Check out these hand controls

"Dusty Ventures" (dustyventures) 01/05/2014 at 12:35 • Filed to: Dakar, Rally

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These are the hand controls for paraplegic rally driver Albert Llovera, currently taking on the Dakar. As you can see he has a pair of rings attached to the steering wheel, one in front and one behind. One controls gas while the other brake. I've seen a few paraplegic race setups before but I find this one particularly impressive, it makes it possible to work the gas and brake without taking a hand off the wheel, and with the wheel in any position. Conceivably it should also be possible to be on both the gas and brake at once, which is very useful in rally. I like it.

EDIT: Here's some videos of Albert in action:

Tom McParland > Dusty Ventures 01/05/2014 at 12:41

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My wife is a paraplegic her Sienna has hand controls, but no where near as complex as this. I will tell you I tried using those controls a few times in a parking lot, it's not easy to be smooth, when she is driving you would never know she was using hand-controls. Luckily the van drives like a regular van as well, when I need to use it.

ttyymmnn > Dusty Ventures 01/05/2014 at 12:44

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Impressive. Automatic transmission?

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > Dusty Ventures 01/05/2014 at 13:03

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I'd like to see this in action, it's so cool.

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > Tom McParland 01/05/2014 at 13:13

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My best friend is a paraplegic too. Fortunately for him, he doesn't need to drive, and he hasn't gotten his license. He struggles with the pedals often when I let him drive on my simracing rig. I should make him something so he can have more fun with this setup.

Dusty Ventures > Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy 01/05/2014 at 13:14

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I was thinking the same thing, so I added some video!

Dusty Ventures > ttyymmnn 01/05/2014 at 13:20

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No, sequential manual with a clutch (somewhere) that he pretty much only uses when setting off or coming to a full stop

Dusty Ventures > Tom McParland 01/05/2014 at 13:21

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I remember you mentioning she was a paraplegic. I think a lot of people underestimate the skill then need to have to use those controls. (By the way, I added video)

Angelo Gallo > Dusty Ventures 01/05/2014 at 14:33

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bobrayner > Dusty Ventures 01/05/2014 at 14:42

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Awesome. Much respect to him.

F1guy hates duck billed F1 cars > Dusty Ventures 01/05/2014 at 14:55

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When I was in driving school, they took me out in a corolla with hand controls. Worst experience ever.

The controls took up most of the brake and gas, so I started using the hand controls instead, unbeknownst to the instructor (it was dark so I could get away with it)

Well, at a stoplight, with my foot as for my on the brake as possible, plus depressing the hand-control brake, the car suddenly revved and despite my attempts to stop the car, I bumped into a car at 2 mph or so. The instructor blamed on me when I tried to explain that the controls impeded my ability to operate the vehicle (I had been driving for 2 years at this point)

After that I finished my lessons with the school and have been scared off hand controls since.

asdfasdfforkknife > Dusty Ventures 01/05/2014 at 15:02

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Are you sure? It's not unusual for desert racing trucks to have automatic transmissions. I see the lever, but it could just be a drive mode selector.

Angry Dorito > Dusty Ventures 01/05/2014 at 15:14

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This is awesome!

Looks like it's push for gas, pull for brake.

This looks even more awesome!

boxjohn > Tom McParland 01/05/2014 at 15:21

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I tried to drive a customer's van once using the hand controls (the type where you go side to side for brakes, front to back for gas, or maybe the reverse) and it was... not smooth. First time I ever laid rubber in a Caravan.

techinsanity2011 > Dusty Ventures 01/05/2014 at 15:23

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Question. Would it be possible to do acceleration and breaking with hand controls as well? Like with trigger buttons? If so then that's exactly how I drive in racing games that use a controller.

Dusty Ventures > asdfasdfforkknife 01/05/2014 at 15:33

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I can't speak entirely for his Dakar buggy, but his rally car definitely has a clutch, you can hear it in the videos, particularly the third one. The cockpit shot at the top is from his rally car, because I couldn't find any photos/videos of inside the buggy cockpit, but when they showed it during the driver intros yesterday it looked identical to the car setup.

Dusty Ventures > techinsanity2011 01/05/2014 at 15:37

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The acceleration and braking are done with hand controls. The metal ring in front of the wheel (closest to the driver) is the gas, while the ring behind the wheel is the brake. Triggers wouldn't have the desired accuracy and would require his hands to be in an exact position to use them. Definitely not ideal on a rally stage.

