When is technology for technology’s sake a bad thing? We’d argue you jump the shark when the system you are trying to replace is virtually fail-proof and seemingly impossible to improve upon.
Leave it to Formula One to complicate a stop sign. This new cutting edge device replaces the “lollipop” style signs that are
used in virtually all other forms of racing, like NASCAR for example.
Ferrari will be reintroducing an electronic “traffic light” style device used during its pit stops to tell the driver when he is clear to launch out of the pits. Last season the device was tried and the lights were operated by human beings, resulting in at least one race where the Ferrari driver tore off out of the pits with the fuel hose hanging off the side of the car.
The latest version of the device is controlled with software that does not allow the car to move with the fuel hose attached.
Ferrari team manager Luca Baldisserri was quoted in the Italian newspaper La Stampa as saying, “We have analyzed the errors of 2008 and improved the system. Now an electronic program will prevent the car from leaving the box when the fuel hose is attached.”
And no, this is not a joke. Ferrari has engineered themselves a (probably) multi-million dollar stop sign.
