The History of the System
Robert was not the first driver with paraplegia to race for Bryan Herta Autosport. That was Michael Johnson. He became paralyzed at age 12 following an accident in a motorcycle race. Michael, who had raced other cars, including single-seaters, brought a hand control system to the team in 2021. Bryan Herta Autosport then went to work on developing it further. Today, only Michael’s system for the brakes remains, and that’s been modified, too.
“It’s [Michael’s] hard work and his trailblazing that gave me an opportunity to race again,” says Robert.
Former Bryan Herta Autosport Technical Director David Brown designed the current system. He had worked in Formula 1 as an engineer on the Williams championship-winning teams for drivers Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost. While David designed the pieces, Jonathan Ghormley helped build them.
“There are a lot of moving parts,” Jonathan says. “As soon as you move something in the column, it changes the geometry of a lever."
Robert Returns to Racing
Robert became paralyzed from the waist down after a horrific wreck in IndyCar at Pocono Raceway in 2018.
“I knew I was going to [race again] somehow,” says Robert. “I didn’t know what it would look like. I didn’t know if I would be a club racer at a go-kart track. But I knew I would have to try and see what it would look like.”
Robert found a path to return to the sport through iRacing.
[Virtual Racing: Get Off the Couch and onto the Track (Which Is Also Your Couch)]
“The biggest thing was getting the muscle memory in using my hands [with the hand controls],” Robert says.
In 2021, Bryan Herta connected with Robert.
“We knew each other from the IndyCar paddock,” says Robert. “He called me in January 2021 and asked, ‘Racer to racer, do you want to drive again?’ I said, ‘Of course I do.’ He said, ‘Okay, cool. We’ll be in touch.’ Three months passed. Crickets. So I was like, ‘I guess it’s not happening.’ Then he called.”
As he made his first paces around Mid-Ohio in a test for the team, one thought went through his mind: “Don’t crash.”
“We had a lot of media there,” Robert recalls. “The last thing I wanted was a headline that I threw it off into the gravel. It was a cold, wet, slippery Mid-Ohio, so it wasn’t easy to do. It took a lot of discipline to not as push as hard as I wanted to.”
After this successful performance, Robert found himself with his first professional ride since his accident.
Step 1: The Brakes
Robert joined Bryan Herta Autosport for the 2022 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season. Robert–and before him, Michael–shared the car with a driver who used his feet. Thus, most of the system works like it typically would when Robert’s co-driver, Harry Gottsacker, jumps into the car for his stint. That holds particularly true for the brakes.
Harry can press the brake pedal normally. Robert, however, pulls on a brake ring on the steering wheel. Robert’s method uses a hydraulic system that essentially physically pushes down on the brake pedal. Harry can use it, too, but he says he hasn’t tried it yet.
Photo by J.A. Ackley
When Robert started using the system initially developed with Michael, he sought to tweak it based on his background.
“Michael started his four-wheel motorsport journey as a paraplegic,” says Robert. “We had very different angles of experience. There’s no right or wrong, but for me, racing 20 years with my feet with hydraulic brakes, I want to try to replicate that same feeling, although with my hands.”
While the hand controls for the brakes use hydraulics, they’re position-based. Pull the ring all the way in and you’re hard on the brakes. Pull it halfway and you’re softer on them.
Jonathan played around with different valving to improve the feel of the hand controls. While some improvements were made, the system still has its limitations.
“The harmonics from ABS gets absorbed, so I never feel it,” says Robert. “It’s difficult to be precise in that zero-to-50% brake application. Where it’s that little bit of brake that you have to take the whole way into the corner and trail-brake a lot, I struggle. In peak braking it’s perfectly fine.”
The team also adjusted the ergonomics of the controls based on input from Robert.
“The brake ring didn’t turn with the wheel,” Jonathan says. “It was just a big circle and the shifters were in front of the wheel because all the stuff [from the hand controls] got in the way.
Photo by J.A. Ackley
The brake system includes a degree of redundancy, which Michael Johnson wanted after a 2018 testing crash at Daytona left him with a broken right leg.
“One link goes to the valve, which is the boost system,” Jonathan says. “The other link is a direct mechanical link to the pedal, so if something fails, he can still mechanically pull the brakes with his hands. That [mechanical] link is not contacting unless something happens. We could get about 40 bar of brake pressure without the assist. Normal pressure is 95 to 105.”
Tale of Two Throttles
The Hyundai uses a fly-by-wire throttle, both for the pedal and the hand control. However, unlike with the brakes, the two can’t be used concurrently. So they have a switch that Robert’s co-driver toggles when they enter and exit the car.
Photo by J.A. Ackley
The hand control and pedal for the accelerator work off the same ECU. The ECU, however, can’t tell the difference between the two. Since the ECU bases the amount of throttle to apply on the physical change of the position of the respective control, the team had to make both the pedal and hand control change position similarly.
The Clutch Lever
If the clutch looks to you like a hand brake, you’re right. It’s actually both.
“The car has to have a parking brake, per the rules,” says Jonathan. “We had to add a lever so that it locks the rear brakes. [The rear brake has] a separate master. We just ran a longer supply line to that [master] and then added the lines to the clutch from there.”
The car has no clutch pedal, so Robert’s co-driver, Harry, uses the hand lever, too. Unlike Harry, though, Robert has to do everything with his hands–gas, brake and steer.
“I need to use my right hand to pull in the clutch and take my left hand to reach over to the right side of the steering wheel, select first gear, and then go back to the left side [for] throttle to get the rpm up to then dump the clutch to leave,” Robert explains. “It’s a little clunky. It’s not ideal, for sure.”
Fortunately, the drivers typically only use the clutch when on pit road. Otherwise, the six-speed sequential transmission permits the drivers to shift and downshift without engaging the clutch lever.
Dead Pedals
There’s no universal way to experience paraplegia, as it can present differently in different bodies. Bryan Herta Autosport found this out through experience.
“With Robert, his legs are stiff, and his feet become stiff when you pull him out of the car,” says Jonathan. “Michael’s legs were completely limp. We had to do things differently because his legs were doing stuff differently.”
Photo by J.A. Ackley
Jonathan installed a shield around the brake hand controls’ hydraulics to prevent Robert’s foot from getting caught when being pulled from the car. They also added a dead pedal to hold Robert’s left foot. Robert rests his right foot on the accelerator pedal. If Robert’s co-driver forgets to toggle the switch between the pedal and the hand control for the throttle, the team will know it.
“If that pedal’s active and I jump in the car, I just take it full throttle, hit the rev limiter and scare the mechanics,” Robert says.
Going Forward
Some with paraplegia have asked Bryan Herta Autosport to produce hand controls for their vehicles. The organization respectfully declined.
“We can make a system and ship it to them,” Jonathan says, “but fine-tuning it, in the car, is the real magic of what’s going on.”
While the team considers the hand controls a fairly finished product, they’re still looking to perfect it as they would with any part on the race car.
“We discuss performance a lot,” Jonathan says of the hand controls. “Most of the testing with the shape of the valve needle was last winter. There are a lot of things I’d like to try, but track time is so valuable.”
Photo courtesy Bryan Herta Autosport
Since returning to professional racing after his accident, Robert Wickens has won twice in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. He currently sits first in points for the series.
“What people don’t understand is that, although it’s challenging, it’s not impossible,” says Robert of racing with paraplegia. “Yes, it takes a lot of time to mentally adapt to a new scenario, but that’s what’s so great about humans–we’re all adaptable. We can all change and relearn things. With technology, we can race for the championship … and we’re showing that. I’m still just as competitive as I was originally.”