M54B30 > Tom McParland 01/05/2014 at 17:34

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When I was a mechanic we used to get cars set up for disabled and you're 100% right - it is not easy to drive them at all. Especially the ones set up with a bar by the wheel (up for gas, down for brake).

NoahthePorscheGuy > Dusty Ventures 01/05/2014 at 18:09

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Is he involved with Race2recovery?

Poundingsand > Dusty Ventures 01/05/2014 at 18:40

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Why not just put the pedals on the co-driver's side? haha

Seriously, very impressive. Kind of hard to make excuses for not trying something challenging after watching this. Props to him.

On another note, giving the co-driver the foot controls could add some hilarity to racing...

Dusty Ventures > NoahthePorscheGuy 01/05/2014 at 18:53

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No, Race2Recovery is made up of soldiers wounded in combat. Albert was paralyzed in a skiing accident during the 1985 European Ski Cup.

Dusty Ventures > Poundingsand 01/05/2014 at 18:57

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Haha that's a setup I wouldn't want to try on a rally stage. Too few gravel traps and tire barriers, too many trees and cliffs.

nightobeisance > Dusty Ventures 01/05/2014 at 19:13

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I grew up with two friends about who needed hand controls; one was paraplegic, and the other a stroke survivor who had dystonia as a leftover. The first wanted a manual transmission but the regs of our time wouldn't allow it. The second tried a manual to start, with just a spinner, and found it more cumbersome than she wanted. And on her 'bad' days - well, most guys are smoother when they're orgasming than she at changing gears.

I don't think they'd even let her try the manual these days, just stick her in the slushbox she ended up in.

A canary yellow Nova. Brick of a car, lasted through four kids learning, multiple decs, and goodness knows how many power slams into reverse like James Garner.

techinsanity2011 > Dusty Ventures 01/05/2014 at 19:56

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I meant, for general use.

aowolf > Tom McParland 01/05/2014 at 20:06

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I have Spinabifida and can't use my legs, so I have hand controls from a minivan set up in my Boxster, which is my only car. You can do gas and brake at the same time. Unfortunately set up the car had to be automatic. I like to think that I have saved my boxster from being driving by a non gear head even though it was fated to be an automatic :-) The holy grail for me is finding a setup that also works the clutch in a manual car.

Tom McParland > aowolf 01/05/2014 at 20:11

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You sir...are awesome!

Dusty Ventures > techinsanity2011 01/05/2014 at 20:19

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Ah, gotcha. I'd give that a go, you know, for teh lulz.

m4ximusprim3 > Dusty Ventures 01/05/2014 at 20:43

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This guy is way faster with this setup than any of us will ever be with four functioning limbs. Fucking awesome.

Dusty Ventures > m4ximusprim3 01/05/2014 at 20:46

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Truth

m4ximusprim3 > ttyymmnn 01/05/2014 at 21:25

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Watch video 2- it has cockpit footage where he's clearly using a sequential gearbox.

burpbeepburp > Dusty Ventures 01/05/2014 at 21:28

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Im not kidding or being disrespectfull. But can we go back a hundred years and make these the standard controls for cars? Then look COOL! And way more ergo. Then we would be talking about fitting 'foot controls' for people with upper body problems.

ttyymmnn > m4ximusprim3 01/05/2014 at 21:31

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Yeah, Dusty hadn't posted the videos when I first asked. Thanks.

B1n > Dusty Ventures 01/05/2014 at 22:46

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When I was in college, I started to think of ways of using helicopter/airplane controls in a car.

A helicopter has one 2-axis stick, and another 1-axis stick with a twist throttle (at least some do), and there are foot pedals. With all these controls, a helicopter can fly sideways (duh).

Airplanes, when on the ground, in little-to-no wind, are maneuvered only with foot pedals that turn left/right, and have toe-activated brakes. Speed is added with a push-rod that has friction, to maintain the current setting.

Cars have two-to-four pedals and single axis wheel, and accomplish an unimpressive amount of mobility with all that gadgetry.

jnewman1991 > Tom McParland 01/05/2014 at 23:24

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I remember getting a Chrysler minivan with hand controls when I valeted. I nearly wrecked the thing twice. Once because I couldn't put my foot on the brake (controls made it difficult) and the second when I was retrieving it and trying out the hand controls (up for gas, down for brake).

captain_spleen > Dusty Ventures 01/06/2014 at 00:59

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My only concern would be for the driver's fingers in an accident.

bariki > Dusty Ventures 01/06/2014 at 06:18

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I would have though the ring in front of the wheel would be the brake, since wouldn't it require more force? How much grip strength is needed for full braking?

