Citroen begins testing its C4 HYbrid4 rally car
Click above for a high res gallery of the Citroen C4 WRC HYbrid4
One of the four hybrid drive vehicles shown by the PSA group at last fall's Paris Motor show was version of its C4 WRC rally car. Like the others it used the HYbrid4 through-the-road architecture. The regular internal combustion engine drives the front wheels and a 167 hp electric motor drives the rear axle. A lithium ion battery pack with 990 cells sits above the fuel tank in the middle of the race car. Following the team's victory in the Portugal Rally, driver Dani Sordo took the experimental hybrid racer out on two of the special stages that were used for the rally to evaluate it.
The test was deemed a success with Sordo running the car in internal combustion, regenerative braking, combined boost, and electric only modes. Currently, WRC rules don't allow for hybrid drive systems, but Citroen will continue to develop and test the system in order to be ready in case the rules are changed.
Gallery: Citroën C4 WRC HYbrid4
[Source: Citroen]
Citroën C4 WRC HYbrid4
The Citroën C4 WRC HYbrid4 takes to the stages
The day after the fourth round of this year's WRC season in Portugal, which was won by the C4 WRC, Citroën Racing did some testing with the Citroën C4 WRC HYbrid4 concept car on an asphalt road close to Faro. Spanish star Dani Sordo was at the wheel.
Having been born out of the Citroën Racing team's creative desire to perfect a competitive yet innovative racer, the Citroën C4 WRC HYbrid4 project met with a warm reception when it was presented at the Paris Motor Show. The concept went on to make a hit at the Bologna Motor Show and then at the opening ceremony of the Rally Norway.
Since the Geneva Motor Show, it carries the new livery of the title-winning Citroën C4 WRC. The Citroën C4 WRC HYbrid4 was developed using Citroën's current World Rally Championship contender as a base. An electrical propulsion system has been added to the internal combustion engine, gearbox, and transmission that are specific to the WRC machine.
The addition of a 990-cell Ion Lithium battery on top of the petrol tank and a 125 kW electric motor driving the rear wheels puts an extra 150 kg onto the overall weight.
« This system, developed by Citroën Racing, allows the driver to choose between four different modes of functionality » explains Didier Clement, one of the race engineers. « In internal combustion mode, the Citroën C4 WRC HYbrid4 behaves exactly like one of the C4 WRCs that compete on the World Rally Championship. In internal combustion mode with energy recovery switched on, braking endurance is improved and the batteries get charged. On road sections and in the service park, electric mode with energy recovery means that there is less nuisance, increased range and less wear on the conventional engine. Finally, boost mode – which employs both the internal combustion engine and the electric motor – gives an extra 300 Nm of torque when engaged. »
The two engines are linked to the same drivetrain. The driver can choose electric mode simply by switching on the ignition without starting the internal combustion engine. The gearbox paddles then give him a choice of three settings: forwards, backwards and neutral.
Didier Raso, an electrical and systems engineer, comments: « The objective with this project was to be able to use the electric motor to drive on some of the road sections. This fully operational concept responds to that design brief. Citroën Racing wanted to show its ability to adapt this technology to motorsport. If at any point in the future the regulations permit the use of hybrid technology, we will be able to react straight away. »
During the test session, Citroën Total World Rally Team driver Dani Sordo was able to evaluate the dynamic properties of the C4 WRC HYbrid4. One of the highlights of the day was a road section that passed through the village of Barranco do Velho, which was of course open to normal traffic. This allowed the team to assess the advantages of zero emissions in a life-sized context.
The second part of the test was a somewhat more familiar territory for Citroën Racing's development team: a narrow and twisty asphalt road, not at all dissimilar to many of the demanding stages seen on the World Rally
Championship.
Following the three challenging days of Rally Portugal, which resulted in a third place for Dani Sordo, the young Spaniard looked forward to his latest task with enthusiasm. « In electric mode, you can drive through villages without making the slightest noise, which is very unusual for a competition car » he reported during the hybrid car's test. « It's better for the environment and also more comfortable for the crew, making road sections more pleasant. »
Sordo's comments on the car's pure performance were equally complimentary. « On the stages, I would say that the overall behaviour of the car is slightly different to that of the C4 WRC, with more weight to the rear » he reported after his first few flying kilometres in internal combustion mode. « The boost function means that we can choose when to benefit from extra torque under acceleration. When it comes in, the effect is impressive. »
Just as is the case on the C4 WRC, the car set-up and tyre choice allow the driver to fine-tune the handling. « The
feeling is on the whole the same as the one I have with the standard rally car, » added Sordo. « And I love the way
that the C4 goes on asphalt! »
Throughout this test session, which well and truly underlined the creativity of Citroën Racing, the Citroën C4 WRC HYbrid4 demonstrated all the credentials that make it an important technological advance in rallying. Driving a C4 HYbrid4 that nonetheless has several things in common with his usual car, Dani Sordo successfully completed a fruitful test in which several valuable lessons were learned for the future.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jharlan 3:06PM (4/10/2009)
This is a cool idea.
