The Grid Compass (written GRiD by its manufacturer GRiD Systems Corporation) was arguably the first laptop computer, when the initial model, the 1101[3] was introduced in April 1982.
Did F1 teams use these laptops in 1982 or was it later in the 1980's when telemetry, ECU technology was advanced for teams to use computer at track side
Last edited by Giblet on 10 Mar 2011, 16:46, edited 1 time in total.
Reason:Edited title to better reflect content.
That's actually quite neat. As someone who has had a PC in the house since the very beginning, and all the new ones coming home from my Dad's work when I was a kid, I can't believe I never heard of this one.
The fact they got an actual 8086 in there running, and the machine didnt look like this...
... is pretty darn cool.
Early telemetry was live before it was banned, and I beleive it even arrive to the pits in analogue form. Looking at old traces of Schumacher and Senna, it just doesn't seem like a digital trace. Looked like an EKG readout.
I would be very interested to know more about early telemetry before it was compartmentalized in an off the shelf turn key system.
Before I do anything I ask myself “Would an idiot do that?” And if the answer is yes, I do not do that thing. - Dwight Schrute
Well, I don't know about laptops in F1. So, I will digress happily.
The digital ECU was introduced massively in 1981 (after the Clean Air Act in the US, I wrote about it decades ago) by US manufacturers. There are analog systems since WWII, built by BMW.
The first team to use FLUENT for CFD was Benetton in 1992, I'm pretty sure about that. They could only manage 100,000 cells. I remember an article (I have it somewhere) that described how they use it only for the front wing (because of the number of cells).
As said elsewhere in this forum (I think DaveKillens said it), the first race simulator was used by Jacques Villeneuve in 1996. I read at Joe Saward blog that nowadays the best simulator is the McLaren one, Red Bull was building a state of the art one a year ago, Williams, Ferrari and Force India have simpler ones (although Ferrari was in talks with Moog), Renault hires Wirth Research's and BMW and Toyota do not use simulators at all.
The first telemetry system was created in 1998 by Plektex (I think that's the name, I couldn't find it again), the references are interred somewhere in this forum, I did the research. I also believe that Williams was the first team to use it, around 2001 (it took a couple of years to develop the system).
I cannot resist to state that the first time I used a computer for suspension simulation was in 1984, in my graduated work. Not in F1, sadly. Actually I developed the program using an HP-34C because it did integrals. It had 70 lines of programming space... I moved it to a Compaq in 1988 (an SLT model, I think).
Finally, on a side note, without any wish to enter into debate, the first portable computer was the Osborne 1. I guess you are counting laptops as those made with the clamshell design, (as GRID designers remarked over the years) but the Osborne had the same design, only that the disks were embedded into the screen, like in Giblet's picture.
Even 6 years after the GRiD's release, the software that you could run on portable/luggaable hardware was rudimentary at best and I cannot see a vast amount of use for such primitive hardware at the trackside : even the later model could only run at 4.77mhz!
Given how expensive the GRiD machine would have been, it would probably have not been seen as a worthwhile investment at the time.
"Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine ..."
Ciro Pabón wrote:
The first telemetry system was created in 1998 by Plektex (I think that's the name, I couldn't find it again), the references are interred somewhere in this forum, I did the research. I also believe that Williams was the first team to use it, around 2001 (it took a couple of years to develop the system).
I think your reference is to two way telemetry were instructions could be sent to the car from the pits, this was introduced in 2001 and banned by 2003.
This system was also existent in the top cars of the early 90's such as Williams till it was banned as electronic driver aid for the 94 season.
Article below on 1975 telemetry used by Mclaren at the Indy 500
That is very interesting : I knew I'd heard of telemetry on race cars before 1998 (I can remember commentators discussing it at least as early as 1993) but citing its use from 1975 and providing a reference is quite impressive ... I never knew it was introduced so early!
I've learned something today : thanks
"Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine ..."
