Formula 1 and KERS....What do you think?

[Mike Lowrey]

I like the close racing in F1 right now, but have one problem that is bugging me.....KERS. I think this is absolutely useless. The only thing that I have seen KERS do is help a slower car "block" faster cars. It puts driver skill to the side a little and puts the passing in the hands of a button. I would be happy to see KERS gone for good.

What do you think?

[EJ25RUN]

I'm with Eddie Jordan who says F1 needs to get rid of it immediately.

I was just about to toss something at the TV when Rubens kept getting blocked by Piquet in the Renault since he had the "special button."

Anyways, its apparent that the fastest cars don't need it and that should be what tells the FIA it needs to be gone. The only argument is if every car had it but that won't be till next year.

For now, the front runners will be slowed down by back markers with KERS.

And did anyone else find it rediculous that 3 cars ran KERS in China?

[Sammich]

what is KERS?

[Ed]

Kinetic Energy Recovery System...

it's VTEC for F1 cars.

[Sammich]

so basically they have 'nitrous' to pass a car...thats gay. yea it should be eliminated

[Mike Lowrey]

I'm with Eddie Jordan who says F1 needs to get rid of it immediately.

I was just about to toss something at the TV when Rubens kept getting blocked by Piquet in the Renault since he had the "special button."

Anyways, its apparent that the fastest cars don't need it and that should be what tells the FIA it needs to be gone. The only argument is if every car had it but that won't be till next year.

For now, the front runners will be slowed down by back markers with KERS.

And did anyone else find it rediculous that 3 cars ran KERS in China?

Agreed. KERS is a huge flop. The teams that developed KERS, spent untold millions on it. This, of course, goes against cost cutting measures.

If KERS does get dumped, the teams who gave up on it early saved themselves alot of money and time.

[Ed]

so basically they have 'nitrous' to pass a car...thats gay. yea it should be eliminated

It just uses the brake kinetic force to build up enough power so you can use it as a "boost."

You can only use one "full tank of kinetic energy" per se per lap i believe, EJ correct me if im wrong.

Maybe one day it will be in regular cars, it helps with CO2 emissions as well.

[Mike Lowrey]

so basically they have 'nitrous' to pass a car...thats gay. yea it should be eliminated

Similar to the "push to pass" in IRL. KERS uses energy stored electrically to give back 82 bhp for 6 seconds each lap.

So when a faster non-KERS car goes to pass a KERS car, the driver of the KERS car simply presses the button to get their extra 80 hp and effectively blocks the faster car.

Simply stupid.

[Sammich]

yea...it should really be eliminated, thats just...not ethical...win straight up, not with help.

[Elbow]

It also weighs around 80lbs I think?

It's a cool device technology wise, it's not new by any means, Panoz even ran it back in 1998 I believe at Le Mans.

[StraightSix]

I'm not a fan of KERS. I think the systems weight offsets any benefit that might come from using it. Plus, restricting it to only 6 seconds of use per lap is silly.

I *do* think that if the system were safer and more beneficial, that it could be useful and might make the racing better. Thus far, though, it hasn't.

I say that F1 should ditch it.

[DirtyMechanic]

The F1 cars have roughly 80kg of ballist... they said a KERS system weghts in roughly 35kg so they loose about half their ballist that they can move around the chassis. the 6sec of about 80hp is equal to about .3 sec per lap. if the driver uses the full 6 sec early in the lap he wont have any for say the back straight and will be over taken. its also strategy on the drivers part on when and when not to use it.

[EJ25RUN]

If i were to find a positive out of KERS, is it does improve hybrid street cars.

Let me explain.

I am of the opinion that race car engineers are better than street car engineers. In cars like the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight, one of the major goals of Toyota and Honda was to make the hybrid systems cheap.

Back when i used to sell Subarus, I meet many Prius owners and wanna be hybrid drivers that hardly know anything about car engines and would ridicule us for not having a hybrid yet the gas mileage on our cars was similar and gas prices had yet to skyrocket. Many of them (not all) are a new type of car buyer that is prone to believing the "save the world" propaganda.

Anyways, i feel that a race team is better at developing technology as their main concern is winning races instead of being cost effective. One leads to a more efficient part while the other gives out something that is "just good enough."

Consider William's approach to KERS. They have developed a flywheel system.

This video explains it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySx6_vERTwg

with that said, if F1 begins to develop these systems, they will be a sharp increase in the tech of KERS for street cars.



Personally, if i had it my way, KERS wouldn't run out. Instead of 6 secs, the 80hp would be there the entire lap. With that, the systems would be better developed for street cars as this is probably the main reason F1 took up the idea in the first place.

I realize that passing might be difficult but at least with this, there will be no blocking as it is all i have seen KERS accomplish.