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 automotive (Ryan Hunter-Reay), leading to a brutal crash that red-flagged the race. Wickens surprisingly survived the incident, however his accidents would go away him paralyzed. Possibilities have been doubtless that he wouldn’t be capable of 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, usually constructed specifically for that particular racing automobile, that allowed them to return to the very factor they cherished doing: racing. Michael Johnson was a kind of drivers, and in 2021, after Wickens’ lengthy highway of restoration and rehabilitation, he supplied the previous driver an opportunity to return to the observe, utilizing his specifically modified Hyundai Veloster TCR geared up with a hand-controlled system. The provide led to Wickens signing on for a full season trip with Bryan Herta Autosport (BHA), nabbing a championship win in 2023, and offered a option to additional the event of the hand controls to make them extra practical and accessible for different paraplegic drivers who additionally need an opportunity at a championship — or simply be capable of artfully hoon a automotive round a observe once more.
The way it began
The sooner hand management system Wickens utilized (demonstrated within the video beneath) 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 collection 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 provide 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 usually delayed. There was little or no suggestions as all of those motions have been occurring and loads of mechanical transferring elements which made it exhausting to do advantageous actions like path braking, which require feeling how the automotive responds as you regularly brake, and is important in racing competitively.
All these linkages additionally made it tough for seamless handoffs of the automotive between Wickens and his co-drivers. Within the Michelin Pilot Problem collection, 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 automotive after Wickens’ stints and flip a swap 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 house inside the driver cockpit, and required drivers to maneuver their toes to work round issues. It additionally made it tough to get Wickens out and in of the automotive.
That management system could be regularly developed over the following few years with BHA’s engineering group, and ultimately, little or no remained of the unique system sourced by Johnson. However in late 2023, the engineering group realized they can apply not too long ago developed LMDh know-how to make the system even higher. They reached out to the gurus at Bosch Motorsport.
Designing a neater way forward for racing for disabled drivers
Senior Motorsport Engineer Jordan Krell and the remainder of the engineering group at Bosch Motorsport have been instantly as much as the problem and appeared 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 capabilities 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 elements put in within the vehicles.
Bosch engineers needed to handle the wants of the hand management system and work out a option to rid the automotive of all of these cumbersome linkages. They constructed a duplicate of the system that Wickens was utilizing of their lab and started swapping out elements, together with designing a brand new system structure.
Picture by: Bozi Tatarevic
Every adjustment ultimately left them with a system that linked from the brake ring on the steering wheel to 2 small grasp cylinders beneath the steering column. These cylinders have been then routed hydraulically to the first grasp cylinder by the brake pedal and from there strains have been linked to the EBS. The circuit was accomplished by connecting the EBS to the ABS unit that could be a customary 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 with the intention to purchase a pedal really feel simulator. The simulator allowed them to offer correct braking suggestions because the brakes have been utilized. This pedal really feel simulator is an non-compulsory element on LMDh vehicles which might hook up with the hydraulic circuit on the EBS with the intention to present suggestions when brakes are utilized by way of it.
Picture by: Bosch Motorsport
Not solely did this new system filter a bunch of mechanical elements beneath the steering wheel and across the pedal field, but it surely additionally seamlessly built-in with the prevailing Bosch elements and allowed for Wickens and his co-drivers to simply swap out and in of the automotive with the flick of a swap that adjustments controls from fingers to toes.
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 in addition extra highly effective so now Wickens can function the brake ring with one hand whereas utterly utilizing the opposite hand for one more perform like shifting which is able to enable him to take his braking to the following degree.
This new system not solely provides a direct profit for Wickens contained in the cockpit of the Hyundai Veloster N TCR, however opens up alternatives to race in different vehicles for the reason that system makes use of Bosch elements which are appropriate with ABS modules present in GT vehicles and prototypes. Wickens might now take the system know-how with him to step as much as the following degree of competitors and get behind the wheel of a GTD or GTP automotive within the IMSA WeatherTech Championship.
Wickens was in a position to actually put the brand new system to the take a look at at IMSA’s run on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway only a few 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 discipline. They enter the upcoming race this weekend at Michelin Raceway at Highway Atlanta second within the championship with the chance to nab a back-to-back championship win. With the developments made in only a few years, and this newest partnership with Bosch, no matter this weekend’s end result 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.
