A marshal mix up caused the lead Toyota's failure...

[VladD]

...apparently.

link

That's very unfortunate if that's true.

[Otispunkmeyer]

Sounds true

But honestly its a bit of a stretch.... Really the fail is with Toyota for not spec'ing a tough enough clutch and Kobyashi for getting confused. Yeah the other guy shouldn't have been stood waving them on in the pit lane like a lemon, but there you go. People do daft things.

I understand though that the way the hybrid system works when they leave the pits means there is little stress on the clutch. They leave the box in EV mode then it fires the engine at 60kph. So I can see it wouldn't be designed to do multiple standing starts (and thus they can save some weight).

Question is.... why doesn't the car move away from the pit queue in a similar manner? and why is there not a software block to lock out the transmission if multiple standing engagements occur in a short time frame? okay you'll lose a few precious seconds, but your car might not break down.

[VladD]

Oops