AgWaddell > Dusty Ventures 01/06/2014 at 09:37

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what Steven replied I'm impressed that a student can earn $7591 in a few weeks on the internet. read review.­­a­s­h­4­6­.­­­­

autojim > Dusty Ventures 01/06/2014 at 09:57

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Looks like a Guidosimplex setup — and look, Albert Llovera is featured prominently on their web page. :)

IIRC, Clay Regazzoni was instrumental in helping develop this setup for motorsports use.

3ch0 > aowolf 01/06/2014 at 11:04

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You rock man. Plus, dual-clutch robo-transmissions are getting better and better. One day, they will be accepted as "good-enough" or better for enthusiasts. Just think of carburetors, non-power steering, throttle cables...

tromoly > Tom McParland 01/06/2014 at 11:10

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A few years ago one of the drag racing schools was asked to retrofit a gentleman's hand controls onto a car so he could do a few passes, when the gentleman did his runs you could not tell he was using hand controls, they looked exactly like a normal person. The driving school guy tried the hand controls and stalled the car numerous times, it takes a certain skill to make it work.

Dusty Ventures > bariki 01/06/2014 at 13:59

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No idea. All I know about it is what I can see in the various youtube videos of him. And since all the interviews he's done are in Spanish and I'm about as fluent as a turnip...

autojim > techinsanity2011 01/06/2014 at 16:42

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The Guidosimplex system is progressive/modulating, not on/off, which is what you want in vehicle controls. They've also got some servo assist, particularly on the braking side. It's a really slick setup.

Had an autocross school student several years back with more conventional hand controls in his Fox Mustang. I tried 'em in a very controlled environment (parking lot) and was a jerky mess. Student gave me props for trying it at least.

There was also a guy from the Chicago area who autocrossed a C4 ZR-1 Corvette with hand controls. He'd rigged an air cylinder for the clutch, with two valves: one with a bleed for a progressive clutch release, the other was a dump for a drag-style start. There was a small compressor and tank to supply the air. Really slick setup. He had also put together a air cylinder setup to shift from 1st to 2nd (and back) actuated by pushbuttons on the wheel, but the Solo rules guys never let him use it in competition, at least not at the ProSolo level.

techinsanity2011 > autojim 01/06/2014 at 19:57

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I have a question, what would be the best setup for someone with fine/gross motor skill issues?

autojim > techinsanity2011 01/07/2014 at 11:23

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I'm by no means an expert on adaptive systems, but there are a number of things that can be done. We had one autocrosser whose hands couldn't grip things. He was able to use a conventional lever-style hand control for gas/brake, and had a "glove" with a pin that fit into a bracket clamped to the steering wheel (think "necker knob" where the knob was replaced by the pin on his glove). He also had a full racing harness to hold him in the seat properly since he couldn't use his limbs to brace himself.

The guy who was my student, like the one I just described, was technically a quadraplegic in that they both had impairment on their arms as well as legs (there's no one-size-fits-all label here, as spinal injuries are as varied as the people who have them). As his car was a ragtop, per the rules he couldn't use a harness at first (he solved that by putting an approved roll bar in), so those first few events included figuring out how to secure him properly in the car. And he was unfortunately involved in an incident at an autocross where his hand control lever hung up on the under-dash trim as the rather flexy Fox convertible twisted under load and jammed, with the resulting loss of control causing vehicle damage (but thankfully no injuries). We fixed that, too, by adding more clearance so that the linkage wouldn't bind under even extreme use.

I'm aware of some folks having power-steering boost levels increased to compensate for reduced arm strength, and also similar changes to brake servo levels.

Adaptive tech is an interesting field — since every client's needs are different, there's a lot of one-off pieces that may be required. While they are typically minor variations of a standard function, fitting the accessibility requirements of the client (securing the client safely to the vehicle, reach, effort, fine/coarse motor control, even which limbs are able at all) can be a challenge.

MarkCAL > Angry Dorito 11/05/2015 at 06:46

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These are Guidosimplex hand controls - they equipped his PUNTO Abarth 200 EVO as well. They have dealers across US starting last year.