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Tuesday, 19 February 2013

Porsche GT3R Hybrid - Flywheel Hybrid Racer



The very first hybrid was a Porsche design.

In 1898 Ferdinand Porsche developed - in conjunction with the Lohner carriage company - a series hybrid with 'in-wheel hub' electric motors, capable of being configured as front, rear or 4-wheel drive, this behemoth carried 1.8 tonnes of batteries and weighed a colossal 4 tonnes overall, a petrol engine was also carried on-board to recharge the batteries - nothing new under the sun then!.....  
Ferdinand Porsche also took this massive vehicle racing...nothing new....yeah you get the picture!

So to this delightful piece of modern day Porsche engineering, a 465BHP 4-litre flat 6 'boxer' engine, coupled with two electric motors driving the front 




wheels only and producing an extra 75KW (80BHP) each, this surge of electric power is available for 6-8 seconds after the flywheel system is charged. The Flywheel/generator developed by Williams Hybrid Power - a sister company to Frank Williams F1 team - stores kinetic energy produced under braking, cornering and acceleration by spinning at up to 36,000 RPM and is deployed at the exit of corners to aid acceleration.

It obviously works fantastically well, as the Porsche was leading it's first 24 hour race comfortably until the 23rd hour when cruel luck denied the team a finish. Watch the video and feel this Porsche pull!

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