Here’s something interesting to distract us from the Lewis Did-He-Didn’t-He hoo-hah: Honda ran their KERS at the Jerez test last week, and their engineers reckon that the system is right on target to be ready for the start of next season.
KERS units – the Kinetic Energy Recovery System that stores otherwise lost energy from braking and converts it to extra power, which can be used throughout a race at the drivers’ discretion – will be allowed from the beginning of the 2009 season.
And with Honda’s test in mind, when you consider that lots of the other major teams have either had problems – BMW, Red Bull – or, like Ferrari, at least expressed concerns regarding them not having a fully functional system for the start of the season, it poses an interesting proposition.
Honda could well be ahead of the curve right from the off, and may have the jump on the other teams who are still struggling to get their heads around KERS come the first race.
Team principle Ross Brawn said that even though the KERS unit was installed on a mule car – basically the 2008 car with KERS strapped into it – that it was, ‘fully functioning and very close to 2009 spec.’
Which sounds rather ominous. A bit like the Emperor talking about the Death Star in Return of the Jedi, no?
So, first blood to Honda next year over the ‘rebel scum’? Or will they still be rubbish?
I think they will have with KERS the same speed the others have without it
No seriously, everybody talks about it, but how much power can they recover over a lap? and if we suppose they release it entirely in a single lap, how much can time can they gain?
how much power can they recover each lap?
last i heard, 80 hp for 20 or so seconds, every time they hit the brakes. the energy can be used to stretch a tank of fuel, or added to maximum engine power with a push-to-pass button.
an f1 car stopping from 200 mph generates the equivalent 1000’s of horsepower. that’s how much energy goes into incinerating the brakes. also, 75% of the energy contained in gasoline goes straight out the tailpipe without moving the car. that’s a lot of energy waiting to be harvested.
f1 desperately needs to open up technical regulations, especially for engines. manufacturers have already stated they want to use small turbo motors, to gain some R&D for road cars. i say let them run whatever pleases them, and put identical restrictor plates on every car.
if mad max has his way, f1 will become a spec class. this would drive away both fans and manufacturers. come to think of it, seeing le mans gain ferrari, mclaren, bmw and others wouldn’t be so terrible.
we can put williams in the pro-KERS camp along with honda. early on, they invested heavily into a flywheel storage system. as far as i know, everyone else is going with batteries.
In answer to the question, they’ll still be rubbish. It will take more than that to sort out their problems.
Come on Jenson. We love Jenson don’t we.
JENSON TO WIN NEXT YEAR
Come on Honda, give Jenson a better car. Im a Button fan through and through and hopefully, he’ll be in good shape next year.
haha GO JENSON!!! He has to catch a break soon doesn’t he? Free ferrari wallpapers
may the force be with Honda
ferrari wallpapers,
what about hill vs schumacher 1994. thats how i remember him.
i’d like to see jenson in a competitive car. how much is he getting paid to sit at the back of the grid and smile?
Why is McLaren so quiet on the subject of KERS? Nothing to say or quietly getting on with it?
For the tech buffs around here: the williams flywheel energy storage system mentioned above here; would that not be difficult since it might be covered by the Engine Development Ban?
At the most KERS will cause havoc in midfield and during qualifying. Everyone might be closer together but the top teams have far superior resources full stop. if two car accelerate out of a corner and one has KERS and the other not there is a very slight advantage to the KERS equipped car. Across race distance though consistent fast laps and track position will probably be more influential.
Hard to say whether a flywheel system will infringe on the engine rule ; so far as I know the “power” has to come from the brakes and I cannot see how that works.Also as the storage limit is 80kW this won’t help a car run that much longer per tank of fuel ; I suspect it will be used purely as a “boost” out of corners.
I think indeed next year we’ll see the full Ross Brawn effect… Let other teams take it as a serious warning that honda already gets away with it and may be back…God I hope the best for Jenson…
I had the most astounding piece of halibut the other day, it was of the very finest.
Have to agree with F1 Yankee – but rather than a restrictor plate, give each car a set amount of fuel for each race – can you imagine how fast the %age of energy recovered from burning fuel would go up? Instead of spending gagillions of dollars on bending the aero rules, all that money would develop technology that almost every road car can actually use!
Technology like this can help in road cars next generation, not in 10-15 years time like KERS.
If Ferrari copy Honda’s blueprints, McLaren would go absolutely spare!
And frankly, I wouldn’t blame either of them either. Ferrari for copying (since they’re unable to think up of a system that works themselves) and McLaren for going spare (since it’ll be double standards on Ferrari’s part).
Hopefully The Power Of Dreams will have a more “photogenic” car for when they may cross the finish line closer to No.1
If it makes Honda competitive again, I will be happy.
I think they will press the button at an opportune moment in the race, and instead of getting faster they will simply detonate.
My wife and I happen to enjoy a nice bit of halibut. Why are people talking about motor cars on our brog? I thought it was a bout the fish?
hoo ar thse prts tlking abt fsh n chps. I fort this wwer abowt cars n stuff.
Welsh F1 fan had it, it’s what’s made Le Mans so engaging over the years (or at least back in the group C days). trouble is we’d probably see diesel F1 cars – that would be bad.
Would love to see regulation opened up to allow turbos or alternatives allowed back in. KERS might be a good alternative.
One issue I do see though is that in qualifying how are they going to ensure that the KERS isn’t charged before the run, although I suppose it’ll charge up in the warm up lap – so that’ll be Honda getting further up the grid then…
Hermann Kratz said…
Why is McLaren so quiet on the subject of KERS? Nothing to say or quietly getting on with it?
MB is partial to lithium-ion batteries in their road cars, so perhaps something along those lines. for all anyone knows, they may have commissioned some far out clockwork from Cambridge again.
forgot to mention, being from NEW england, i’m partial to cod and salmon
i really hope they’re not rubbish next season. Button deserves a chance to take it to hamilton in fight of the brits.
Is duck a fish? I like turnips.
I presume as it lives on the water, that a duck must indeed be a fish.I also have a liking for the turnip, a much undervalued vegetable that goes well with many meats and fishes.
Dear F1 Yankee, I would very much like to visit your beautiful part of the world. I hear the sea food is to die for. I know a man called Bob that lives in Maine. Do you by any chance know of him?
chippy man,
if it’s the bob i know, a rambunctious lobster devoured him with drawn butter and cole slaw.
please don’t let that deter you from visiting. most seafood is quite compliant. we have lots of places with names like worcester, plymouth, weymouth, foxborough and manchester-by-the-sea. at current exchange rates, you can get a nice cottage with a view of a lighthouse, for about 10 pounds.
I must confess, I am partial to a nice trout in the morniing…
all this time, I thought it was just me.
(sniff)
How will teams reconcile the extra weight of batteries with the temporary extra performance?
It is rather interesting for me to read the post. Thanx for it. I like such topics and anything that is connected to this matter. I definitely want to read a bit more soon.
Best wishes