Williams supply hybrid tech to Porsche

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Williams are to provide the hybrid power technology developed for F1 last year for a new Porsche road car.

The Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid will use technology supply by Williams Hybrid Power.

Unlike their rivals, Williams developed a mechanical rather than electrical KERS, but did not run it during a race weekend in 2009.

The Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid will be revealed at the Geneva Motor Show.

Williams’ chief operating officer Alex Burns said: “Together we have worked to bring this technology forward to the point where it can be tested in a racing car and deployed in a road car. We hope that this will be just the start of the evolution of hybrid systems developed for Formula One moving across to applications where they can contribute to cleaner and more powerful vehicles.”

KERS is not being used by any teams in F1 this year but there are rumours a cheaper, standardised version of the technology may return in the near future.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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21 comments on “Williams supply hybrid tech to Porsche”

  1. “KERS is not being used by any teams in F1 this year but there are rumours a cheaper, standardised version of the technology may return in the near future.”

    If it does return then as a standardised package, then I would love to see the Williams system be the one that’s used…

    1. I would… if it works well enough. The fact they said they would run it during the season and then they didn’t doesn’t fill me with confidence.

      Suppose I’m just bitter because I was so looking forward to comparing it’s perfomance to the Merc package.

      I was also bitter Toyota scrapped their KERS completely, Williams is flywheel with electric. Toyota’s was planned to be a totally mechanical flywheel system. Would have been great to see the three different takes on KERS run last year.

      1. Same for me with Honda and their KERS, which was rumoured to be very advanced, and fully mecanical.
        A YouTube vid, apparently of Honda’s KERS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr_77ZtdW6I

        1. thanks for the link. i think it’s safe to say an all-mechanical approach is not the way to go. however, cars wound up like watches might be worth exploring without the limitations of the 2009 kers rules.

      2. in a highly competitive nature of F1 compromises that were needed to fit in KERS were simply too big. I hope next year teams will race it and congratulations to Williams for managing to put first KERS in a road car.

  2. If it does return as a standardised package then it’s not going to evolve which means it’s not going to be helpful in road cars.

    The idea behind KERS was for the teams to come up with different methods of greener energy, as a standardised package they are not going to be modifying it and up dating it so in other words they wont be coming up with ‘new technology’ to help road cars.

  3. I dont know what everyone had against kers. It was a brilliant idea but i guess the guy who introduced it clouded peoples thoughts. As macca says though, the teams need to be given free reign.

    1. KERS was a brilliant idea when Ilmore (now Mercedes engines) came up with it for McLaren 10 years ago, and the FIA banned it. Now, it’s a standard road car technology and F1’s input isn’t needed.

      A mechanical flywheel isn’t going to be a popular addition to a finely balanced F1 car.

  4. i have always liked kers, but hated how it was implemented, and a ‘standardized unit’ would just be the worst. Innovate, not regulate. Yes it will cost money, but allow some freedom, or just call it a standardized series and get it over with.

    1. i think this deal between porsche and williams shows just what a missed opportunity KERS was. It was a chance for F1 technical development to be more relevant to the general public, and manufactures, who at that time, were more prevalent in F1. There should have been no, or very little restriction on KERS to encourage this new technology to be developed to its limit in all kinds of iterations. This along with other rule changes such as perhaps allowing diesel-hybrids as well, which are still in the development stage for the road, would have been great. Get rid of the emphasis on aero, refocus to mechanical and underfloor grip, and allowing teams to purse different technical solutions in the engine KERS department.
      As long as the rule changes were done with genuine consolation with FOTA, with enough time in advance (2 years) so they can properly R&D / budget them, and the allowance / regulation that smaller teams can buy customer packages.

      1. I think KERS may well come back in 2011, especially if the rule changes start to make them more attractive.

        Which I belive they are doing, increasing allowed stored energy, output time and overall power output.

  5. Does this have any connection with VW buying Campos & Porsche are coming in F1?

  6. VW Campos? I went to glastonbury in one of them many years ago!

    1. Hahahaha!

  7. back on topic:

    i bet this car is really great. not just porsche 911 gt kind of great, but raising the bar for all cars. in races, i expect complete domination.

    1. yup, i think you a right. Looking forward to seeing it.

  8. You cant have carte blanche in F1 anymore, that way lies madness. The big teams would just throw 10’s of millions at kers and develop it “empirically” which is a posh word for “keep changing things till they’re right”- that way sucks up huge budgets and the power stored would go off the scale very quickly. No, limiting the output is correct but how you get there is where your Neweys and your Williams might beat the big boys.

    1. yes, but look at Toyota. They threw hundreds of millions at F1 and were useless given their budget. They then bore the consequences of this spending, and a management structure that gave them little success, and withdrew. Evolution for you. Teams have a budget cap, and if they want to develop it empirically, then they too could end up like toyota. Technical freedom encourages creativity, if you can think outside the box, then are more likely to beat a larger team when competing against them with prohibitive regulations.

  9. This is great. I’m so glad to see Williams diversifying their porfolio…

  10. Developing and deploying KERS in such a short period of time was an amazing feat. The Ferrari and McLaren KERS-equipped cars each won F1 races in a year with heavily restricted testing.
    To me, those cars are the most technically advanced race cars ever.
    Good for Williams.

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