Takahide Mizuno

A new concept traction control for F-1 racing car

A traction control had been applied to a racing car of Formula One (F-1) from 2001 to 2007. General traction controls had used feedback algorithms based on the wheel slip of driving wheels. However, general traction controls cannot reduce engine torque before wheel slip occurs. This lag characteristic of the general traction controls rarely causes excessive wheel slip. When excessive wheel slip occurs, the yaw behaviour of the racing car become unsuitable and the vehicle speed during going around a turn becomes slow. Therefore, a new traction control composed of an adaptive feedforward function and a feedback function was designed to improve the stability of vehicle behaviour. The adaptive feedforward function automatically updates a torque limit value on the basis of reduction behaviour of engine torque controlled by the feedback function, and restricts driver’s demanded engine torque to the torque limit value before wheel slip occurs.