KERS and the Race Start

[gcdugas]

In principle I think that KERS should be not allowed on the race starts because, technically speaking there has been no expenditure of energy to reclaim since the race hasn't started. And for those lawyers out there who say that the formation lap counts as part of the race... well then you should be allowed to gain positions during the formation lap otherwise they aren't racing, just circulating. People come to see races, not a circulating parade.

[WhiteBlue]

It just happens that all the experts have decided to do it different.

I see no point to change it because you feel it is wrong and it wouldn't be legal in the season anyway.

[gcdugas]

It just happens that all the experts have decided to do it different.

I see no point to change it because you feel it is wrong and it wouldn't be legal in the season anyway.

"All the experts..." have wrecked the economy because sound economic principles have been ignored in favor of fiat money and fractional reserve banking. I could not care less about what the vaunted "experts" say. I am talking "in principle". Try to think in abstraction and purely. The first two words of my initial post are "in principle"....

[hollus]

Safety car laps are part of the race and yet nobody is allowed to overtake. The race starts when the formation lap starts, from that moment on, the car and driver are on their own. if you can't complete that lap, for whichever reason, you are out; if a tire gets a puncture, at the end of the formation lap you pit for new tires. Also, you are already spending fuel and everybody struggles to bring tires and brakes up to temperature. Why should KERS be any different?

[Giblet]

I see your point, but I don't see why it is one to stand on.

Why should KERS be the same?

Why lump it with things that need to get up to temperature for safety reasons, as opposed to performance reasons.

[hollus]

Hot tires and hot brakes are not about safety. The proof is in next year's ban on tire blankets. If they are cold you are as safe, but will lose some tenths in the start with low grip, have to brake earlier in the first corner and lose 1-2 seconds in the first lap overall. That is why drivers bring then up to temperature, not for safety.
Don't misinterpret me, I also don't like KERS, at least not as it is now, only for some teams and with a performance limit. Bu it is in, so it gets used.

[Dukeage]

I don't think it's a sporting issue, it's just that there could be a major accident caused when a car with n horsepower has a bad start (or stalls) and a car with n+60 has a good one, and the two cars have an interface - start crashes are rare now, but KERS isn't exactly helpful. I'd ban KERS during the first sector.

[gcdugas]

I don't think it's a sporting issue, it's just that there could be a major accident caused when a car with n horsepower has a bad start (or stalls) and a car with n+60 has a good one, and the two cars have an interface - start crashes are rare now, but KERS isn't exactly helpful. I'd ban KERS during the first sector.

Its already banned until 100 Km/h.

[Giblet]

Cold tires are in fact about safety, when everyone around you has warmed them properly.

Brakes also work better when warm.

If you are going into the first corner with cold brakes and tires, and everyone else's are warm, you are unsafe.

Senna, cold tires, pressure down, car bottoms out, goes off track.....

I see why you don't want KERS at the start, but I don't see how it is comparable to brake and tire temperature.

[gcdugas]

Cold tires are in fact about safety, when everyone around you has warmed them properly.

Brakes also work better when warm.

If you are going into the first corner with cold brakes and tires, and everyone else's are warm, you are unsafe.

Senna, cold tires, pressure down, car bottoms out, goes off track.....

I see why you don't want KERS at the start, but I don't see how it is comparable to brake and tire temperature.

I am not the one talking about brake and tire temps. But as a racing purist, the way I see it is that you sit the car on the starting line with all the propulsive potentiality stored in it and race. Not, get to the grid with potentiality plus what energy you could glean from the parade lap (which I still maintain is not proper racing).

Admittedly it is a nit picking idea but I am trying to communicate a principle. To me it is the same as if the marshals helped push a car out of the gravel trap. That car should be retired for getting illicit aid.

[ESPImperium]

Personally, i think it should ba banned for the start, give everyone a level playing fiels from the word go in a race, but i also aggree with Mario Tihessen (Spelling?) that car weghts should be increased, to discurrage drivers that are on the larger side like Kubica from being in the sport, we dont need 5ft 1in 6.5stone Jokies like Horse racing, but there should be more parity from the start i do aggree.

Id like to see this from the start of a race:

# 1) Id recon that KERS Should be allowed for the first lap, but not untill after the cars pass Sector 1s timing beam, then its active.
# 2) Also starting with the batteries or storage system fully purged as well.
# 3) Id also increase the mimimum weight of the car to 625 or 635 kilogrammes from next season.
# 4) Movable wings are locked in untill S1 Timing beam as well.

[dp35]

I don't understand why KERS usage is limited to x seconds per lap. Shouldn't a car be allowed to use however much energy it can store up? This would allow the teams to decide how large of a battery to use, etc. What am I missing?

[Dukeage]

It's to phase in technology I guess, to stop KERS cars blowing everyone away. Next year, capped entries will be able to have either twice as much KERS time or twice as much KERS power.

[fenix4life]

I don't understand why KERS usage is limited to x seconds per lap. Shouldn't a car be allowed to use however much energy it can store up? This would allow the teams to decide how large of a battery to use, etc. What am I missing?

The money factor.
Some teams could create with an investment of a lot of money a KERS system good for xx seconds of superboost while smaller teams can only extract 6 secondes.


The problem is that it was expected that most of the cars would have KERS but here it is the way around so you have some strange starts were KERS cars are winning a lot of places but then stopping the pace of the non Kers cars afterwards

[Ciro Pabón]

I don't understand why KERS usage is limited to x seconds per lap. Shouldn't a car be allowed to use however much energy it can store up? This would allow the teams to decide how large of a battery to use, etc. What am I missing?

Rich teams, able to use extra-light KERS with exotic sources like nanocapacitors would have too great advantage.

In principle I think that KERS should be not allowed on the race starts because, technically speaking there has been no expenditure of energy to reclaim since the race hasn't started.

I think you're right in principle, but I also think that KERS is not that much of an advantage, taking in account that, at the start, the power you can deliver to the wheels is limited by the friction factor of tyres.

IF (and only IF) KERS is being used as a pseudo traction control device there could be some issue raised by KERS-less teams. I guess we will hear about it when (or better yet, if) some team complains. I also would say that the answer would be: "You can use KERS also and take the hit of less ballast during the race".