BMW suspends testing after KERS scare.

"Blue wire goes here, brown wire here, no...here. Oh wait a minute..."

I wonder how safe are the road cars implementing energy recovery system.

On a separate note - KERS is another example of how whims of Spankie Max ends up teams spending more rather than saving monies. When McLaren had introduced similar solution in 90's Spankie had turned cold shoulder on that. Spankie and his fetishes.....

there have been a number of problems with this system and the dangers of the lithium in the batteries is a problem in a crash. the batteries must run at a very high voltage if they can cause electrical injuries to a mechanic. does anyone know what voltages are involved?? what with fires, shocks etc, is the kers system really safe to be used in a racing car, or will the idea be scrapped?

irn bru..........now I know its not a laughing matter but your post did make me snigger

There are some very serious issues here. I don't think its the voltage, more likely the current is high (and its current that kills you - static can hit 10,000V easily without causing more than a minor muscle spasm). We've all seen the grounding strips on pit boxes to earth away any static built up by the car moving around on the circuit and prevent a spark igniting vapour during refuelling. If there is sufficient current to arc to a mechanic from the (carbon) bodywork, then refuelling becomes a timebomb. On a road car the body usually acts as the earth return for batteries, but an F1 car can't do that.

Yet more half-baked initiatives from the FIA. Lets stick to good racing, shall we?

thanks robsy, i have been hit by shocks from spark plug leads in the past, and have survived. i get mixed up with amps,watts and volts, yet i know that mains 220v can kill. your refuelling comments must strike fear in everyone, so when will be the first catastrophe? it seems that using this system would allow an increase of 80BHP for up to 6 secs, similar to "push to pass". so if it works, we might see some passing at last!

Blimey, I know that the FIA is trying to cut the number of team personel, but this is going too far...

Why can't an F1 car use the body as a return to ground? Carbon fiber is a pretty decent conductor....

Forget this green stuff. F1 should be about burning as much Hydro-Carbon's as possible in the shortest period of time?????????

Most teams have already objected to the concept of KERS.

And only 2 teams, including BMW have even bothered to make prototype models of the system. Just shows how confident the teams are that Max's latest rubbish idea to make racing better will actually be put into the regulations.

Yeah, I heard Red Bull was testing their system yesterday. I thought they were the only ones actually testing on the track, I guess not. I was really wondering about that whole concept and if i would be actually useful. I'm still skeptical on it.

If the FIA initiated KERS, have they done a full prototype design & testing from the ground up before recommending it to the teams? I don't think they did. Max must be too busy whipping up some "PoWs" in some dungeon in southern London, to do any due diligence here.

The FIA are expecting to much from the teams to have KERS up and running safely for '09. There are obviously serious problem with safety and as mentioned refuelling will be like stepping on a land mine if the body of the car is potenially electrified by minor earth leaks or static electricity. What about in an accident? will the lithium battery misile through the air and potentially explode when landing. Will the marshalls know how to correctly handle the volatile substance if it leaks everywere. Will it make the safety car periods a lot longer until it's cleared correctly and safely. It's to soon for KERS as there are to many unanswered questions.

Good points F1Tos

Also, surely team & driver race suits will now need to protect them from chemical burn effects too.
I never considered the marshalls, but once a car comes to a stop on the grass or in a gravel trap, there are no grounding strips like in the pits. Are they also going to have to wear hazmat type suits & thick rubber soled boots ... & what of the materials in the fire extinguishers?

I do, however, think F1 is a good place to solve the obvious safety questions relating to KERS, at least solutions will be found super fast & therefore hopefully end up on production cars sooner. But, using them in 2009 does look optimistic.