NEXT-GEN F1 CARS WILL BE ELECTRIC (IN THE PITS)

Say goodbye to F1 cars screaming down the pitlane: F1 cars are to be powered solely by electricity in the pitlane from 2014 onwards, once the new turbocharged six-cylinder layouts come into force.

According to rule 5.19 of the revised technical regulations "The car must be run in electric mode (no ignition and no fuel supply to the engine) at all times when being driven in the pit lane."

In order to shove the F1 grid along on electric propulsion alone during visits to the garage, the cars' KERS systems will be uprated to 120KW. That's 160bhp and twice what the KERS systems currently provide - so will make up quite a significant proportion of the next-generation F1 car's power.

So is this the end of F1 as we know it? Or the beginning of the end? Perhaps it's the end of the beginning...

We suppose there's one positive way of looking at it: all we need is to invent an effective anti-gravity system and F1 could become like that classic 90s computer game Wipeout...

Never heard of something so stupid in all the time I've watched motor racing!

Adam86 wrote:

Never heard of something so stupid in all the time I've watched motor racing!

what he said

F1 electric

It's in an effort to cut fuel consumption by 35%, personally i don't see the problem. F1 car's are quite simply the canvas to which our road cars mostly work from for technological innovation. Look at the semi automatic gearbox, hybrid systems, ride control. All based on early F1 car's.

F1 races aren't won driving down the pit lane either, nor do they sound that appealing in the speed limit zone, and it's not like they using 750bhp the engines have to offer, the new kers systems will produce 160bhp which is more then enough to carry the cars through the pit at the same speed, allowing the engines to start (and sound to return) once the speed limit ends on exit and if anything will bring the excitement of F1 reliability back into the game.

Not to mention from an engineers point of view, the technology excites me