Schumacher's secret 4-wheel-steering F1 car

Former Benetton F1 engineer, Frank Dernie, in this video reveals that Benetton designed and built a four-wheel-steering F1 car for Michael Schumacher to drive in 1993. What were its advantages/disadvantages and how did it stack up against the regular car? And why didn't it race? Dernie answers all these questions, and more, in this exclusive video interview with Peter Windsor.
Camera and production: Joseph Smith
Images: Grand Prix Photo and Peter Nygaard
grandprixphoto.com
With thanks to Jetcraft, the world's largest buyer and seller of executive jets
jetcraft.com
To Globe - for riders of concrete, oceans and forests:
eu.globebrand.com
To Alpinestars:
alpinestars.com
And to Frank Dernie
Race Against Dementia:
raceagainstdementia.com
Watch GoF1! with Matthew Marsh on Twitter:
@MatthewMarshHK
Follow Peter @peterdwindsor

[@JB-E36]

I can listen to Frank Dernie talking about F1 cars for hours.

[@ernestomartinez4090]

I just wrote down quite the same comment here and I swear I didn't see this comment of yours before!

[@mark4lev]

He’s a national treasure for sure.

[@DavidHyman031]

Man I cannot wait to see that full interview!

[@tedquinn7748]

Fantastic! What an interesting perspective on the tech as well as how it impacted Michael’s drive. Great as always Peter!

[@carlexplores8709]

I always love listening to Frank. So insightful!

[@robgraham5016]

What a teaser! I could have listened to 1/2 hour of that!

[@bmf97ss1]

We definitely need to see more from this interview!

[@SmashGhost]

Where is the rest of this?? Please post it!

[@chrisbrinkley4688]

That final point really made me geek out

[@gseric4721]

I always find it funny when people say Michael Schumacher or or Sir Lewis are simply faster because of the car, when they proved very early in their careers that they were going to be world champions regardless.

[@benburris4735]

Narrative override.

[@gdogg3710]

Love how all those active cars kept as museum pieces today, still need period computers to get them running…the FW14B still has a bank of old, white tower PC’s to fire it up…

[@lukasethan6429]

Peter, huge American fan of F1 since I was 5-6 years old. I’ve known and wondered deeply about these stories for years. Your recent content w/ former designers, engineers has been incredible! Please continue seeking out these stories!

[@mrbungle3310]

I wish this was longer

[@bigdaddyd82vapes92]

Brilliant work! More like this Peter please 👍

[@ernestomartinez4090]

I could watch and listen to Frank Dernie for hours. The man is pure genius. Period.

[@Unamatrix01]

Fantastic insight from Frank Dernie, please continue with these excellent videos looking back at older, possibly less known F1 technology. I am not at all surprise that drivers such as the legend Michael Schumacher and Sir. Lewis Hamilton have a sense of car feel that is better than computerized systems.

[@matthartley7333]

The Michael ❤️

[@AndyFromBeaverton]

I remember MSC on a warmup lap before the start locking up the front under heavy breaking without flat-spotting the tires to put heat in. No one else could do that.

[@alex_madeira]

Excellent stuff mate

[@939Batze]

Great Insights!

[@ot77racing27]

Peter, But did you ask him about what Senna said, the Benetton had traction control when it was banned?

[@fam.hunger5244]

This is well known today. Benetton had developed a very clever system that could reduce wheel-spin. Benetton used the pressure sensor in the airbox, the ambient pressure, the gear, rotational inertia and RPM to develope a system that reduced wheel-spin by spark-cutting. But it was legal because traction control uses wheel-sensors. Also this system was more or less useless when track-conditions changed. For example when suddenly a high-pressure zone came in or when the grip-level changed during a race, the system was useless and did more harm than good. So it was basically a traction-tuning system, not traction control and exploited a loophole in the regulations. But its a fact that all the teams tried to emulate traction-control. Benetton just found a way to do this earlier than others by using a clever combination of things to prevent wheel-spin. Other teams developed eletronical differential to do the same thing, also Benetton in 1996(Williams were the first to use it in 1996)started to develope such a differential in 1996, as did McLaren and Jordan. Ferrari followed in 1997. So Benetton just were first with a unique system to emulate traction control. But every single team tried that and did it later. Benetton just was the first team. And the others did not know how they did it as it was extremely clever.

[@kdm6287]

Peter, please give us more

[@MrLundefaret]

This needs to be an hour! :)

[@gkhaled1]

Great video. More please 😂

[@davybennett3659]

Love it.

