Amazing ‘Rocket Boost’ Porche

snapman

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Detroit 2011: Porsche 918 RSR

Porsche's star turn at the Detroit Auto Show is the sensational new 918 RSR, a stunning race machine that looks into the future.

Although it takes its name from the 918 Spyder - the ultra green supercar unveiled during Geneva 2010 - this is a very different beast. Designed wholly for speed on the track, the 918 RSR does not have a conventional petrol-electric hybrid system like the Spyder did, but a highly innovative 'flywheel accumulator'.

Instead of a passenger seat you'll notice there's an unusual cylindrical canister - that's the flywheel accumulator. Each of the 918's front wheels has an electric motor/generator, which can both drive the wheels for extra oomph or generate electricity during braking.

The energy they generate is captured and stored in the accumulator, which can spin to a dizzying 36,000rpm. The driver can press a button at any point and unleash this energy back to the motors for an instant hit of power - a kind of futuristic rocket boost, if you will.

porche1.jpg


porche2.jpg


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Not that it lacks power in the first place, though: a mid-mounted 3.4-litre V8 engine develops 555bhp at a superbike-like 10,300rpm. That added to the electric motors' combined 201bhp makes this a 756bhp racer.

Elsewhere the car is more conventional, if still quite spectacular, with the most obvious change from the 918 Spyder being the fixed roof.

Porsche says the 918 RSR is a test bed for the accumulator technology, though there's a chance we could see the car hit the Le Man 24-hour race in a year or two.

Here's hoping.

Source
 
looks like they have just ripped off Dr Emmett Brown's DMC, that is plainly a flux capacitor in the second pic, wouldn't push it past 88mph.
 
Isn't that the same principle that they were/are using in F1 ?
 
Yeah same idea,


I still dont know why there pissing about with electic cars, Hydrgen has been in used in canada for ages, and its still the way fowards in terms of being able to drive and fill it up within minuites.
 
Isn't that the same principle that they were/are using in F1 ?

think you are thinking of kers

A badge of honour for some, a bugbear for others on its debut in 2009, KERS - or Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems - have been reintroduced in 2011 after the teams mutually agreed to suspend their use in 2010. KERS take the waste energy generated under braking and turns it into additional power. This is then made available to the driver in fixed quantities per lap via a steering wheel-mounted ‘boost button’. The systems are essentially the same as those seen in ’09, with no increase in the maximum permitted power (though that could change in subsequent seasons). The challenge for the engineers this time round is packaging. Last time KERS was run, refuelling was legal. Now, with it banned, fuel tanks are larger and finding room to accommodate battery packs etc is not as easy. Hence don’t be surprised if bodywork has grown in places, relative to 2010. On the plus side, minimum car weight has been upped by 20kg to 640kg, meaning larger drivers don’t pay the weight-distribution penalty they once did in a KERS-equipped car.

F1 to go HD in 2011 | F1 News | Jan 2011 | Crash.Net
 
KERS is the thing I was thinking off. The reason I mention it was that at least one team was looking at a flywheel based system for storage of the energy,

Williams F1 team running flywheel-based KERS for 2009 — Autoblog Green

TBH I would be friggin worried about sitting next to that thing. Can you imagine in the event of an accident and the casing failed on the storage unit then how much energy you have in a flywheel that could be out of control.
 
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