Comments on: Static Electricity From Trams: Possibly The Oddest Excuse For A Race Retirement, Ever

By: Shanghai 2008: Lewis Hamilton Wins To Take Title To Wire » BlogF1

Shanghai 2008: Lewis Hamilton Wins To Take Title To Wire » BlogF1 — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 14:00:56 +0000

[...] to select any gears. It is understood that Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne is looking into whether or not a tram may have been nearby at the [...]

By: Gusto

Gusto — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:11:25 +0000

Could it be that Ferrari were testing there new secret weapon, the Electromagnetic Pulse Rifle that fries the cicuitry of the ECU unit rendering it useless, just to make sure it works on Lewis`s car in Brazil, there were reports of a man in a red boiler suit stood on the grassy knowl

By: Oliver White

Oliver White — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:07:20 +0000

And it would seem that Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (the tram operators) have responded.

There is no MRT track beneath turn 13. The nearest MRT tunnel is about 200 metres away, with a depth of about 10 metres.

The spokesperson also said that the train wheels and running wheels do not generate static electricity.

By: Alianora La Canta

Alianora La Canta — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:07:56 +0000

Gman, I think you’re right.

By: Gman

Gman — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 03:20:14 +0000

I’m not a tech expert by any stretch, but dose anyone else think that the orginisers would have looked into this and considered it beforehand? I think it may be a bit of a lame-duck excuse from Red Bull, especially with one of their mid-pack rivals having pulled out their first win of the year.

By: Gusto

Gusto — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:09:46 +0000

Just happened to stumble on this from one of my techy Mags written around Febuary to quote…On the shift system side, the Majority of teams now employ a `software` approach. As Renault Technical Director Bob Bell puts it:”The so called `quick shift` gearbox is effectively a bomb waiting for somebody to light the fuse. Essentially with these boxes you can engage two gears at the same time and its only through clever control systems that you dont destroy the box. Making the transition to a standard ECU , where you have less control over how it is done, was a worry. We had some intail difficulties but they were on the test bench and didnt find their way through to the track.” Now,throw in what Steven said about lightning (Say around 200 metres from the track) and a stormy race at Fuji, could we see numerous cars just grind to a halt at the same time. Its made me that more expectant for the next race.

By: Gusto

Gusto — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 17:03:30 +0000

I had to laugh when I first saw this.Static Electricity may be around 50000 Volts,but it contains very little current,thats why it does`nt kill you(around 60 Volts AC with 30 millaAmps will send you heart into fibralation ie you die).As there was no contact with this static,we can only assume it was the Magnetic Induction that spooked his computer,surely it is Magneticly shielded,and the Induction from static woundnt even crash an ZX81. It could be possible that the tram was changing live rails at the time resulting in the Induction(why no shielding),bit like when a motobike interferes with your TV. As excuses go this is a beauty..Mate

By: Steven Roy

Steven Roy — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 16:36:28 +0000

Red Bull are going to be in trouble if there is any lightning near a circuit

By: Oliver White

Oliver White — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 15:36:10 +0000

Furthermore, why didn’t Coulthard (usually the unluckiest driver on the track for mechanical retirements) find his car selecting two gears at once?

It is odd. I think it comes down to whether or not a tram was under the part of the track where the car was at the time. So maybe Coulthard and Vettel got lucky. But with 20 cars flying around for 3 days, I find it hard to believe that only 2 apparently had this issue. And even if it only affected the Red Bull cars, then why? Why are their moog valves different to everyone else’s?

By: Alianora La Canta

Alianora La Canta — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 15:31:03 +0000

Furthermore, why didn’t Coulthard (usually the unluckiest driver on the track for mechanical retirements) find his car selecting two gears at once? This is a really wierd excuse…