Porsche has developed the 911 GT3 R Hybrid with Williams F1 KERS Technology
Porsche has developed a track 911 GT3 R Hybrid – using a magnetic flywheel to provide a KERS boost of up to 160bhp – based on Williams F1 technology.
Read the headline carefully before you judge. This isn’t a Porsche 911 for the road, but a track 911 – the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid. And yes, you read that right. It’s a Hybrid. A Porsche Hybrid.
But this isn’t really what you think of as a hybrid with an electric motor shoved in the system, but is based on the technology Williams developed for their F1 cars and is designed to provide a power boost on tap.
There are no batteries on the 911 GT3 R, instead the Porsche Hybrid uses an electro-mechanical flywheel. What? How does that work? There’s a pair of generators on the front wheels and an electrically drive flywheel. When the driver brakes the generators drive the composite flywheel – at up to 40,000rpm – and energy is stored in the flywheel due to the infusion of magnetic particles within the flywheel.
The downside is that the storage capacity is limited, but the upside is there are no weight penalties from batteries. The energy stored in the flywheel can then be summoned up when required to drive power back to the wheels. Just like the KERS button on F1 cars. The system can generate up to an additional 160bhp at the push of a button to the front wheels in 6-8 second bursts.
Williams, who developed this system through its Williams Hybrid Power Subsidiary, is working with other car makers to implement its flywheel system although so far only Porsche has a car ready to show. The 911 GT3 R Hybrid will be on show at Geneva next month and a version of the car is planned to compete in Le Mans in 2012.
A Porsche 911 Hybrid. Whatever next?
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