F1 & the KERS system

[Kit-Fox]

As anyone who follows F1 will know we have the KERS system this season.

KERS standing for Kinetic Energy Recovery System.

The idea is that energy usually lost from braking is recovered and stored onboard the car. This gives you a charge to the KERS system to give you an extra boost when needed for overtaking or other situations when you find yourself needing a small boost of speed.

Its been quite useful to the teams using it this season and i'm not sure where I stand on if it should be removed or kept for the next season. However one thing I do object to is the KERS been fully charged at the start of each race, surely it should have no charge on the opening lap.

Its a highly unbalenced way of allowing the start and in fact the KERS is probably responsible for a fair few of the opening lap crashes due to the sudden speed boost of the cars that have it in.

So opinions?? Should KERS be charged OR uncharged for the start/opening lap. I think it should be uncharged as it will allow a fairer start and help reduce the amount of crashes on the start/opening lap we've seen this season

[Brdavs]

Mute point since it`s being ditched for next season.

I think its faboulous piece of thechnology. Not sure howmany crashes you can blame on it thoe... even in the first lap. So some get a boost but its still driver error that sends them out, usually they can steer clear of eachother just fine. Case in point Monza today, and the first curve there is just asking for trouble.
Helps pass so thats good...

Bit odd to have it in after the whole rulebook change to make the sport cheaper. Wasnt cheap for any of the teams that opted developing it heh...

[Kit-Fox]

Meh, didnt know it was being ditched for next season. Heard it was discussed, but hadnt heard of any final decision.

I think it can be blamed for a fair few of the off the line crashes as the drivers use it to get a quicker start and use their entire boost before the first corner and then cant slow down in time to avoid causing crashes or other trouble.

[[KMA]Avenger]

sounds like F1 is turning into the game, Need For Speed. may as well have add-ons like NOS, Turbos and better gearboxes...

whatever happened to driver skill and engineering excellence?!

[Kit-Fox]

sounds like F1 is turning into the game, Need For Speed. may as well have add-ons like NOS, Turbos and better gearboxes...

whatever happened to driver skill and engineering excellence?!

Yeah i imagine thats part of the reason for its removal, after there is a move towards bringing the sport back to its heyday as it were of the 80s/90s when the cars were quite advanced but still needed a very good driver in them

[~[ Greased Gerbil ]~]

sounds like F1 is turning into the game, Need For Speed. may as well have add-ons like NOS, Turbos and better gearboxes...

whatever happened to driver skill and engineering excellence?!

That's why they got rid of traction control, to stop baby-sitting the drivers. They also took the computer-nerd out of race development, by switching to a standard ECU (electronics control unit) across the field. This took out things like launch-control (which made Renault the gun starter during Alonso's championships).

Turbo hasn't been around in F1 for a while, and I would say that "better gearboxes" - ie. seamless shift - would fall under the umbrella of "engineering excellence". NOS will never rear it's head in F1.

As for the "pre-charged KERS" debate. I wholly agree that drivers should not start the race with a ready-charged KERS system. The idea behind KERS was a move towards energy efficiency, and KERS was a way of making use of energy that would otherwise be wasted. Now, 6 seconds of 80bhp is a lot of energy. Plugging your KERS into the outlet pre-race, and charging it with enough juice to run a studio apartment for a month really defeats the purpose. The system, as the name suggests, should run ONLY on "Recovered Kinetic Energy".