The KERS and DRS explained

If you are a Formula One fan you surely know about KERS and DRS. But, for those of you who are not familiar with the terms, here follows a quick explanation.

The Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) first introduced the kinetic energy recovery system (or simply know as KERS) to Formula One racing in 2009, but it had not been used with reliability until 2011. The KERS recovers a moving cars kinetic energy under braking and stores this in a reservoir (flywheel or battery) for later use under acceleration. Current rules caps its power capacity to 60 kilowatts (80 bhp), but come the 2014 season, it will be doubled to balance Formula One's move from 2.4 liter V8 engines to 1.6 liter V6 engines.

Another relatively new rule is the "Driver Adjustable Bodywork" commonly know as drag reduction system (or DRS), first introduced in the 2011 Formula One season, in an effort to improve straight-line overtaking. During F1 competition, the DRS works only when certain conditions are met, such as, the pursuing car must be within one second (when both cars cross the detection point). Another one is that the DRS can only be used once two full racing laps have been completed, and when the pursuing car enters the designated "activation" zone defined by the FIA.

In the video below, World Champion Sebastian Vettel explains the KERS and DRS.

The DRS system was also used by the Nissan DeltaWing during this year's running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The KERS and DRS has certainly made Formula One races more exciting. Two thumbs up!

Thanks for reading.

Source: FIA, Formula One, Wikipedia.

Video credit: NextgenAutoVideos/YouTube

Antti on Gilles

Yesterday marked the thirtieth anniversary of Gilles Villeneuve's death. Back in 2007, sensational motor racing film editor Antti Kalhola made this tribute to the late Canadian F1 driver.



F1 bad boy James Hunt and several other Grand Prix drivers were impressed when the young Gilles beat them in a non-championship race in 1976. The following year, Gilles was offered a ride in the older McLaren F1 car, while Hunt and Jochem Mass drove the newer version (M26). And again he impressed everyone.

In the end he died doing what he loved to do, that is, racing, in Formula One, and for Ferrari!

Thanks for reading.

Source: Antti Kalhola.

This exhaust gives you "wings"

From the folk at Jalopnik we got this awesome close-up picture of the exhaust that gave Red Bull "wings".

The picture was taken at the Geneva Motor Show and is of the Formula One Red Bull RB7. Key to the RB7's dominance in 2011 was the flattened oval exhaust pipe funneling hot gas directly over the diffuser, which is the aerodynamic structure in the rear of the car which creates downforce.  These two elements were first combined in the late 1990's and are widely known as the exhaust-blown diffusers. But they didn't become crucial until 2010, when Adrian Newey's new design (RB6) proved to be instrumental in Red Bull winning their first F1 championship

The RB7's exhaust can be seen in the center of the photo

Since then, the development of the exhaust-blown diffuser continued at a frantic pace. The RB7's engine was programmed to feed hot air to the diffuser even while the driver is off the throttle.  This is evident in the strange sound the RB7 makes when the driver is off-the-throttle. However, going forward F1 teams will have to do without them for they have been banned from competition.

The furious pace in F1 research and development is simply amazing!

Source: Jalopnik