The Red Bull KERS system

[teabagyokel]

Hamilton's start at the 2009 German GP would have been an excellent example had he not popped his tyre!

 

[sportsman]

Red Bull intend to run KERS in Malaysia.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/90421 Red Bull team boss Christian Horner says his squad is now feeling more optimistic about its chances of being able to run KERS in the Malaysian Grand Prix, though it will hold off on a final decision until after Friday practice at Sepang.
The team removed KERS from its cars during practice in Melbourne due to reliability fears - but it made little difference to Red Bull's performance as Sebastian Vettel took a dominant pole and won the race.
Horner said the Melbourne decision had been very much precautionary, and that work done by the team since that race had raised his hopes of being able to use KERS in Malaysia.
"It was a very close call during the Australian Grand Prix weekend as to whether we leave it on the car or take it off," Horner told BBC Radio 5 Live.

 

[Brogan]

and that work done by the team since that race had raised his hopes of being able to use KERS in Malaysia

With no in-season testing, exactly how much work can be done?

Sure they can do some bench testing, but that's a poor substitute for running in a car under race conditions.

 

[sportsman]

Quite a lot.We are all familiar with the teams coming with aerodynamic upgrades to each race.These are tested in their wind tunnels.
Red Bull had a problem with cooling their KERS system.So they can redesign the cooling system, charge and discharge the KERS via cables to generate the heat, and and monitor any changes.

 

[FB]

A more general question on wind tunnels, presumably they are able to change the temperature and humidity of the air they pipe into these things? The level of humidity and ambient temperature must have a significant effect on the cars behaviour as well as if they want to test out things like KERS.

 

[sportsman]

A more general question on wind tunnels, presumably they are able to change the temperature and humidity of the air they pipe into these things? The level of humidity and ambient temperature must have a significant effect on the cars behaviour as well as if they want to test out things like KERS.

They can indeed change all of those.They can also simulate crosswinds, gusts and various other variable.

 

[Grizzly]

A more general question on wind tunnels, presumably they are able to change the temperature and humidity of the air they pipe into these things? The level of humidity and ambient temperature must have a significant effect on the cars behaviour as well as if they want to test out things like KERS.

Interesting thought FB. A road car manufacturer I'm involved with uses conditioned air in the tunnel, so yes it can be controlled, but even so, climate testing is done in the climate bay, which is static.... effectively a giant oven / freezer and rain / snow generator. What an F1 team does i have no idea! but i don't see any reason why in theory you couldn't combine the two. Would make sense to.

 

[Grizzly]

Ahh' beaten by the sportsman

 

[sportsman]

Sorry Griz.
Southamton university wind tunnel.F1 teams tunnels are far more sophisticated.

http://www.windtunnel.soton.ac.uk/specification/specification_RJMitchell.html

 

[Grizzly]

F1 teams tunnels are far more sophisticated.

Shouldn't really come as a surprise... I know the McLaren one is supposed to be one of the most advanced ever built.

 

[no-FIAt-please]

the McLaren one is supposed to be one of the most advanced ever built

I still don't get why people sya this becuase no outsiders ever get a chance at seeing it, same goes for the simulator, I think the only people who could answer this are perhaps Alonso and Kovalainen who have driver the McLaren simulator in fairly recent years and while still having experienced other team's simulators.

 

[Grizzly]

It must be crap then.