[@hape4]

Brilliant

[@Leshic2]

Rear wheel steering was also on the new Nissan 300ZX in 1990. I had a 300ZX Twinturbo during in the 1990s, and I hated the rear wheel steering too. It was also hydraulic. It wasn't intelligent enough... If you never drive the limit, never steer to correct slip, or steer/gas to induce oversteer, or make quick adjustments to the steering wheel when on the edge of traction and was guiding a slip towards apex or track exit, if you never do any of this above, 1990s, rear wheel steering was fine. If you did drive that way, 1990s HYDRAULIC REAR WHEEL STEERING WAS TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No corrections.. fine. No sliding, no drifting.. fine. Perfectly balanced car at entry, apex, exit, no changes in grip front to rear, to elevation changes, no corner slope, it's also likely fine. But NONE of these conditions ever exist on the track.... The technology that controlled it was way way too basic and simple.. Conditions have way too many variables... It reminds me of Self Driving on the Tesla.. It performs much better with more "controlled" situations.. Closer to laboratory, the better.. It still struggles to adapt, even ~8yrs later, to all situations.. 1990s Rear Wheel Steering was terrible for track driving, spirited driving...

[@yeahnahsweetas]

Absolutely. It's just another variable which adds the possibility of misinterpretation between the driver and the computer. Too much lag and way too basic. It would only work if it could predict your inputs which is impossible.

[@shelbysupersnake101]

So what does stability actually mean?

[@grayaj23]

That's amazing, but not actually surprising.

[@Cloxxki]

I actually learned something from this one.

[@TrueBeast33]

ME TOO ...! ILL USE IT IN SIM GRAN TURISMO

[@Cloxxki]

@@TrueBeast33 Do report back whether that translates from reality :)

[@TrueBeast33]

@@Cloxxki yeah sure 👍 monza

[@ChippyShag]

Simply lovely

[@tylerbranch7524]

Aws could work if they used it like speed racer

[@jochemjonker3362]

My first thoughts on 4 wheel stirring,was on the Tyrrell P34,but this concept was banned already within the same year,as it was introduced.Quite pitty,because i felt this the most beautiful F1 car ever.

[@JohnLawley24v]

It ran in 76 and 77

[@jochemjonker3362]

@@JohnLawley24v did they(Tyrrell) drove with this car for 2 years or were there 2 different versions?

[@An.Individual]

Nice video. I still think ABS would give a performance gain even for Michael S

[@claudiomarangone614]

How do you rationalize your comment? You know more than the engineers? I’ve been a lot I’ve been around a lot of engineers and racecar drivers and I’ve heard that ABS specially many years ago was never favored by the race car drivers because they lose The acute sensitivity they had with ABS and wouldn’t know exactly where the limit was on adhesion under breaking, subsequently losing time.

[@Gez492]

Isn't that the way Lewus Hamilton dies it Peter. He likes the cats alive and pointy at the front end and like the car to slide at bit

[@SirSneakerPimp]

Peter, stop teasing us…this could have been at least 30 minutes longer!

[@richardlawton1023]

Great...goes to show just because you can doesn't make it go faster.

[@TrueBeast33]

THATS WHY MY HERO IS M.SCHUMACHER AND NOW I REALLY HOPE FORE MAX

[@johns950]

Can someone rovide a spell check?

[@wingracer1614]

What do you want, solid roof of wrongdoing? Spell check doesn't keep cars on the avement. Eople need to leave well enough alone.

[@davidkoreck1341]

Well thats why they banned it

[@jaymartin4418]

So looks like Michael had abs and 4 wheel steering.

[@The666opal111]

sodaHmm I.N.T.E.R.E.S.T.I.N.G

[@jorgkuijt4735]

The whole world is wanting to know just one thing...Will Sir Hammilton compete next season?

[@markmall7142]

Some of us dont care.

[@f1pro299]

I don't care

[@ezequiel8005]

🙂 P r o m o S M!

[@garvinm.]

Mr. Winsdor, could you please explain why the practise of time erasure in F1 exists and why it is being retained in todays' world. Thank you in advance. Erasure of the time gap/interval under a safety car or red flag in single seaters races should be discontinued. It is unsporting. It is unjustified and punitive to leading drivers. It is especially punitive to the driver leading the race. Therefore, it should be discontinued. It should be replaced by a calculated time gap/interval. In its simplest form, a calculated time gap/interval shows the projected position of each car after x laps behind a safety car. The trend of the equivalent number of laps before the deployment of the safety car is used. For example, let x be equal to 5. Let 5 be the amount of laps done behind a safety car. Let 5 be the amount of laps before the racing pause. At the end of lap 16 the car in P2 is 30 secs behind P1. Over laps 17 - 21 the gap between P2 and P1 is reduced by 2 secs per lap. At the start of lap 22 the gap will be 20 secs. A safety car comes out on lap 22. Laps 23 - 27 are driven behind the safety car. After those 5 laps behind the safety car the calculated time gap/interval should be 10 secs. With the calculated time factored in, the winning racer is the one who crosses the finish line in the least time. Consequently, time gap/interval erasure should be replaced by calculated time gap/intervals. Implementing calculated time gap/intervals would make the race infinitely fairer at its resumption after a safety car. At the resumption of the race after a red flag the time gap/intervals that existed before the pause should be retained. Very basic, no calculation required. Further, pit stops are part of the race therefore they should be made only during the race.

[@TrueBeast33]

Any lewis fans ? lol thats what im talking about

[@delroyrobinson6835]

Great info...but I think the interviewee needs to see a dentist!