Why don't F1 cars have an ignition button?

shamblertine

so if drivers stall they can restart the car without having to be towed back to the pits. All that technology in an F1 car yet they don't even have an on/off button- crazy!

fcleere

they do id imagine but stalling is a major issue with a f1 car as the tolerances are so small in the engine.top gear done a good bit on this with hammond tryin to drive one

well i was half right.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGUZJVY-sHo

Grim.

to save weight the car dosnt have a starter motor

shamblertine

fcleere wrote: »

they do id imagine but stalling is a major issue with a f1 car as the tolerances are so small in the engine.top gear done a good bit on this with hammond tryin to drive one

well i was half right.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGUZJVY-sHo

that video doesn't really tell me anything, all he said was something quite vague about stalling

Super Aguri

Grim. wrote: »

to save weight the car dosnt have a starter motor

^This.

A mechanic has to start the car by a separate starter motor, the shaft goes through a hole in the diffuser.

aidan_dunne

As already stated, a starter motor weighs quite a bit so to save weight and not be lumbering around the extra weight of something which (all going well) will only be used at the start of the race, F1 cars (along with most big single seaters like IndyCars, GP2, etc.) don't have one fitted and the cars are started by having an external starter plugged into the back of the car which turns the gearbox and starts the engine that way.

In the "old days" the lack of an onboard starter was a big problem because if a driver had a spin and wasn't quick enough with the clutch, he'd stall and that would pretty much be the end of his race (unless he could somehow get it rolling and bump-start it himself. Outside assitance from the marshalls, of course, being disallowed). Nowadays, though, the cars are fitted with an anti-stall system which automatically pulls in the clutch if the computer detects the revs have dropped too much and prevents the engine from stalling. It's not perfect, however, and it sometimes still fails but it's becoming rarer nowadays to see a driver stalling after a spin due to the automatic anti-stall systems the cars now have.

Vegeta

Hell, even locking up the breaks while in gear can stop an engine.

Last year testing my brothers track car we put in a new set of performance brake pads and I told him to get them up to temperature by some heavy but controlled breaking. On his first corner he locked up and the engine cut out. He let go of the brakes and the cars momentum started it again.

SouperComputer

shamblertine wrote: »

so if drivers stall they can restart the car without having to be towed back to the pits. All that technology in an F1 car yet they don't even have an on/off button- crazy!

Aside from the weight savings and the fact that its one more thing to go wrong, keep in mind that F1 is meant to be the pinnacle of the sport in terms of driver skill. I.e. one should not be spinning out as often at this level.

Vegeta wrote: »

Hell, even locking up the breaks while in gear can stop an engine.

Only driven wheels of course

bladespin

No starter to save weight basically, as an aside the starter would have to be quite a hefty unit considering the compression the engines would be running.