Science desk
< August 24	<< Jul \| August \| Sep >>	August 26 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Science Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

August 25

Formula 1 steering wheel

I stumbled upon this photo of a Formula 1 steering wheel. Where can I find explanations about the function of each knob? TIA Zarnivop (talk) 12:27, 25 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Kde Pazletz. Found it! Zarnivop (talk) 12:35, 25 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The OP has stumbled on the steering wheel of the Sauber team C33 Formula 1 car. This reference guide is handy while driving. The PCU-8D LCD screen, made by McLaren Electronics, is 4.3 inches wide with a resolution of 480 x 272 pixels. It can display as many as 100 pages of info such as engine RPM and oil temperature, current lap speed and how many laps remain. [1]. The buttons are colour coded.

Yellow N button: Selects neutral from 1st or 2nd gear.
BRKBAL (brake balance) rotary switch: Adjusts the front and rear brake balance.
Black Box button: Confirms the driver’s intention to come to the pits.
Blue and orange S1/S2 buttons: These can be programmed for various functions.
Entry rotary switch: This allows the driver to make changes to corner entry settings of the differential.
Orange and green BRK-/BRK+ buttons: These change the brake balance between a programmed position and the current BRKBAL rotary position.
IGN (ignition) rotary switch: Controls ignition timing.
White ACK (acknowledge) button: Acknowledges changes in the system.
PREL (preload) rotary switch: Controls the preload differential offset torque.
Red Oil button: Transfers oil from the auxiliary tank to the main tank.
Black BP (bite point) button: Activates the clutch bite point finding procedure.
DRS (drag reduction system) button, upper left edge of the wheel: Activates the rear wing flap in the DRS zone.
Red PL (pit lane) button: Activates the pit lane speed limiter, limiting the car to the designated pit lane speed limit (typically 100 km/hr).
Black R button: Activates the driver radio transmission.
SOC rotary switch: Controls the state of charge of the ERS energy storage system, whether the system is generating or consuming energy.
Pedal rotary switch: Changes the pedal map dictating how the accelerator pedal responds to inputs.
Fuel rotary switch: Controls the rate of fuel consumption.
Black OT button: Activates configurable performance maps to assist the driver in overtaking or defending.
Tire rotary switch: Tells the ECU and other systems what type of tire the car is running on.
BBal-/BBal+ switches: These are used to make fine adjustments to the brake balance offset.
MFRS (multi-function rotary switch): This allows the driver and engineers to control a variety of systems that don’t require a dedicated buttons. They include engine modes (PERF), rev limiter (ENG), air-fuel ratio (MIX), turbo-compressor (TURBO), corner exit differential (VISCO), MGU-K recovery limits (BRK), MGU-K boost limits (BOOST), dashboard options (DASH), cruise control (CC, disabled for qualifying and the race), shift type (SHIFT), and the clutch bite point offset (CLU).
White -10/+1 buttons: These allow quick navigation of maps from the MFRS dial. 84.209.89.214 (talk) 14:04, 25 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Is this used to play an electronic car racing game, as opposed to actually being used in a race car? (In a world where they worry about drivers getting distracted by texting or chatting on a cellphone) Edison (talk) 17:20, 26 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

It's the real deal. Race driving is completely different from real world driving. Much more predictable behaviour on the part of other drivers, so the types of distractions are different. Mingmingla (talk) 18:17, 26 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

A lot of the buttons are almost exclusively used in the pits, when making adjustments to race settings. But when there's a problem detected during a race in things like brake balance, for example, it's important for the driver to be able to adjust things on the fly without having to go in for a pit stop. Race strategy will also dictate when you want to lower the fuel consumption rate, so it's important for the driver to be able to control that; smae for the activation of DRS and the buttons related to pit stop protocol. For a lot of these buttons, the drivers don't even need to take their eyes off the road, or only for a fraction of a second, to activate or deactivate the function. --Xuxl (talk) 09:01, 27 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I saw Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and none of that is needed. Just need to go fast. Maybe a cougar. --DHeyward (talk) 07:02, 27 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Do not confuse Hollywood comedy about NASCAR stock car racing with Formula 1 single-seat open-wheel racecars that are custom fitted to their drivers. 84.209.89.214 (talk) 13:47, 27 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]