Mercedes AMG F1 W03 (pre-launch speculation)

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Mercedes have apparently moved Their KERS units under the fuel tanks.

[MercAMGF1Fans]

Mercedes have apparently moved Their KERS units under the fuel tanks.

where are you getting this from?

Italian Media?

[Hemsy]

Mercedes have apparently moved Their KERS units under the fuel tanks.

Where was it placed before then?

[raymondu999]

From Scarbs' recent tweets. It was in the sidepod before.

[MIKEY_!]

KERS batteries were in the sidepod - scarbs

Quite a good effort really. Their sidepods were quite tight IMO

[Metalrulz]

Mercedes have apparently moved Their KERS units under the fuel tanks.

Won't that increase the height of the fuel tank and also increase the center of gravity AGAIN ? something tells me that they actually want to save space by going for a tight packaging again to keep the wheelbase as short as possible. It will be longer than the W02 but will be the shortest car on the grid again....

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

@ metalrulz

Installing KERS as low as possible is the defacto route IMO.
Reason is KERS will never get lighter during a race. So that mass needs to be stored as low and central as possible.
Designing a fuel tank to accomadate the idea properly is the real trick.


The reason the W02's KERS was stored high up, was so that the car could have its short wheel base, a fundamental philosophy behind the car.

[Hemsy]

@ metalrulz

Installing KERS as low as possible is the defacto route IMO.
Reason is KERS will never get lighter during a race. So that mass needs to be stored as low and central as possible.
Designing a fuel tank to accomadate the idea properly is the real trick.


The reason the W02's KERS was stored high up, was so that the car could have its short wheel base, a fundamental philosophy behind the car.

This!

[Timstr]

I think Scarbs was referring to the position of KERs batteries in 2011 (McLaren and Mercedes) relative to 2009 (McLaren).

In 2011, I believe both McLaren and Mercedes positioned the batteries under the fuel tank.

ScarbsF1 Craig Scarborough
KERS Battery pack it was in the sidepod now goes under the fuel tank
11 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply

ScarbsF1 Craig Scarborough
Relative position of the 2009 & 2011 Mercedes KERS battery pack yfrog.com/oeac6kpj
11 hours ago

[beelsebob]

Mercedes have apparently moved Their KERS units under the fuel tanks.

Won't that increase the height of the fuel tank and also increase the center of gravity AGAIN ? something tells me that they actually want to save space by going for a tight packaging again to keep the wheelbase as short as possible. It will be longer than the W02 but will be the shortest car on the grid again....

1) Batteries are more dense than even fuel
2) By moving them out the side pod they'll be lowering the radiators, which probably also have a greater density than fuel.

[timbo]

Dhould be one of the positives of having longer wheelbase.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

1) Batteries are more dense than even fuel
2) By moving them out the side pod they'll be lowering the radiators, which probably also have a greater density than fuel.

But the batteries don't have a mass of 180kgs however dense they are.

I believe Red bull situated their KERS lower than anyone else, and this can go to some degree, as 1 of the reasons of their 1 lap domination in qualifying.
Come race day, the McLarens and Ferraris appeared closer with heavier fuel loads. As fuel burnt off, the red bulls had ability to gap rivals at will(not every circuit mind). The actual mass is what matters, as this is what the tyres have to cope with accelerating, braking or turning at any point.(you already know this of course)
It would make fine reading if we could get a resident stato(ESPI....) to check how much faster the red bull was at the end of a race, compared to the gap at the beginning of a race.

People bang on about flexing wings, EBDs et al, but I think its also alot to do with packaging of those RB7 innards that makes it such a compelling machine.

So, for the W03 to be confirmed as longer, with KERS mounted lower than before.... Can only be a good thing.

[beelsebob]

1) Batteries are more dense than even fuel
2) By moving them out the side pod they'll be lowering the radiators, which probably also have a greater density than fuel.

But the batteries don't have a mass of 180kgs however dense they are.

They don't need to – they need to have a higher mass than the same volume of fuel as they take up. The fuel isn't moving up above where it was before – it's moving up above the KERS unit.

[MercAMGF1Fans]

ok this is an old pic, but i found this on twitter

[dren]

Taken from James Allen's blog: http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/01/p ... explained/

An update on the Lotus ride height system: Giorgio Piola, who broke the story earlier this week has written that Mercedes are also working on a version of it. Bob Bell moved from Renault to Mercedes in the last 12 months and has hired one of the engineers behind the system.

Mercedes have announced that they will be late releasing the new car, missing the first test and the speculation is that the delay is due partly to this system but also partly to a delay in the complicated F Duct front wing, which they tried out in practice in Japan.