F1 Wheel Safety Cables

[DrTre]

I'm being a total doofus but this has bugged me for a while. According to the regs F1 cars (and perhaps others) have safety cables tethering the wheels to the bodies and have had for a number of years now.

Now...I don't remember ever seeing these "unhooked" at pitstops and also I really fundamentally fail to see how they don't just get "wound up" unless they're attached to a ball race of some sort on the inside of the wheel.

Are they still used, if so how do they work and if not how did they work?!

[sniff petrol]

Must be attached to the hub mounts?

[egomeister]

The cables are attached to the upright, rather than the wheel itself. The wheel is unlikely to become detached from the hub - it's the wishbones that are the weakest link in the system.

[AtomicRex]

What they have is a grove similar to a curtain track running on the inside of the wheel. This has a single bearing in which the cable runs from. The clever part is the quick release that when the gun is engaged it automatically opens up the clamp holding the cable from the car, they modelled this using one of those grabber things you use to pick up a bolt from inside your engine bay.

[DrTre]

Cheers guys...although there appears to be 2 differing solutions?!

;)

Maketh sense that the attachment doesn't have to be directly to the wheel itself. Doh!