As Formula 1 prepares to launch KERS, safety concerns mount
The opening of the 2009 Formula one season is only a month away in Melbourne, Austraiia and, for the first time, teams will be able to compete with KERS hybrid drive systems aboard. It's not clear yet how many of the teams are actually ready to run their systems, but there is one big concern: safety. Most of the teams are believed to be working with some sort of electric hybrid rather than a mechanical flywheel system. Drivers and pit and safety crews are working on procedures for handling the cars in the pits or in the event of a crash. Pit crews have been wearing heavy rubber gloves during winter tests and drivers are taking two footed jumps out of cars instead of stepping out to prevent contacting the car and ground at the same time. Puma is also developing special racing shoes for the drivers to try and prevent them from being shocked.
So far, shock hazards haven't proved to be much of a problem with production hybrids. However, the environment in race cars is very different. Race cars are designed to dissipate energy by shedding parts in the event of a crash in order to protect the driver. Everyone will have to be much more careful in F1 this year.
[Source: F1-Live]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Carney 5:55PM (2/25/2009)
Or they could just take their cue from Indy Cars and switch to clean burning, much safer in crashes, price-stable, non crazy funding alcohol fuel. It's been working great for decades.
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caswell.mark 8:19PM (2/25/2009)
Personally, I would be more concerned with safety of mechanical flywheels than I would the electric system. Anyone who has seen a turbine disk from a jet engine explode knows the incredible energy released in a spinning disk failure. It is enough to slice through entire airplanes and travel great distances. If one of these explodes anywhere close to a crowd the results would be deadly.
Given that Formula 1 pushes the limits of technology, I'm sure they will be pushing these flywheels to minimize weight-to-energy. This will also push the limits of the material's structural capabilities. I hope they test the living crap out of these things before they put them in a real race.
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