatever rival car is coming right behind on the pit-lane, especially if the driver is told to look at his mirror rather than use his lateraly vision when exiting his pit, otherwise there could be a lot more instances of unsafe releases?...

 

[McZiderRed]

F1 is about technology though, isn't it? New tech to make it quicker?

 

[gethinceri]

yes, McZiderRed, BUT, as I posted, all that pointless techy nonsense is being pursued in other forms of motorsport, there is no need for F1 to squander the money in this way as I don't believe there to be a practical application outside of motorsport.
OK, I can dig the idea that so many people involved creates more spectacle for the viewer, that F1 is so hi tech that it's even down to the 1000ths of a second at a pit stop, but think back..........when was the last time you saw human error at a pit stop, where the race hung on the ability of the crew, and not so much the kit?
How much does a wheel gun cost? how much a lever jack? how much a lollipop?
Why do more technical development in an area where it would be simple to level the playing field.

Sorry for a comment which verges on a lucidly presented opinion, I know it's not like me.

 

[McZiderRed]

Good comment. I'm all for more human error. Something to bring a bit of uncertainty to races.

My comment was more:- it seems that the governing body wants F1 to be the pinnacle of motor racing: ergo, more technologically advanced.
Unless I'm having a cider-moment.

 

[Blog Zbod]

In the current climate of F1, I think ludicrously expensive developments such as this are inevitable -- and predictable -- when the sanctioning body prescribes tyres that can force three or four tyre changes per race.

After Webber's lost wheel incident, there briefly was talk of instituting a mandatory minimum time for pit stops to cut down on the possible injuries from human errors in the quest for the sub-2 second stop. Which, in my mind, is every bit as silly as the notion that forcing the teams to make additional pit stops "spices up" the competition. Who in heaven's name wants to see races decided on pit road rather than on the track?

Was the 100,000€ radio-controlled jack inevitable? Maybe. But I don't think it is mere coincidence that it arrived in the era of the disinte-Pirellis.

 

[FB]

Are hydraulic jacks built into the car not allowed? Think they use these in nearly all forms of American motor sport and the LMP cars have them as well. Why not F1?

 

[Blog Zbod]

Are hydraulic jacks built into the car not allowed? Think they use these in nearly all forms of American motor sport and the LMP cars have them as well. Why not F1?

SR 23.5: "Powered devices which assist in lifting any part of a car are forbidden in the pit lane during a
race."

 

[gethinceri]

Hmmmmm, but surely any jack is powered.

 

[FB]

Not sure human power counts.

 

[gethinceri]

I was a little bit drunk.

 

[Bill Boddy]

Power is power whether it is electrical, steam, horse or human. Typical FIA to not realise that.

 

[Wombcat]

So essentially the rules make pitstops illegal

 

[Bill Boddy]

We live in hope.