Malaysian GP: Toro Rosso preview

SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO TO USE KERS AT SEPANG CIRCUIT

Although it wasn't planned to introduce KERS until later in the season, recent progress made at our Faenza R & D facility means that Scuderia Toro Rosso will now use Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems on its cars in Sepang, for the second round of the World Championship.

In the interests of maximising car reliability in the high temperatures and humidity usually encountered in Malaysia, the KERS systems will not actually use the recovered energy to boost engine power in the usual fashion. Instead, the teams plan to use KERS as a sophisticated DCA (Driver Cooling Aid.)

"We are indebted to Professor Hugh Masterby-Jerrkin of Imperial College, London for his department's assistance in moving this project forward so quickly," commented Wayne Kerr, Toro Rosso's Head of KERS. "While the team was racing in Melbourne, we came directly to Kuala Lumpur to evaluate the system in real conditions and for this we were given invaluable help by the Thermal Energy faculty of the Kuala Lumpur Polytechnic, particularly the head of department, Doctor Ku Lin `Ng Phaan.

Energy recovered under braking is used to drive a refrigeration unit to chill down the cool store. This is connected into a special driver suit, so when the driver presses the KERS button (for a maximum of 6 seconds per lap) cold liquid is circulated around his suit reducing his body temperature. Studies have shown that an increase in core body temperature of just 1 degree can reduce driver performance by as much as 23%, and so while this system does not give any actual power gains, it should still be a significant performance advantage.

-credit: toro rosso