In 2018, Robert Wickens confronted one of many few worst-case eventualities in racing. Whereas competing at Pocono, his No. 6 Lucas Oil Arrow IndyCar hit one other automobile (Ryan Hunter-Reay), leading to a brutal crash that red-flagged the race. Wickens surprisingly survived the incident, however his accidents would depart him paralyzed. Probabilities have been possible that he wouldn’t have the ability to stroll, or race once more.
Know-how has made appreciable strides over time for disabled racers. Sufficient to the place paraplegic drivers have been utilizing experimental hand-controlled techniques, sometimes constructed specifically for that particular racing automobile, that allowed them to return to the very factor they cherished doing: racing. Michael Johnson was a type of drivers, and in 2021, after Wickens’ lengthy street of restoration and rehabilitation, he provided the previous driver an opportunity to return to the observe, utilizing his specifically modified Hyundai Veloster TCR outfitted with a hand-controlled system. The supply led to Wickens signing on for a full season experience with Bryan Herta Autosport (BHA), nabbing a championship win in 2023, and offered a solution to additional the event of the hand controls to make them extra life like and accessible for different paraplegic drivers who additionally need an opportunity at a championship — or simply have the ability to artfully hoon a automobile round a observe once more.
The way it began
The sooner hand management system Wickens utilized (demonstrated within the video under) in his first seasons with BHA functioned by way of a brake ring that’s mounted behind the steering wheel. When Wickens pulled on this brake ring, a sequence of linkages utilized strain to the first brake grasp cylinder which then despatched hydraulic strain to the anti-lock brake controller and ultimately to the calipers at every nook to allow braking.
Whereas the system did supply some help to making use of brake strain, it was within the type of pressurized air serving to Wickens to maneuver the linkages and was sometimes delayed. There was little or no suggestions as all of those motions have been occurring and numerous mechanical shifting parts which made it laborious to do wonderful actions like path braking, which require feeling how the automobile responds as you step by step brake, and is important in racing competitively.
All these linkages additionally made it troublesome for seamless handoffs of the automobile between Wickens and his co-drivers. Within the Michelin Pilot Problem sequence, drivers are inclined to share vehicles — switching all through the enduro races. Wickens raced with Mark Wilkins and Harry Gottsacker, who would hop into the automobile after Wickens’ stints and flip a change to make use of the usual foot controls. Whereas the transition mechanically was simple between each abled and disabled drivers, the early system’s mechanical linkages took up pivotal area inside the driver cockpit, and required drivers to maneuver their ft to work round issues. It additionally made it troublesome to get Wickens out and in of the automobile.
That management system can be frequently developed over the following few years with BHA’s engineering workforce, and ultimately, little or no remained of the unique system sourced by Johnson. However in late 2023, the engineering workforce realized they can apply just lately developed LMDh expertise to make the system even higher. They reached out to the gurus at Bosch Motorsport.
Designing a better way forward for racing for disabled drivers
Senior Motorsport Engineer Jordan Krell and the remainder of the engineering workforce at Bosch Motorsport have been instantly as much as the problem and seemed to the Digital Braking System (EBS) developed for the hybrid LMDh race vehicles as a place to begin. Initially deployed in IMSA to regulate the braking features of the brake-by-wire system used within the LMDh prototypes, the EBS makes use of electrical alerts to mix friction brakes and regenerative braking offered by the hybrid parts put in within the vehicles.
Bosch engineers needed to handle the wants of the hand management system and work out a solution to rid the automobile of all of these cumbersome linkages. They constructed a reproduction of the system that Wickens was utilizing of their lab and commenced swapping out parts, together with designing a brand new system structure.
Picture by: Bozi Tatarevic
Every adjustment ultimately left them with a system that related from the brake ring on the steering wheel to 2 small grasp cylinders below the steering column. These cylinders have been then routed hydraulically to the first grasp cylinder by the brake pedal and from there traces have been related to the EBS. The circuit was accomplished by connecting the EBS to the ABS unit that could be a commonplace element on the Veloster N TCR.
The subsequent step was tuning the EBS, and as soon as once more, Bosch went to the LMDh platform in an effort to purchase a pedal really feel simulator. The simulator allowed them to present correct braking suggestions because the brakes have been utilized. This pedal really feel simulator is an non-obligatory element on LMDh vehicles which might connect with the hydraulic circuit on the EBS in an effort to present suggestions when brakes are utilized by it.
Picture by: Bosch Motorsport
Not solely did this new system filter a bunch of mechanical parts below the steering wheel and across the pedal field, however it additionally seamlessly built-in with the prevailing Bosch parts and allowed for Wickens and his co-drivers to simply swap out and in of the automobile with the flick of a change that adjustments controls from fingers to ft.
One of many greatest enhancements with the brand new EBS-based system is the truth that the increase offered by the column-mounted grasp cylinders shouldn’t be solely extra exact but additionally extra highly effective so now Wickens can function the brake ring with one hand whereas fully utilizing the opposite hand for one more perform like shifting which can permit him to take his braking to the following stage.
This new system not solely gives a direct profit for Wickens contained in the cockpit of the Hyundai Veloster N TCR, however opens up alternatives to race in different vehicles because the system makes use of Bosch parts which are suitable with ABS modules present in GT vehicles and prototypes. Wickens may now take the system expertise with him to step as much as the following stage of competitors and get behind the wheel of a GTD or GTP automobile within the IMSA WeatherTech Championship.
Wickens was in a position to really put the brand new system to the take a look at at IMSA’s run on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway just some weeks in the past, the place he and teammate Harry Gottsacker completed on the rostrum after beginning the Michelin Pilot Problem race from deep within the TCR subject. They enter the upcoming race this weekend at Michelin Raceway at Street Atlanta second within the championship with the chance to nab a back-to-back championship win. With the developments made in just some years, and this newest partnership with Bosch, no matter this weekend’s consequence could also be, it will likely be a win for Wickens, and an extra win for the disabled hoping to get an opportunity to tackle motorsports, once more.
