KERS in F1; Basically Explained

2009 season saw number of F1 teams applies the Kinetic Energy Recovery System as part of their tradition and effort to adapt new ideas and technologies into today's ever competitive racing scene. In actual fact, KERS is not totally new technology, it has been invented in the recent years and only during this 2009 season, F1 teams agreed to adapt it permanently into their race machine.

KERS is basically a power storing device which restore unwanted energy during braking and re channel it back as additional power (up to 85bhp) boost, great for overtaking and blocking during races.

There are actually few type of KERS;

Flywheel (Flybrid) Types

Very simply the system comprises a flywheel connected by a continuously variable transmission [CVT] to the drivetrain. If you move the CVT toward a gear ratio that would speed the flywheel up it stores energy. Conversely, if you move toward a ratio that would slow it down then it releases energy. Finally, a clutch separates the drive if the revs move beyond the limits of the system.

Williams and Flybrid both offer customer their off the shelf versions for F1 teams.

Electronic

Uses motor generators and an electrical storage medium, either Li-ion batteries or supercapacitors. The Tokachi 24 Hours winning Toyota Supra was fitted with a capacitor based system but the Peugeot 908HY uses Li-ion batteries. The batteries do have a number of issues such as the cost and frequency of replacement also cell have been known to explode or catch fire.

Hydraulic

A hydraulic based system stores the recovered energy in a high pressure vessel within the car. McLaren’s original KERS from 1998 was of this type.

Let us hope that KERS will remain and continuously developed in F1, which if it does, it may make its way into our production cars in the new future.

The Art of Hipari...Stretched It!!

The tuners loves it, the drifters apply it, the followers adore it, the art of stretching tire to fit those huge width wheel (Hipari as in Japanese). It was done by (for example) fitting a 215/17 tire onto a 9"x17" wheels, and often with low or negative offsets.

The difference in widths causes the sidewalls to stretch from the lip to the tread giving the tire a unique low profile stance and increased sidewall rigidity.

To drift learner, this can be advantageous since you can get the car sliding sideways at lower speeds. However in pro level drifting events, drifters need as much traction as possible out of their tires to control their drift cars at higher speed hence, hipari tire would not be the best choice.They opt for wider tires and wheels instead, which of course more dollars for that.

Mounting a hipari is not always an easy feat, as sometime the air filler bead on the wheel does not align with the tires. Hence, here's a quick way mounting 195 tire onto 9.5" wheel using only aerosol and lighter!

Interesting arguments on Hipari for us to take note for;

• Stretching a thin tire onto a wide rim decreases a wheel’s standard tire width resulting in a smaller contact patch and less traction
• Stretching tires increases wear because of uneven heat dissipation and that may increase the potential of tire failure
• Stretching tire will make your wheels closer to street and damaging potholes, the risk of damaging your precious wheels is high!

Safety wise, there is little evidence that stretched tires are any more dangerous than regular tires, it just that you need to be extra careful while driving those ride with extreme hipari wheels.

Aesthetically, I always love the way hipari improve the stance of a car, any car...of course with its minimum ground clearance!

And yes....it has been AGES since i last updated the blog, well.... lotsa works do keep me busy lately. However, many thanks for you guys who bump in and leave comments, appreciate it very much. I will try my best to bring up new post here...

AdamZ