Reply
gorr 4:23PM (4/10/2009)
This is horrible and painful. Reading racers worshipping limp technology like this, mainly gasoline in ice engines and batteries pluggued to electrical motors. This is limp, costly, polluting, weighty, etc.
Just remember the names of theses 'moving forward ' folks, peugeot, ferrari, porsche, mercedes, honda racing, lamborgnini, aston-martin, kawasaki, polaris, shell v-power, sunoco race gasoline, tony karts, suzuki jet-skis, bombardier watercraft, nascar, joe something dune buggy, etc.
All these folks are using gasoline in ice engines or/with batteries. Remember to cansel any expenditure toward these retarded polluting folks as soon as someone put on the market for real gazeous hydrogen ice cars with water re-circulation.
This is one of my final buying bid, i tell you, this economic crisis will continu as long as these retarded folks get subsidies from taxpayers. We the customers are mad of having to pay for not needed gasoline or electricity from the grid to move forward with cars, motorcycles,segways, scooters, watercrafts, motocross, go-karts, airplanes, luxury liners, tractor-trailors, buses, subways, cigarets lighters, camping equipments, helicopters, submarines, house heating, water treatment, water supply in desert of neibohood, useless wind rotors covering miles of land and sea, coal burning, natural gas burning, nuclear burning and production and explosion and loss and disposal.
These folks are heading to destroy the earth for the sixth time. They simply don't want to know how biology works because they were robots in the past, 85 billions years ago and they even destroy themself too, so don't praise toyota, ferrari, gm, caterpillar, etc, they are mad-criminals, very sick and depressed on welfare since the beginning of time. I don't call them engineers, they are just clock-robots on welfare selling crap products overpriced.
Reply
Aloysius Vampa 6:50PM (4/10/2009)
+5, Funny.
Swede 11:01AM (4/12/2009)
Is there a point somewhere in there?
gorr 4:55PM (4/17/2009)
@ swede. I said and i repeat:
''All they ever sold was unnecessary, not powerful, few range, costly and polluting. It dosn't just pollute lungs, air, water and soil including foods like fishs of beefs eating chemical plants. It pollute too engine oil and spark plugs and intake and exhaust valves. Mosus said and i repeat to separate the water molecule in 2 to make unlimited and non-polluting free fuel for eternity, that's all. I will accept no arguments against the state of paradise now on earth. I never compromise abouth sustanibility of earth contrary to scientology, catholics, buddists, mormons, jehovah, mohamed, battists, cia, epa, canadian goverment, hollywood
corporate artists, rock and roll from england like p.floyd and the beathles, etc. Just me believe in eterny without pain. 100% of peoples (except me) don't believe it and effectively live in pain for eternity by their own wishs''
What is your problem?
Chris M 6:20PM (4/17/2009)
The problem is that from the viewpoint of the rest of us, your posts come across as totally irrational gibberish. This isn't an auction website, making "bids" here won't do you a darn bit of good, you can't make purchases here.
If you want to get anything from those engineers, it won't help at all to insult them.
Sorry, but automotive engineers just don't believe that onboard electrolysis can provide all the fuel a car needs, so they are never going to build your dream "water car" for you. That should be obvious even to you by now, so please DO make this your "final bid".
paulwesterberg 4:30PM (4/10/2009)
Hydrogen may be the car racing fuel of the future because car racing is for people with more money than sense. But I doubt that the petrol heads will be the last ones to give up gas.
The regen braking would work better if the electric motor powered the front wheels. The handling might suffer though because it would be rwd in heavy race conditions when the fuel cell cant keep up.
Reply
Chris M 6:26PM (4/17/2009)
In spite of what the name may imply, the Citroen C4 WRC HYbrid4 isn't hydrogen powered.
You are right that the regen would be more effective with the electric drive in front, and it could be redesigned to put the petrol engine in the rear and the battery up front, but that would require a much more extensive revision of what was originally a front wheel drive car. Citroen would not want to expend that much effort and money until it was sure the racing group would allow hybrids.