The open-wheel champ is back in a race car, this time with a new hand control setup.
Read the whole story
Read the whole story
Paralympic gold medalist Alex Zanardi on how he’s able to race at Daytona
- Thread starter JournalBot
- Start date
Really enjoyed reading this. Pardon my ignorance, but is there much potential for this technology to filter down into the consumer market (if it hasn't already)?
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It will but tech like this is highly custom, and thus expensive.
Stuff like this though tends to filter downward slowly. So it will help others as it gets improved upon and shared.
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Why couldn't he have a brake lever on the steering wheel? He's got a throttle lever on it already.
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They're not allowed power assist for braking, so he needs an actual lever to create the necessary mechanical force. Can't really do that with your fingertips.
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I initially wondered the same thing but Jesse is Swedish and normally doesn’t bin the car
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Albino_Boo
Ars Praefectus
Hand controls on cars are a common adaption, it's the fine control needed for racing that is not normally present.
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Aside all of his accomplishments listed in the article, Alex Zanardi holds the Ironman world record for disabled people with a time of 8h26'. Also, he's 52. You don't want to get in a fight with this guy
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If Alex Zanardi's life was a movie, most people watching it would think it is nothing but fiction, not remotely based on reality. His story and achievements are absotuletly amazing.
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Albino_Boo
Ars Praefectus
Zanardi also has 5 Paralympic medals in hand cycling. There is a man that hasn't let losing his legs stop him in anyway. A real inspiration for everyone.
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You got to love this guy... His resolve and spirit is exceptional
Unlucky with his car choices in F1 but always fighting.
Especially that '99 Williams was not up to the challenge. Wasn't Montoya his replacement?
Unlucky with his car choices in F1 but always fighting.
Especially that '99 Williams was not up to the challenge. Wasn't Montoya his replacement?
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No, he was replaced by Jenson Button. Montoya came in 2001.
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They've already made rule changes for assisted driving by giving him the throttle lever on the steering wheel. Its not like there is a cable from there to the engine. A brake lever should be there too if they were really serious about "inclusion".
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Juan Montoya replaced him at Target/Chip Ganassi racing when he left CART for F1.
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I can't wait for the Pineapple to deliver the donuts once again! Zanardi was, and even more so today, is an amazing driver. I feel lucky to have seen him race at Elkhart Lake.
This is the Zanardi that I would scream at my television to win: The Pass
Also Donuts FTW!
This is the Zanardi that I would scream at my television to win: The Pass
Also Donuts FTW!
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And that win from a lap down at Burke Lakefront Airport. Zanardi used to make my Sundays with a win. It awesome to see how well he's doing.
Youtube has a video showing the controls in the BMW and showing how the driver change works.
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While I agree with you to a degree, I feel like having a physical connection between the driver and the brake is very critical. The gas pedal is already "by wire" so it is not a huge leap to just have another controller. As for the brake, that is a system that you want to be as simple as possible since it is safety critical for everyone on and at the track.
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Still reading the article, but wanted to say THANK YOU, JONATHAN, for writing this story and bringing it our attention. While I don't have any personal connection to the man or the sport, it's always a positive story when somebody is able to overcome adversity and reprogram their life in a manner that embraces adverse conditions. And I'll take all the positive news I can, thank you very much!
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Niki Lauda's story is along those lines. He didn't lose any limbs, but he was almost burned alive in a crash. Serious burns not only to his body, but also inside his lungs due to being strapped to a burning fuel can.
He also managed to come back ad race again. The movie is called "Rush".
Don't underestimate the competitiveness of a championship caliber racing driver.
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I think the other great thing about this story is that BMW Motorsport gave Alex the choice between racing this year at the Rolex 24H or Le Mans and he picked the Rolex. Plus it gave him a chance to reconnect with a lot of the folks from his days driving for CGR. Some great stories and podcast episodes came out from his participation in all of the events surrounding the Rolex 24H.
I was bummed for him and the rest of the 24 crew that problems hampered their race. But, from all reports, he was definitely one of the biggest highlights of this year's race.
I was bummed for him and the rest of the 24 crew that problems hampered their race. But, from all reports, he was definitely one of the biggest highlights of this year's race.
