What Do You THINK These Controls Do? | Jota Sport LMP2 Wheel [TECH TOUR]

Engine Map, Mode, Steer, Pit, some of these controls are more obvious that others, and some have surprisingly different functions to what you might first assume...

There’s a lot going on in a modern race car and the drivers main focus should always be on controlling the car. The problem is that from time to time adjustments to various electronic systems need to be made. It’s becoming increasingly common in modern motorsport to move all of the driver controls onto the steering wheel. This allows the driver to make those required changes without a significant shift in focus.

This steering wheel fitted to Jota Sports ORECA LMP2 car is a case in point. It utilises a Cosworth integrated display and shift light module to keep the driver informed of everything they need to know via a glance (namely simply the shift lights), or in more serious cases warning alarms.

To the left and right of the display are switches for the traction control system so this can be tuned to suit the track and the driver, although in the case of the ORECA LMP2 car which has very aggressive traction control that cannot be adjusted due to the rules, it can simply be left off if the driver prefers. There’s also controls for engine mode and engine map which in this case are predominantly used to deal with sensor or systems failures so the car can limp back to the pit rather than switching from lean to rich maps like some might assume.

Below these controls are knobs to adjust the assistance of the electric power steering and throttle mapping which can be both useful for driver preference and also wet weather driving allowing the driver to make more coarse movements without dire consequences. Of course there’s also the typical controls for radio, pit limit, drink, 'Full Course Yellow' and engine start/stop.

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