F1technical.net

I participate in online sim racing at a web site called iRacing and I read in one of the forums that in some F1 cars an audible tone is played in the drivers helmet to tell him when to shift and I was wondering if this is true? I searched the internet for an answer but could find nothing and I am beginning to wonder if it's BS.

I believe it is true. Was mentioned in an interview at some point. Couldn't tell you anything more specific than that as I don't remember myself.

Actually, all cars have a built in audible --- point indicator. It sounds like bouncing off the rev limiter.

Glad to see F1 developing new technology. perhaps production cars like the first generation RX7 will be able to use such a device. Having a bit of a problem with the direction of time today.

I think that wont really work, because after a while the driver´s brain will just disregard the sound... Also there will a constant spamm of "beep beep beep", they change gears a LOT.

I remember some years back David Coulthard (while still racing) spoke about the audible shift indicator. He was commenting an accident he was involved in. And at that time I learned for the first time about the its existence. So yes, there is (or at least used to be) such an indicator.

In the iRacing sim I use audible shift indicator software that one of the other members wrote, it works pretty good in a simulator at least.

Rikhart wrote:I think that wont really work, because after a while the driver´s brain will just disregard the sound... Also there will a constant spamm of "beep beep beep", they change gears a LOT.

They do work. Quite a few people I compete with use them and those who do think they're brilliant. Of course, you do have to plug your helmet in if you want to avoid the rev limiter.

I think I read it in Speed Secrets: Professional Race Driving Techniques by Ross Bentley

Or it may have been one of the Carroll Smith Books. But they found drivers were much more likely to shut out a buzzer or alarm. They had much better luck with bright lights on the dash. I think they were talking about oil pressure dummy lights at the time.

flynfrog wrote:I think I read it in Speed Secrets: Professional Race Driving Techniques by Ross Bentley

Or it may have been one of the Carroll Smith Books. But they found drivers were much more likely to shut out a buzzer or alarm. They had much better luck with bright lights on the dash. I think they were talking about oil pressure dummy lights at the time.

It´s not just drivers, it´s humans in general. That´s why single tone alarm clocks dont work after a while, your brain gets used to the sound and just filters it.

andylaurence wrote:

Rikhart wrote:I think that wont really work, because after a while the driver´s brain will just disregard the sound... Also there will a constant spamm of "beep beep beep", they change gears a LOT.

They do work. Quite a few people I compete with use them and those who do think they're brilliant. Of course, you do have to plug your helmet in if you want to avoid the rev limiter.

Well, that is interesting, are we talking about what kind of race duration?

They exist. Anthony Davidson talked about them lately in Sky and said he hated that system.

Yeah, they exist.

Source: a friend in the know.

During turbo days, drivers often had pipe connected to wastegate coming into their helmets.
There was a video on youtube with Murray Walker showing an f1 turbo car where he shown it but I can't find it.

timbo wrote:During turbo days, drivers often had pipe connected to wastegate coming into their helmets.
There was a video on youtube with Murray Walker showing an f1 turbo car where he shown it but I can't find it.

I think I heard that used in indycar, something about a the pop off valve would whistle just before it popped

andylaurence wrote:

Rikhart wrote:I think that wont really work, because after a while the driver´s brain will just disregard the sound... Also there will a constant spamm of "beep beep beep", they change gears a LOT.

They do work. Quite a few people I compete with use them and those who do think they're brilliant. Of course, you do have to plug your helmet in if you want to avoid the rev limiter.

Well, that is interesting, are we talking about what kind of race duration?[/quote]
I do sprinting, so competition is measured in seconds, rather than minutes or hours. That might be key, but then there seems to be quite a bit of anecdotal evidence suggesting that longer duration events use it too. Everyone I've spoken to who uses a buzzer prefers it to lights. If there's no shift indicator of any sort, you don't forget to change gear because your ears filter out the noise of the engine. You use the audible cue to upshift and I am sure that the buzzer just adds definition to that.

It seems like audible would be THE way to go if you wanted a speed edge. Light is faster than sound, yes, but the brain processes and reacts to sound 400% faster than it does light, meaning you'd react to a shift indication 4x faster hearing it than seeing it.
It takes the brain 0.2 seconds to see light entering the eye and process it to start a reaction. With sound, that lag is only 0.05 seconds. Sound indicated shifting seems like a no-brainer.