Is KERS potentially a Red Herring?

Magnifico · PostPosted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 8:36 am

A massive hullabaloo was made over the KERS system and it's implementation and what it would bring to the sport. Fast foward to 2009 and we see only 7 of the 20 cars have the systems implemented. Not running KERS seems to be a heck of a lot more beneficial than running the system and the money wasted on research is unbelieveale.
Whatsmore the system not being mandatory is IMO a silly ruling. You either have it or you don't. Not this stunted implementation and in future potential standard KERS unit which defeats the purpose of teams researching it?

We have a situation where teams won't run KERS at all. See Brawn, FI, Williams. Or definately wont run it unless they see major benefits. See Toyota.

5 of the 7 KERS cars didnt even make it past Q2 and whilst their failings might lie elsewhere be it Diffuser, Lack Of Grip or whatever the fastest KERS team were undoubtedly the slowest team in Q3. That being Ferrari whilst Kubica annihilated his KERS running teammates.

Is KERS just a big waste of time?
Should mandatory use be stated?
Will we see the likes of Mclaren, Renault and Ferrari drop the system?

Admittedly it's not even an event into it yet but its been a hot topic of whether it'll be used since the turn of the year.

Aare · PostPosted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 8:40 am

Conclusions should be made after tomorrow's race and/or Malaysian GP.

Voted Yes though.

Ichigo VF · PostPosted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 9:12 am

Lol just posted about the KERS at the race thread, didn't notice this thread.

To the point, it should be for mandatory use or BMW pay the cost for all the teams.

Scorpion · PostPosted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 11:06 am

Definitely no, the FIA will be pushing the teams for this one. Next year the capacity and time that they will be able to use will increase, and so for the year after that. So it's going to become more and more important.

Pingguest · PostPosted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 1:45 pm

I think the whole regulations of KERS is wrong. Although the FIA would like Formula 1 to beome more eco-friendly, it has curtailed the development of this road relevant technology. KERS is restricted in such way that the advantages don't yet outweight the disadvantages of this system.

Ospi · PostPosted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 3:01 pm

The so called advantages to the environment are non existent as they use this regained energy to emit even more carbon dioxide in the form of more power. it's kinda useless in that regard and also since the technology is so different to what would work in a road car where it really does need to be pushed.

Scorpion · PostPosted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 6:44 pm

In order for something to become successful, you have to invest time in it. A KERS system that can aid a normal road car to start with clean energy is better for the nature I think.
An F1 team developing an engine that can rev over 22,000 rpm instead of 21,000 rpm isn't quite useful normal road cars I think.

Speedworx · PostPosted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 6:52 pm

I have said for ages KERS is a waste of time and money. Its going to feck all for the racing. In a time when spending is being cut, why are they going with the dangerous system?

matthew · PostPosted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 7:30 pm

Stupid Idea... as that's what KERS is. i don't see how such a humungous amount of weight with such a short and low power boost can be beneficial. not even in polar bear saving means. but of course, the tree huggers will jump with joy at the idea seeing as they did the same with hybrid cars, even if they're not really any more economical than standard cars.

xxxx · PostPosted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 2:51 pm

Voted -lwas- but.... wasn't really impressed by it so far and it seems like a waste actually. Not that developing it was wrong since in the future they will probably go with it mandatory but for now the regulations are stupid. If a lap is 1:26 you get 6s of kers and for the other 1:20 you are basicly hauling 80kg along for nothing. The extra hp isn't too bad but it doesn't seem to weigh up at all. Enviromentaly like Ospi said it's a joke and the road relevance seems pretty non-existent.

But about the racing, maybe Melbourne wasn't the best track for it yet but still the straights are ok-ish for it so we have to see if Malaysia is better or China with the uberlong straight. Still kinda skeptical though, won't be surprised if the teams using it now will simply drop it and put it on the shelf until it's mandatory or until they get longer than 6s.

