Eh Stainless -- That's a pretty good endorsement for a chute release button on the steering wheel. How about sharing mechanical details? Especially how you made the electrical release and the backup mechanical handle an "either/or" setup.
I'd also throw up for discussion the question of the relative merits of doing it electrically vs. pneumatically with a CO2 cylinder like they use in paintball guns for the energy source. Comments anyone?
Ed Weldon
If you use a paintball cylinder, keep it cool or the burst plug will go and you won't have the pressure. It is hot out there.
We use a GM door lock to pull the pin with a cable pull as the backup. It is hot wired so it has power unless the master switch is off. The pin is hard attached to the lock slider and has a piece that the cable passes through and allows the part to slide over the cable, cable has an end stop. When the pin is locking the chute, it is also against the cable end. When you punch the button, the door lock pulls the pin, sliding over the cable, if it does not operate, pulling the manual cable will pull the pin.
From start to finish on my incident, was 500 feet. That is from where the rear wheels lost traction and started moving off their straight track to the big blue paint mark where the front of the car slammed back down on the ground... about a second and a half total time at 220, never be shy about putting out the chute. If you think you are losing control, you are... the quicker you get the chute out the better off you will be.