ご挨拶！
We’ve finally put together the final touches on this month’s edition of eRacing from deep in the heart of Japan ahead of the 6 Hours of Fuji this coming weekend.
It was welcome news to hear that after weeks of acrimony, Porsche, Aston Martin and Corvette have all been given Balance of Performance adjustments. While Porsche have been slapped with a 5 kg weight increase, both GTE-Pro and GTE-Am class Aston Martin Vantage V8s will gain a 0.2 mm larger air restrictor. A decibel test outside Fernando Rees’ hotel room will gauge whether the adjustments have been branded a success!
While in Tokyo, I jumped at the chance to pop into the 44th Tokyo Motor Show press conference. The themes this year are ‘Smart Mobility’ and ‘Autonomous Driving’ (feature on page 42), which has become a talking point in Formula E recently. Whether Autonomous Racing can be implemented in racing is a contentious issue, but I decided to take the case one step further upon gaining the rare opportunity to speak with Honda boss Yasuhisa Arai on the Sunday morning of the Japanese Grand Prix. I put the question to Arai san whether it was possible for a driver to drive a car using the same Brain Control Interface used to control Asimo.
“There is a possibility” he said. “Sensing technology has improved so much. The human mind is such a deep, deep thing that it’s difficult to get to. The synapsis that happens in a human brain is very similar to an algorithm of a power unit. The same professionals working on a power unit’s algorithms may be able to understand the brain.”
So drivers, your days in the gym aren’t done yet, but the biggest muscle of all could be breaking new ground in the not too distant future…
Trent Price, eRacing editor @realtrentprice