Alex · PostPosted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 6:15 pm

I wonder if anyone could shed some light on that on-screen KERS graphic we have. It shows the battery being used until it's empty then it remains empty until the end of the lap. But as soon as the driver crosses the line it suddenly shows up fully charged again. How's that? Surely the system cannot sense when a driver starts a new lap?

bigears · PostPosted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 6:33 pm

Alex wrote:

I wonder if anyone could shed some light on that on-screen KERS graphic we have. It shows the battery being used until it's empty then it remains empty until the end of the lap. But as soon as the driver crosses the line it suddenly shows up fully charged again. How's that? Surely the system cannot sense when a driver starts a new lap?

Yeah I wondered the same, how the KERS was charged up after running over the s/f line?

Or was the power continually to be collected and the KERS battery was restricted to be used about 6/7 seconds per lap and there is a specific instruction (a timing beam or from a telemetry box) that allows the driver to have access to the KERS system?

Jyllenberg · PostPosted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:11 pm

bigears wrote:

Or was the power continually to be collected and the KERS battery was restricted to be used about 6/7 seconds per lap and there is a specific instruction (a timing beam or from a telemetry box) that allows the driver to have access to the KERS system?

Yes, propably.

That graphic was nice, but needs to include recharging / overall KERS battery status.

BenAD · PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 12:13 am

Yeah im pretty sure that its only allowed to be used for 6/7 seconds a lap and that the graphic was just showing how much of that allocation was being used per lap.

Also in the latest GP Week online mag, Glock was saying that he found it really hard to pass the KERS cars, so it seems to be making some difference

Ospi · PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 12:17 am

Well we could visually see how much a boost it gave them when we were following Hamilton on lap, shortish straight, nailed the kers and he was just pulled right up to the arse of the car in front, shitloads more than what normal slipstreaming would have enabled at that speed and distance. Going to make life very easy for them come Sepang with those long straights.

BenAD · PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 12:23 am

Yeah we will definitely see how good it will be on the tracks with longer straights.

It might not be giving them much in terms of lap pace (considering the weight drawback), however in the race a power boost, plus slipstream can see you get by a few cars, or hold faster guys off

Ospi · PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 12:41 am

It's also going to royally piss off those without it trying to make moves on those with it.

ryan86 · PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 1:14 am

I think it's worth noting that in the Hamilton/Piquet situation, Piquet was planning that Hamilton was one of the lightest and Piquet one of the heaviest cars.

Magnifico · PostPosted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 10:37 am

bump

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74793

Quote:

Briatore: FOTA seeking 2010 KERS ban

By Jonathan Noble and Michele Lostia Saturday, April 25th 2009, 08:50 GMT

Flavio BriatoreThe Formula One Teams' Association is looking at banning Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) from next season, according to Renault boss Flavio Briatore.

With the devices having only been adopted by a minority of teams this season, Briatore has revealed that F1's teams are looking at getting rid of the technology totally - despite the FIA's insistence that it is important for the sport's green credentials.

Speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport about KERS disappearing from F1 at the end of the season, Briatore said: "Yes: FOTA wants to ban it from 2010.

"We understood immediately that KERS was a money-sucking genius, and the FIA should have taken note of that. It should have been discussed before the start of the season, and the same goes for the diffusers. Having failed to do that has forced on us expenses that are crazy as much as useless."

Briatore remains angry about the development costs his team is facing because of the need to develop a double-decker diffuser.

"The fault is the rules being unclear," he explained. "They must become transparent again. It's either black or white.

"To this day I don't yet understand what the FIA means by hole in the diffuser, so I can imagine the embarrassment for the viewers. And besides that, we must all get back on the same footing: today in F1 there are some racing with KERS and some without, some with the super diffuser and some without. That's not good."

Scorpion · PostPosted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 4:54 pm

Why would they want to ban the one thing that has a lot of potential for cars around the world? It's only been 3 races and they're already complaining.
By next year the output from KERS will be higher, and the year after even more. By then everyone will have it.
It would be very short-sighted to ban it so fast.

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Is KERS potentially a Red Herring?

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