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Microsoft to supply Formula 1 ECUs

SpookTheHamster

SpookTheHamster

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 7, 2004
1,495
8
London
From speedtv.com:

"Bridgestone and Microsoft have been granted exclusive contracts to be the sole suppliers, of tires and ECUs respectively, of Formula 1 beginning in 2008.

The announcement was made following this Wednesday's meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris.

The move to a single tire supplier and standardized ECUs (Electronic Control Units, responsible for a car's engine management) is part of the FIA's radical cost-saving package announced earlier this year for introduction in '08. Both Bridgestone and Microsoft will supply F1 through 2010.

In the specific case of the Japanese tire company, its monopoly will go in effect already next year, as rivals Michelin are set to pull out of the sport by this season's end.

In addition, the WMSC also announced that due to a significant increase in cornering speeds in F1 this season, the sport's Technical Working Group will be consulted regarding possible measures to slow the cars down."

Wait, you're letting MICROSOFT make your ECU?! Would you trust windows to control your car at 200mph? "Cannot find brakes; Abort, Retry, Ignore?"
 
As you're going around a corner:

"Microsoft Update has just finished installing an update to your system. The system will restart in 60 seconds..."
 
I thought microsoft was a software company... why would they want to get in the car ECU business? I guess they're only doing this for the media exposure and will use 3rd party hardware as usual
 
kahos said:
I thought microsoft was a software company... why would they want to get in the car ECU business? I guess they're only doing this for the media exposure and will use 3rd party hardware as usual
Click to expand...

Probably FIA has contracted some other company to make the ECU hardware, and this Microsoft contract is only for making the software to FIA specification. In other words, FIA has stepped in as a middleman between the teams and manufacturing -- all change proposals are approved or declined by FIA and naturally all teams have the latest version at the same time.

(FIA will have to have a test car of their own for this reason. It will become interesting. They try to reduce costs of the teams by spending more money themselves...)
 
I can see it now, tires locking, brakes smoking. 175mph - 0 in 2 seconds.

Let's just hope they're not running Windows ME. Also, be sure to download all the updates before the big race.
 
JFreak said:
Probably FIA has contracted some other company to make the ECU hardware, and this Microsoft contract is only for making the software to FIA specification. In other words, FIA has stepped in as a middleman between the teams and manufacturing -- all change proposals are approved or declined by FIA and naturally all teams have the latest version at the same time.

(FIA will have to have a test car of their own for this reason. It will become interesting. They try to reduce costs of the teams by spending more money themselves...)
Click to expand...
MES (McLaren Electronic Systems) are making the actual hardware, also, it'll be the same as it currently is: the FIA must be given a copy of the source, which they can keep indefinitely, and check that nothing is being given an advantage.
 
I'm sure all jokes would follow but I had a funny situation where I was sitting in one of the brand-new trains that was being rolled out on London commuter lines, and it was stuck at Waterloo (one of the major stations in London). The train driver came on the intercom and said "We have a few problems so we're going to reset everything on the train, Please don't be alarmed if the doors don't open for a while. If you like you can step outside until we finish this".

So about a minute later, everything goes dark in the train. And about half a minute after that, everything comes back on and the train driver comes back on saying "OK ladies and gentlemen, we're ready to go". Whereupon someone in the carriage shouts "Oh my God, this train's running Windows!".

How we laughed... albeit somewhat ruefully.
 
Sesshi said:
I'm sure all jokes would follow but I had a funny situation where I was sitting in one of the brand-new trains that was being rolled out on London commuter lines, and it was stuck at Waterloo (one of the major stations in London). The train driver came on the intercom and said "We have a few problems so we're going to reset everything on the train, Please don't be alarmed if the doors don't open for a while. If you like you can step outside until we finish this".

So about a minute later, everything goes dark in the train. And about half a minute after that, everything comes back on and the train driver comes back on saying "OK ladies and gentlemen, we're ready to go". Whereupon someone in the carriage shouts "Oh my God, this train's running Windows!".

How we laughed... albeit somewhat ruefully.
Click to expand...

I had a similar situation on one of the new "Desiro" South West Trains, the train had to be reset because the doors kept randomly opening and closing (while the train was going 70mph+)
 
SpookTheHamster said:
I had a similar situation on one of the new "Desiro" South West Trains, the train had to be reset because the doors kept randomly opening and closing (while the train was going 70mph+)
Click to expand...

Having Googled "Desiro" trains, actually it was the same type I was on. Guess they must have been troublesome at start. I notice getting on the trains this summer that the air-con on these trains doesn't seem to be working anywhere near as well as it seemed to be last year. Are they falling apart already I wonder?
 
Sesshi said:
Having Googled "Desiro" trains, actually it was the same type I was on. Guess they must have been troublesome at start. I notice getting on the trains this summer that the air-con on these trains doesn't seem to be working anywhere near as well as it seemed to be last year. Are they falling apart already I wonder?
Click to expand...

I haven't been on many trains this summer, but they were so cold last year I could imagine that a little less air-con would be a blessing. I hate how they keep the air-con on all the way through winter, they get freezing!
 
It looks like your brakes have failed. Would you like to....

....Deploy parachute?
....Accelrate?
....Crash into a wall?
....Sh*t yourself?
 
Watch out for ripoff ECUs. Only trust the Microsoft Genuine Advantage. It promises not to phone home during races. :D
 
"A new device has been detected"....
"This steering wheel is not Microsoft Certified. Do you want to use present drivers, or search internet for new ones?"

"<OK> / <CANCEL>"

:D
 
This should put an end to Renaults amazing reliability over the past two seasons :eek:
 
They've been trialing them all season in Kimi Raikkonen and Mark Webber's cars.

"...it looks like you're trying to pull the steering wheel off in anger, would you like to: hurl it into the crowd? belt the car with it? throw it at the pit crew?"
 
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