Wiring and electronics systems remain among the most widely developed parts of the latest generation of racing vehicles. The functionality, builtin redundancy and filtering capability of a modern motorsport electronics system are far advanced from the technology seen only a few years ago.
This is partly thanks to the complexity of the latest generation of power units and the sheer number of interlinked systems on a modern racecar. However, as our understanding of the relationships between systems in a car develops further, so will the electronics and wiring between them.
Each year, the reliance on electronics and electrically-powered systems in race vehicles increases. The introduction of hybrid powertrains, in particular, has led to immensely complex systems, and the information engineers want to gather from them is now more detailed, and more crucial to a team’s success, than ever before.
In some cases, the wiring itself can improve a vehicle’s performance, if designed and installed correctly. Whether it is the fuel injection system or the power feed from an accumulator to an electric motor, without a reliable and well-designed wiring loom, even the most sophisticated race vehicles in the world would be deemed powerless.
Consequently, motorsport wiring systems have seen steady improvement in recent years. In most cases, this has been due to a higher level of precision in the wire manufacturing process, and also the introduction of highly accurate testing machinery to quantify the performance of a wiring loom.
Advances in wire materials, which feature higher conductivity and better shielding from interference, have also contributed to the performance and reliability of motorsport wiring.
An essential enabler of the latest generation of wiring technology is the power required for and, subsequently, the current drawn from each individual electrical component. The power necessary to operate
