flynn23 wrote: Jello wrote: Worthersee wrote:
It’s not quite the same type of hybrid drive-train you’d see in street vehicles, but in an exciting announcement, Max Mosely of F1 has announced that all cars will become hybrid by 2013, along with other changes to the vehicles. The hybrid system that will be phased in is known as KERS, which stands for Kenetic Energy Recovery System. KERS doesn’t store as much energy as a traditional hybrid system, but it only weighs 55 pounds and the limited energy storage capacity is well suited for Formula-style racing. The biggest difference between KERS and a regular battery-electric hybrid is that KERS stores recovered waste energy in a rotating flywheel. Instead of converting waste energy into electricity and than back into useful energy again with an electric motor, KERS simply transfers the kenetic energy to a ~5kg flywheel in the F1 car’s transmission. The energy stored in the flywheel can then be used by the driver by pushing a “boost” button.
Just what F1 cars need... More boost.
F1 is like the space program for cars - it creates technology that trickles down to normal automobiles. This is a very, very good thing, as that track is the best lab there is for the development of greener automobiles. As a fan - any additional manual controls are welcomed by me, as it makes it harder on the driver.
Yes and no. There's no question that a lot of R&D comes from F1, but that doesn't mean that it's translated into production line products. I mean, the top teams the last few years have been McLaren, Renault, and Ferrari. Not exactly main stays in every garage (even in Europe and Asia). Most of the tech that comes out of F1 is around structural materials and suspension. Pretty much the last innovations to hit street cars were traction control and variable valve timing, which is still only on high end cars ($40K+). I think the real motivation behind this is sponsorship dollars. F1 is a FRIGGIN HUGE business, and many of the top corporate sponsors are scrambling to be seen as 'green' and ecologically sensitive. Particularly if you're involved in the automotive business. So there's probably some pressure from sponsors to 'green up' the series to tie into their other marketing efforts. No word yet on whether the fly wheel will have a swastika on it. =/
Actually, every Honda now made, and many for the last 15 years, have variable valve timing (and the ones for the last 5 years have variable cam timing as well). These are almost all well below $40K, (indeed, some well below $20K) cars. But there are other advancements too that came from F1, like more efficient combustion chamber designs, more fuel efficient designs, precisions in parts once thought impossible, insanely high rev'ing engines, etc. Things you find in the highly efficient, high rev'ing, small engines that are so popular these days. In fact, just about every recent innovation that matters in cars that I can think of started in F1. Anti-lock brakes. Kinda important, eh? Can you think of a difference in cars now and 20 years ago that didn't debut in F1? The article you posted says that the KERS hybrid is twice as efficient as electric hybrids... so there's benefit right there. And it doesn't matter that they don't win - Mercedes, Honda, etc. have teams and the technology trickles through them. The trickle-down is also not limited to cars. Formula one was an early adopter of carbon fiber composites, aluminum, and lots of new manufacturing processes. It is the testbed for all kinds of new technologies while they are young and insanely expensive enough to be impossible to apply anywhere but the space program. RE: Formula 1 Racing to Go Hybrid from 2009-2013 |
