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The
increasing difference between racing cars and their road-going counterparts
has often raised the question of whether any real benefit to cars designed
for the general public can be derived from the technical knowledge gained
from racing. These days whilst it is true that there are different reasons
for developing things independently, one cannot deny that sophisticated
and expensive testing such as occurs in racing can lead to developments
which would never have been considered for production line cars. The harsh
conditions encountered in racing applications sometimes lead to the development
of new products as well as providing much tougher test conditions than
would normally be imaginable for a car destined for a quieter life on
the road.
Racing
is also a great training school for Magneti Marelli in two respects: the
time pressures and the fact that you are on display to the public in a
situation where you cannot afford to make mistakes. But for Magneti Marelli
racing offers an indispensable opportunity to provide an extra service
to the car manufacturers who fit the company's systems and parts on their
production vehicles.
Work for the 2008 Formula 1 season involves
engine management (ignition and injection systems), gear change control,
on-board power generation, instrumentation and data acquisition (telemetry).
To give an idea of what it means to be working in all these areas at the same time,
suffice it to say that, even with the reduction in electronics dictated by new
regulations, the overall capacity for calculation of an on-board computer in a
top Formula 1 team car is equivalent to a medium-top range professional computer
and its level of sophistication is of the same order as a fighter plane's electronics,
with an even higher level of integration of components.
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Renault, Ferrari, Toyota, BMW Sauber, Red Bull and Toro Rosso are all equipped with a complete electronic Magneti Marelli
system for 2008 in Formula 1.
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Engine and gearchange management (Formula 1)
The most important part of a Formula 1 car management system is the part controlling
the injection and ignition systems. The Magneti Marelli unit also contains
gearchange management closely linked to an engine management system. One
of the main innovations for 2007 is the "step 11" version with
a faster calculation time giving response times of a thousandth of a second
and the integration of the control system and the telemetry in the same
“box”. To formulation data in such a short time five calculation units are used
which together have a degree of power equivalent to a good professional
calculator. The new version, based on a modular scheme, offers lower costs
and greater flexibility when it comes to introducing new functions.
An important part of the system is that
which manages the throttle bodies and the accelerator pedal which are
not connected directly, but through an electronic control which, in a
present way, activates the throttles opening, according to the characteristics
of each circuit and the different style of each driver.
Electronic management also governs the
length of the air inlets to maximise the volume of air entering the engine
under different driving conditions.
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The ignition systems also make use of electronics for selective control
of the cylinder in advance. Also worthy of note are the miniature ignition
coils, one for each cylinder, with a diameter of just 16 mm, only a little
bigger than a fountain pen. The gearchange control works by using information from three sources: the
driver, engine data and speed of the car. In other words, after the driver
has indicated he wants to change gear and the electronics have checked
the compatibility of the engine revolutions and the speed of the car,
the gearchange is activated, with an automatic slight touch of the accelerator
and the limiter control when changing up and with the ignition being
cut at the precise moment of the change when changing down a gear.
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Instrumentation and telemetry (Formula 1)
The importance of information management in Formula 1 has increased dramatically
in the last few years thanks in part to Magneti Marelli developments,
both in terms of information supplied direct to the driver and in terms of the
level of data acquisition relative to the way the engine and car behave,
know as telemetry.
Data comes from the electronic engine
and gearchange management unit, from accelerometers and sensors positioned
on various parts of the car. It is then stored in the same “box” and
downloaded to the pit computers every time the car passes. As well as
this system which manages a huge quantity of data, but is unable to communicate
with the pits from any other part of the circuit, there is a second system
which operates in "real time", continuously transmitting a smaller
volume of information which is, nevertheless, vital for the life of the
engine and the safety of the car.
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The driver can see on the car's liquid crystal display instrument panel
the bar indicating the rpm (which can be programmed to the desired scale)
as well as four other measurements chosen from the 48 available. The
parameters usually chosen are lap time, speed of the car, consumptions
per lap and the difference between the fuel consumed to date compared
with planned consumption. Some LED's, green, yellow and
red with 100 rpm intervals between them signal to the driver how close
he is to the limiter cutting in.
Work is now concentrated on telemetry and on increasing
the capacity to transmit information to the driver, given the already
established safety of engine and gearchange management control electronics.
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