McLaren Wheel Nuts

[Dragonfly]

What about fine sand playing a role in all this?

[strad]

With a Higby thread it is impossible to crossthread the nut...That is why it is used on fire hydrants..no wasted time with crossthreading.

[Nando]

I think that what talks against having wheel nuts integrated into the wheel rim is that if there´s a problem with it you would have to retire from the race.

A few extra seconds is a whole lot better then a DNF.

Would this Higbee thread be bullet proof? Not just in crossthreading but other scenarios.

[strad]

yes..it is just the way you finish the last thread.

[Trocola]

Honestly, what are they playing at?

Not even HRT do this to their drivers.

To be honest, do we even get to see HRT's pit stops? I agree with your statement, but i wonder if we could be wrong?


Also someone mentioned asking the rear wheelman, Mclaren have stated that in 4 issues with the left rear wheel there have been 3 different wheel men... this tells me its a process issue not a human one at least.

Pedro de la Rosa, with a 3 stop strategy, spend 1:12.181 on his pit stops (24 seconds each). Hamilton, on the same strategy, 1:22.659 (27 seconds). Narain, with 4 stops, managed 1:41.834 (25 seconds).

The course of true love never did run smooth. This like most delevopments will need adjusting once they fully understand what's going on, it will be a progression.. I note some are very quick to blame the wheel men...which is more a comment on them than those actually involved.

And, while waiting to the system to work properly, they have to miss the chances on winning the WDC and the WCC?
They had a system that work very fine: they weren't the fastest, but they were near them last year. This year, they have changed everything and, because of that, they let escape a one-two in Australia and a possible victory in China. I don't call it progress, I call it fail


Trocola

[thearmofbarlow]

Has anyone tried a nutless wheel mounting system before?

[Lycoming]

What holds the wheel to the car in that system, willpower?

[hardingfv32]

Unless he either didn't want to name and potentially shame him, or they rotate them on occasion so he didn't know which exact team member it was.

They just put mechanics with more experience on that corner for the 2nd and 3rd stops. Ones who have had this problem before and would be able to make adjustments to the process to get the car through the race. It would also be handy to have someone more senior to make any judgement about possible car withdrawal.

Brian

[The FOZ]

What holds the wheel to the car in that system, willpower?

Unlikely you'd be the source, given ^^^that^^^ masterpiece.

CNC machines use a number of entirely automatic methods for loading tooling. Drawbar would be one...dogs would be another. Pneumatic actuation is the only option.

The technical regs are pretty limiting in this area, though. Even to the point of requiring wheel fastener tools be powered by compressed air or nitrogen.

How much money would teams save in shipping each year using cordless Li-Ion wheel guns instead? And yes, I'm quite sure they would be powerful enough.

[bigpat]

F1 is a sport with HUMAN input, which means mistakes WILL occur. It's part of the game.

I can't see hydraulics having a place in wheel retention. The extra weight, plumbing, pumps etc...nightmare!!!

Pneumatically fastened wheel nuts are proven, and work on the KISS philosophy, which is what you want on a race car. It's too easy to overcomplicate these things.

Modern centrelock nuts are quite hard to cross-thread, as they use a thread "lead-in" to guide the nut to the thread. I think there may be a manufacturing issue hear. As for the material, aluminium is the best option, as if there is cross-threading, the easily replaceable nut, rather than the hub is damaged. Maybe the debris from the removed nut was sitting on the thread when the new one was attached, making that one compromised as well, we'll find out, I'm sure....

[G37Sam]

Did McLaren ever make a statement regarding what was wrong?

[mx_tifoso]

No, McLaren have not yet followed up on the pit stop problems.


Martin Whitmarsh:

"These guys are all mechanics and they don't get paid extra for doing it. They put themselves in the firing line and under an enormous amount of pressure, so naturally I'm very protective of them because they deserve my protection.

"They're brave, they volunteer for it, they try hard and they know the pressure they are under.

How and why doesn't the pit crew get paid for their work? They are under so much pressure and when mistakes like these get made they are in direct fault, yet they don't get paid "extra". Ridiculous.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

...

Part of the RRA agreement of people working at GP weekends. These guys fit the gearboxes, engines floors etc, then go out and change tyres as an aside to their main day job.

[Nando]

The worst part is that they knew something was up with the gun before the race...

They fiddled with it before the race and i guess "hoped" that it would work.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

@ Nando

What else could they do?