How to conquer KERS?
BMW Magazine is a smart, beautifully designed and intelligent publication that comes through your letterbox if you own one of the cars from Munich.
I do not own a BMW but I have been reading the latest edition of the magazine. A friend of mine, soon to take early retirement from a blue chip British company, may forsake Waitrose for Tesco but he’s hanging on to his BMW.
The reason I mention this is because there is a most enlightening article about the new KERS contraption that will be seen on some of the Grand Prix cars when they appear in Melbourne in March. We know that BMW is well advanced in this respect, having already developed a brake energy recovery system for its M3 models. Conversely we know that the new Ferrari F60, launched today at Mugello, is using a Magneti-Marelli system that is rumoured to be far from fully ready to race. There won’t be much rest at Maranello during the next couple of months as Ferrari, like many other teams, strives to get on top of the new technology.
At BMW’s Research & Innovation Centre in Munich, meanwhile, there is cautious optimism despite this being relatively unfamiliar territory for the engineers, none of whom have a great deal of previous experience with KERS. Mario Theissen, who leads the BMW-Sauber team, has made it clear that the new system will only be run on the F1.09 when it has “fully matured”.
I may well be wrong but I sense there will be wranglings and gnashing of teeth in Melbourne. The FIA is said to be keeping a close eye on its latest wheeze to make F1 racing greener and more relevant to the high-performance cars of the future. Brake energy recovery may not be the re-invention of the wheel but it is certainly a headache for motor racing teams who require reliability with outright speed.
Encouragingly, the driver will have to use his brainpower, as he must decide when to use the extra energy stored up by the recovery system. Boy, how this would fall into the hands of men like Prost and Lauda. But who will make the best of it as we go into the new season? Nobody has the answer to that but an outside bet on Alonso in the Renault, or Kubica in the BMW, might be worth considering.
If you own a BMW you will have read about this intriguing new development. If you don’t, then it’s still well worth keeping abreast of how this technology works and how it may help, or hinder, the teams as they approach the first race. We may fleetingly return to the good old days with a fair few mechanical retirements. Remember all those cars parked at the side of the track? Certainly the cars are going to look a little fatter and wider to make room for all the gubbins that goes with recovering energy.
The days of Cosworths and Hewlands seem an awfully long time ago, don’t they? Nice memories on a wet, windy January day. But we have to keep up and, as the Dinky Toys advert used to say, there’s “always something new” to play with.
Rob was brought up on racing, being taken to Goodwood as a small child and devouring his father’s copies of Motor Sport. During a career in newspaper, radio and TV journalism he created the ‘Track Torque’ motorsport show on radio and was Indycar commentator for Eurosport before co-founding the Festival of Speed and Revival events. He was marketing director of the Goodwood Road Racing Company. 
dick boot:
January 12th, 2009 7:30pm
Dear Nigel,I read your article about the plans of all teams with the same engines etc.I think it will be a shame.When I was 11,12 years old I was at Zandvoort many times and heard the V8’s and 12’s screaming by.
Also saw the the the death off some great riders there too.To think that this kind of mesure-ments will make the sport safer, I don’t know. It will make it cheaper,yes, but also less more exiting. Likewise the plans with the 24u of Le Mans with the ban on V 12’s and V 10’s etc. and the kind of fuel.
It all takes out the heart of the sport. Indeed, put the GP2 in the spotlight and you get more racing for your money. For you and the whole team at MSM, great stuff every month. With regards, Dick from Holland
Tom:
January 13th, 2009 12:12am
BMW seem best placed of all the teams to use their F1 energy recovery system to sell a few more cars.
As for drivers’ brainpower, I can’t wait to see if McLaren can resist “managing” their drivers’ use of the boost button…
Martin Cooper:
January 13th, 2009 9:49am
You know how Reggie Perrin visualises a mud-caked hippopotamus when his wife’s mother is mentioned. Well when KERS is mentioned I see the big wheel from Dad’s Army, you know the one, it terrorises Walmington-on-See, bits fly off and it eventually falls over. I can’t explain why, but that’s how I see KERS. Maybe I need a holiday.
rob widdows:
January 13th, 2009 11:49am
This infernal contraption known as KERS does get people going and we do like a little humour from our bloggers. Helps the day go more lightly.
So thank you Mr Cooper for your response to the latest bag of tricks to arrive in Grand Prix racing. I am not, as it happens, a devotee of Dad’s Army but when I visualise my Mother-in-law I do………………..
You can bet your last rupee that McLaren will be managing their drivers from the vast array of computers perched along the pit wall. This is something that Ron Dennis likes to do – he’s a racer and he’s not a good delegator. But for sure, as they say in F1, Mr Hamilton will have his head around KERS in no time.
You’ve heard these rumours about M.Schumacher investing in the Honda GP team? Surely this would compromise his relationship with Ferrari. And he of all people must have noticed that buying into an F1 team is not always a great investment. I still reckon that David Richards will be involved somewhere along the line. He and Mr Brawn would be a potent management team. An announcement must be imminent.
Meanwhile I’m off to the New Forest to see Murray Walker. He will have a view on this. And everything else that moves.
RW
ARCH:
January 14th, 2009 12:40am
I read on an F1 website that teams will agree to ‘fan’ supported changes – can we start a lobby now to reduce front wing widths by 20cm and reduce rear wing heights by 20cm
and make rear slicks 10cm wider. At least the cars will look better then,’cus I ‘aint convinced the current regs guarentee closer racing – but let’s hope.Good luck to Fry and Brawn pulling Honda from the fire too, and bravo Haug for offering support.
rob widdows:
January 14th, 2009 4:53pm
You are right not to be convinced. So many of the modern circuits are laid out in such a way as to make overtaking nigh on impossible. Unless you happen to be Hamilton or Alonso with a red mist on.
It is rare that rule changes make a material diiference to the actual closeness of the racing. The big teams will still be the big teams even if they have a little less money to play with.
Ferrari has indicated that the whole KERS saga is consuming far too much of their cash. You will not hear this comlaintfrom BMW. Unless the whole plan is scrapped. But that’s unlikely because there has to be unaminous agreement between the teams.
The cars will be ugly. But if the racing is good, we will worry less about the aesthetics.
And there’s lots of good racing to enjoy apart from the Grands Prix.
If you live in Britain, a trip to Thruxton usually provides a good day’s racing, as does Moto GP, and if you live in South Africa there’s A1GP at Kyalami this year.
Roll on the Spring. January in the UK seems somehow gloomier than ever this year. Even the cats can’t be bothered to go out.
RW
Robin Richardson:
February 3rd, 2009 3:31pm
I can’t think of anything other than Wayne in the same breath as KERS. I do wonder if it’s something whose time has passed already though. When foisted upon F1 it was to try to kid the populace at large that F1 was really getting quite green and cuddly and not to be thought of in the same way as those nasty people chopping down rain forests to meet the demands of the endless growth of the ‘civilised’ industrial world. Now that endless growth has been replaced by endless recession, F1 has finally got the message about cost cutting so it seems odd to me that they are spending money on KERS. If BMW want to put it on road cars, fine. But F1 is supposed to be about racing. You know – sport, fun, competition and all that stuff. Time for my tablets please nurse.
Robin
rob widdows:
February 4th, 2009 12:27pm
From what I hear, there are many folk in F1 who might agree with this. If KERS is scrapped there will be some happy and relieved people. BMW not among them.
A ban on testing during the season will sort the big men from the boys. I do think that the cost-cutting is to be applauded but the transition from excess to something closer to ‘reality’ will be a bumpy ride. As ever, time will tell.
RW