BAR torque transfer deemed illegal

By Phil Huff (26/07/2004)
July 29 2004

Early on in the German Grand Prix weekend, Lucky Strike BAR Honda suffered a setback when the FIA declared one significant new development to be illegal.

We've not covered it here at BAR-Talk.com until now, as we wanted to get to the bottom of it, avoiding pure speculation.

During the Friday practice sessions of the German Grand Prix weekend, BAR ran their spare car with a software controlled device that connects the front wheels, allowing torque transfer from one wheel to another.

Simply put, this allows the team to transfer more braking power to the unloaded inside wheel, while helping prevent a lock up. Slow corners show the most benefit, with the driver able to take the turn both faster and smoother.



Early on Saturday morning the FIA's technical delegate Jo Bauer reported that "The T car of the Lucky Strike BAR Honda team was found to be equipped with an electro hydraulic software controlled device which connects the front wheels via drive shafts and allows controlled torque transfer from a faster wheel to a slower wheel even under braking. This device is not in compliance with Article 11.1.3 of the 2004 FIA Formula One Technical Regulations and I am referring this matter to the stewards for their consideration."

Article 11.1.3 states: Any powered device which is capable of altering the configuration or affecting the performance of any part of the brake system is forbidden.

The stewards insisted that the team remove the device from the car.

"The sport has quite complicated rules and every now and then you have to go into a little bit more detail about establishing exactly what is and isn't permissible," said BAR's technical chief Geoffrey Willis. "Obviously we believed it would have given us a performance advantage, otherwise we wouldn't have been using it."

Ferrari's Ross Brawn was rather less than impressed with the system. "Renault and Benetton had a system and sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't," said the Ferrari technical boss. "In the end they abandoned it because of the inconsistency of the system. Everyone knew at the time that the best thing to do was to include electronics and hydraulics but the FIA told everyone who made that proposal that you couldn't do it.

"I guess Geoff wasn't around in those days," he added. "He came up with a system that clearly contravened the clarifications that the FIA had given the teams a few years ago. We were a little bit shocked about it."

BAR haven't given up on the concept yet, though, with the team continuing to talk with the governing body in order to find a resolution. Geoffrey Willis added "We've established a position and there will be further discussions about it. The ruling at the moment has potential for consequences elsewhere on the car systems. We are going through the process with the FIA so it's not something that we're going to spend much time talking about publicly."