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CART: Magneti Marelli Gives Champ Cars Electronic Voice

22 October 1999

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

Talking cars would make the jobs of racing engineers a lot easier, giving instant answers to nagging questions. Magneti Marelli, a Milan-based automotive supplier, is doing its best to give Mercedes-Benz powered cars on the CART FedEx Championship Series a voice of their own.

Equipped with 45 sensors ranging in cost from a few dollars to $2,000, Champ Cars "talk" to engineers about temperature, oil pressure, acceleration, braking, g-force, steering angle, suspension, fuel pressure, air speed and even the chemical properties of the intake and exhaust gases. All of the information is routed to the Magneti Marelli engine control unit, data logger and engineers in the pits for monitoring.

"Our engineers spend several hours a day, sometimes seven days a week, analyzing the data these sensors provide," said Paul Ray, vice president of Ilmor Engineering, the race engine design and manufacturing arm of Mercedes-Benz. "We use the information to improve the performance of the car, prevent problems on the track and keep the driver safe."

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