[kongmw]

Can someone tell me what KERS stands for?

[mlange]

Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS).

Make Google, Yahoo, MSN or any other search engine, your friend

[kongmw]

Thanks mlange!!!

[yenchen23]

KERS is supposed to work by converting the wheel movement under braking that's usually lost anyway into electric power which is stored in some high capacity batteries. Then the driver can use this power to add a little bit of boost without adding pressure to the engine. <someone correct me on this one if I'm wrong>

What I'm not clear is on how they will activate the KERS system. Is it by pressing a button on the steering wheel like A1GP or will it come on automatically in straights.

I know Mercedes, BMW, and Toyota has already developed some kind of KERS into their road cars. The systems varied, some use the heat release under braking, the others use the wheel movement itself, just like attaching a little dynamo into your bicycle wheel to generate light. I'm fairly certain the one they use in F1 is the wheel movement type, not the heat recovery.

The hot debate right now is do the teams really need it? It's supposed to reduce about .2 to .3 second per lap using KERS. BUT, the system itself weighs about 50-60kg, which, ironically, will add about that amount of time in weight penalty itself. Plus, the team cannot use ballast more efficiently now since they will most probably going to install it in the back of the car, making the car oversteery.

[rolander]

I think one of KERS' goals is to develop fuel efficient yet fast cars. Technology transfer to road cars in the future will benefit the planet. It may seem impractical now but with all the best engineering focused here competitively, we may produce faster F1s with lighter batteries and KERS equipment and better fuel mileage. I think this will be interesting, technologywise.

[Mikko Nassi]

According to Toyota the F1 KERS regulations are extremely restrictive. They said they have a more advanced system in their Prius road car and their Supra HV-R racing car.

"(They are) extremely simplified compared to the system we have on the Toyota Prius road car, or even on the Toyota Supra HV-R that won the 24 Hours of Tokachi.

"The potential of hybrid engines is immense, but the solution chosen by the FIA restricts itself to recover energy from the rear wheels. The parameters involved should be more.

"Let's say that, if the Supra that races at Tokachi recovers 70% of the dissipated energy, the system chosen for F1 restricts itself to 20%.

"This system will end up being the same for everyone too, and in this case we'll refer to it as an accessory, devaluing a great technical issue along the way."