Launch control (automotive)
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Launch control typically refers to an electronic aid which is used to assist the drivers of various motorsports at the start of a race.
Launch control also refers to an electronic setting on many modern sporting saloons and coupes which help the driver accelerate from a standing start, to gain the most effective "launch". Popular automobiles with launch control include the BMW M series, certain marques of the Volkswagen Group with Direct-Shift Gearbox (most notably the Bugatti Veyron), Porsche 911, Panamera Turbo, and certain General Motors products. Mitsubishi also incorporated launch control into their Twin Clutch SST gearbox, on its "S-Sport" mode, but the mode is only available in the Evolution X MR and MR Touring (USDM). The Nissan GT-R has electronics to control launch but the company does not use the term "launch control"[1] since some owners have equated the term with turning off the stability control to launch the car, which may void the warranty of the drivetrain.
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[edit] How it works
Launch control operates by using an electronic-driven accelerator and a computer program. The software drives the accelerator according to engine specifications to make the car accelerate smoothly and as fast as possible, avoiding spinning of the drive wheels, engine failure due to over-revving, and clutch and gearbox problems. This feature is only available at the start of the race, when the car is stopped in the starting grid. After the car is running at a certain speed, the software is disabled.
[edit] Reason for use
In high-performance racing vehicles, the driver has a very small threshold when it comes to acceleration. High power delivered by the engine to the gearbox and driven wheels cannot be easily managed even by the most experienced drivers. Faced with this issue, and with the growing development of electronics during the 1980s, it led to the introduction of this type of software.
[edit] History
In 1985, Renault's RE60 F1 car stored information on a diskette which was later unloaded at the pits, giving the engineers detailed data about the cars' behaviour. Later on, telemetry allowed the data to be sent by a radio connection between the pits and the car. The increase of electronic-driven devices on the car allowed the engineers to modify the settings of certain parameters on the car while it was on the track, this being called bi-directional telemetry.
Among the electronic driving aids were a semi-automatic transmission, an anti-lock braking system (ABS), a traction control system, and active suspension. The pinnacle of the automated driving aids was achieved by Williams F1 team on its 1993 FW15C model, which featured them all. This rising trend was put to a halt by the FIA by outlawing them for the 1994 season, considering that it took too much work out of the drivers' hands. Bi-directional telemetry was also forbidden, which was soon reinstated as the FIA found it too hard to analyse the engine programmes in order to search for hidden code that could be found breaking the rules.
Fully automatic transmission and launch control were allowed again from the Spanish GP 2001 onwards, but as of 2004 those are forbidden for the sake of budget reduction of F1 teams.[citation needed]