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Almost as impressive as Zanardi's adaptation to driving a race car with hand controls is that at age 52 he was still turning competitive laps. That's unusual in its own right.
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Heck, it needn't even be a movie. I get shit where folks assume I'm making up the things I've actually done in my life and I haven't done anything like this guy has. My wife and I were just talking a couple hours ago about how we need to break our society's view that if something is outside their experience they doubt it unless it's a celebrity. The experiences we have in our lives often varies wildly. It's a major problem and not just about those of us who are disabled.
Case in point for when it is about those of us ewho are disabled, however, see this comment I ended up making here on Ars because someone doubted the basics about such a life. Thing is, this sort of doubt isn't even all that uncommon! It's absurd how many times in my day to day life online I mention a thing I deal with daily and folks act as though I'm nuts or looking for some sort of kudos. Instead it's simply that I feel the need to educate the world on some of the stuff those of us who happen to be disabled have to go through just in an attempt to function.
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The system that BMW has put together for Zanardi comes close to one that could be usable by everyone. After the tiller was replaced by the steering wheel in about 1899, automakers have occasionally looked for alternative ways to control cars, but the wheel and pedals always come out on top. The joystick in the 1958 GM Firebird III was one of those failed attempts.
To my mind as an amateur student of ergonomics, the problem is that you want a system that has safety robustness to loss of control, where the car's acceleration forces amplify the control inputs that the driver is providing, but where hanging on for dear life when the car is accelerating doesn't make it accelerate even faster. With a simple joystick, push to go and pull to stop seemingly makes sense, but is not good when you want to stop fast. A joystick with pull to go and push to stop is slightly better, but "pull back to go faster" is going to be problematic in crisis situations.
A "squeeze or twist to go, push to stop" system, whether one handed or two-handed like Zanardi's gets the best of both alternatives, and with drive by wire systems that may not be allowed in racing but are OK in real-life, the controls can be made small enough to hide away in self-driving vehicles that are fully autonomous most of the time, but may need to be driven manually in emergencies.
To my mind as an amateur student of ergonomics, the problem is that you want a system that has safety robustness to loss of control, where the car's acceleration forces amplify the control inputs that the driver is providing, but where hanging on for dear life when the car is accelerating doesn't make it accelerate even faster. With a simple joystick, push to go and pull to stop seemingly makes sense, but is not good when you want to stop fast. A joystick with pull to go and push to stop is slightly better, but "pull back to go faster" is going to be problematic in crisis situations.
A "squeeze or twist to go, push to stop" system, whether one handed or two-handed like Zanardi's gets the best of both alternatives, and with drive by wire systems that may not be allowed in racing but are OK in real-life, the controls can be made small enough to hide away in self-driving vehicles that are fully autonomous most of the time, but may need to be driven manually in emergencies.
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We actually looked at that very idea a few years ago: https://meincmagazine.com/cars/2014/06/wh ... -joystick/
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I watched the first couple hours of the race and saw the driver change. I didn't notice the car dropping, but you can tell something was wrong with the wheel controls. I think somebody mentioned it wasn't working or dead. After a couple tries, they brought out the spare.
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'cuse my vernacular but... Alex Zinardi is a fucking legend!
We (me the family) watched him win gold in the 2012 Olympic hand cycling.
Seriously. This guy is just unstoppable. There is a lesson in his spirit for all of us.
We (me the family) watched him win gold in the 2012 Olympic hand cycling.
Seriously. This guy is just unstoppable. There is a lesson in his spirit for all of us.
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I am literally begging a game company to make a replica of this wheel for paraplegics and others that love to race but can’t use foot pedals for whatever reason.
But with brakes on the wheel too, because we don’t have to deal with Dumb rules.
Please please please please please make this.
But with brakes on the wheel too, because we don’t have to deal with Dumb rules.
Please please please please please make this.
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But not unheard of, especially in endurance racing. Jan Lammers raced at Le Mans last year aged 62 and came 7th in LMP2. He was racing in Formula One in the 1970s and is perhaps best known among British motorsport fans as the driver of the BTCC Volvo 850 ''flying brick''.
(And one of his co-drivers was the 51-year-old CEO of the Dutch supermarket chain who sponsor the team).
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