Williams KERS flywheel Hybrid system wins award

[John S]

Pity there's no plan to run it on next year's F1 car then, they seem to have opted for a battery powered unit for the 2011 racecar. Still good to see the team at the forefront of technical expertise in motor racing by winning this award.
 
Williams has proudly announced that its Williams Hybrid Power (WHP) system is the winner of a recent Industry Award, with the Grove-based outfit having been handed the Powertrain Innovation of the Year award at the Professional Motorsport World Expo in Köln, Germany earlier this week.

“We are very pleased with our tangible achievements on-track with the high-profile Porsche project,” said WHP Managing Director Ian Foley.

“This week’s award for Powertrain Innovation of the Year at the Professional Motorsport World Expo is an further industry validation of our unique approach to hybrid flywheel technology in the automotive sector.

“Bearing in mind the exponential growth of hybridisation, we believe that this validation together with promising early signs from our other work for road car and light transport applications will see WHP prosper into the medium-term and beyond.”

GPUpdate.net, Nov 20.

[lkjohnson1950]

The Porsche Hybrid they are running it in is quite fast. Out qualified the regular Porsches at a couple of races, so why is Williams switching to a battery system? I'm not all that happy to see KERS return. Where are the new teams and some of the mid-pack guys going to get a decent system? And how does this save money for the team budgets?

Lonny

[Jericoke]

The Porsche Hybrid they are running it in is quite fast. Out qualified the regular Porsches at a couple of races, so why is Williams switching to a battery system? I'm not all that happy to see KERS return. Where are the new teams and some of the mid-pack guys going to get a decent system? And how does this save money for the team budgets?

Lonny

The system might not work for an F1 car... they would be lower, and lighter than the Porsche Hybrid.  As such an F1 car would be more influenced by the angular momentum of the fly wheel, and it might not be possible to place it optimally in an F1 car.  Batteries have the advantage of being any shape you want.  Even if they're not as effective as the fly wheel, they would make it much easier to design an F1 car.

[cosworth151]

I think the new F1 KERS rules won't allow the Williams flywheel system. They require a battery-based system.

[lkjohnson1950]

I'm not really interested in watching Priuses race, even if they are a bit higher tech.

Lonny