Zoom KERS technology rewarded

British company Zytek won the Powertrain Innovation of the Year award at the Professional Motor Sport World Expo held in Cologne this week. The prize came as a result of development work performed on the hybrid technology seen in Formula One and the American Le Mans Series.

Zytek is the operation behind the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) used by the McLaren MP4-24 this year, and also designed the device fitted to the GZ09HS Le Mans Prototype hybrid which raced in the United States.

McLaren's KERS assisted Lewis Hamilton in winning the Hungarian Grand Prix in addition to the Singapore night race; he also finished second in Valencia and was contesting the victory in Abu Dhabi until a braking issue forced him to retire.

"Turning the concept of kinetic energy recovery into a race-winning reality was a major breakthrough and Zytek made a vital contribution to this achievement," said awards judge Charles Armstrong-Wilson.

"Motorsport is one of the best environments in the world to showcase and develop technology," said John Manchester, Zytek's Operations Director. "This type of focus can help to educate people about hybrid systems and ultimately lead to the transfer of technology onto our everyday road vehicles."

Daniel BASTIEN
© CAPSIS International