Formula One news

BMW pushing KERS development

Hybrid technology in Formula One has been given the go-ahead and the development process is underway. Powered by a modified drive concept, the top category of motorsport is poised to enter a new dimension in 2009 - and deliver significant impetus for the development of standard production vehicles in the process.

From the start of next season, the Formula One regulations allow for the use of hybrid technology to increase the output and efficiency of the cars. To this end, the BMW Sauber F1 Team is working flat out on the development of its KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) brake energy regeneration system. 

The BMW Sauber F1 Team enhances the hybrid expertise of the BMW Group. As Dr Klaus Draeger, member of the BMW AG Board of Management responsible for development, reports: "The BMW Group can transfer the knowledge gained within the BMW Sauber F1 Team directly into the development of standard production vehicles. This makes Formula One the ideal pre-development platform for innovative drive technologies. The new Formula One regulations give us the opportunity to use innovative hybrid technology under extreme conditions and in so doing to garner crucial expertise for series development as well. BMW customers stand to benefit as a result. The KERS unit designed for the BMW Sauber F1.09 is a highly effective variant of brake energy regeneration technology, and is similar in the way it works to the ActiveHybrid technology developed for BMW standard production vehicles."

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