Tech Tuesday: A slightly modified steering wheel

Today’s Tech Tuesday post is steered toward (sorry, I had to!) IndyCar steering wheels. You probably have a couple of buttons on your street car’s steering wheel, perhaps radio volume, cruise control and a Bluetooth sync button. But if you hop into a Verizon IndyCar Series car, you’ll find at least a dozen buttons and switches. From the cockpit, these buttons and switches allow us drivers to talk directly to our engineers, adjust fuel maps, slow down on pit lane, overtake with push-to-pass, take a drink of water… and even go in reverse (which, hopefully, doesn’t need to be used often). All of this technology packed into one small piece of equipment has quite a big price tag. Steering wheels can cost up to $25,000 each!

The dash on our steering wheels could be considered the main communication tool between a driver and his or her race car. The dash will display everything from lap times and speeds to gearbox temperatures and fuel mileage. If something doesn’t feel right with the car, those readings can help determine or confirm the issue. My dash is slightly modified in that I can also view my blood glucose levels. Thanks to a continuous glucose monitor I wear on my skin every race weekend, my numbers are transferred to the dash (and the engineering stand). Just like I monitor my car’s performance, we can also monitor my body too. Isn’t technology great?!

Check out INDYCAR 101 for more details on an IndyCar cockpit, including videos!