[jwl]

It seems like a missed opportunity to push for innovation. Changing tyres on normal cars is also a slow process and back in the earlier days of racing it was as well. Now all four tyres can be changed in just around 2 seconds due to great technological innovations (and training the pit-crew like OL athletes). Developing a system where a battery could be changed quickly would be equally as interesting.

[DanBC]

The extensive crew training, and having a crew, and having air tools, and having a car that is jacked in a single push motion, all make changing F1 tires easier.

I'm not sure what can be transferred to regular cars? How often do tires need to be changed? (I guess more often if you have snow and ice some times of year?)

[ianstallings]

Agreed. I'm hoping to see that in the Le Mans series as manufacturers bring electric vehicles into the mix. Such as Nissan's entry next year: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/22/nissan_electric_le_m...

They want to compete with petrol cars not only on the track, but also in the pits.

Le Mans is really just one big automotive experiment, with a lot of the technology trickling down to the rest of us. That's why I love it.