Weird idea to replace wheel nuts

[Caito]

Given that a tenth of a second is so valuable and difficult to obtain, I was wondering wether it would be possible to replace the nut in the wheel with other type of system.

I was thinking of some magnets, but I don't know if they could be strong enough for their size. I'm not saying to hold the wheel magnetically. What I mean is to put locks in the wheel, rather than a nut that has to be screwed(and unscrewed). Given that, if it could be unlocked, let's say, with an electromagnet teams could save precious time during pitstops.


I don't know, air pressure can hold a valve. Can it hold a wheel, replacing the nuts?

I think that with a different focus time could be won during pitstops.


bye bye!

[DaveKillens]

Only two questions:

1) does this system mechanically lock the wheel to hub?

2) is this sytem designed so that it can never unlatch a wheeel in any circumstance apart from when in the pits and being serviced by the crew?

[mep]

During DTM races the teams do pit stops including wheel changes and refuelling in 3 seconds. So F1 teams just have to look how they do it. I heard that the best stop we saw in F1 so far took 4 seconds.

Other systems:
I think magnets are poor. You need something to switch the force on and off during the wheel change. I don't know how you want to achieve this.

Pneumatics:
Yes, you can do very smart designs with it. I could imagine a system where the wheel is locked by a spring. During stop you put on a air-gun who opens the spring and furthermore blows air between two tight fitting surfaces so that the wheel comes lose. The tire should spring of the car then.

During last GP I wondered how the wheels are attached because there needs to be some tight fitting surfaces who hold the wheel in its position and lock it to the brake disc and drive shaft. I can imagine that this metal pieces heat up because of the brakes and therefore tent to lock when you want to remove the wheel. This could be the reason why we see so often troubles during pit stops.