Road-going Mercedes to benefit from F1 links again

Mercedes-Benz head of passenger car powertrain development says new F1 regulations set to come into play in 2009 will generate direct flow-on effects for passenger cars.

Talking at the 78th Salon International de l'Automobile Geneve this week, Dr Leopold Mikulic (pictured) told the Carsales Network, F1's freeze of engine development and the introduction of Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) would directly benefit passenger car development. Mercedes is a major shareholder in F1 team, McLaren.

"There have always been synergies between motor racing and series production technologies -- no doubt about. Transmission technologies, engine technologies… How to design a high performance engine -- even one that isn't running at 20,000rpm," Mikulic explained.

"But the new regulations put into force by the FIA, without talking too much about [specific] future technologies, [mean] synergies in the future will be even larger than they have been in the past," he said.

The FIA, the governing body of world motorsport effectively 'froze' engine development for F1 in 2007. Last year, the body also announced that KERS would be legal in the premier formula from 2009.

In an interview with RaceTech magazine last November, FIA technical consultant Tony Purnell, said the move would have real benefits for the car industry.

"Car manufacturers are already working flat out to develop optimal low-emission engines and there is little that engine development program in F1 will add to this effort. However, in five years or so, their attention will turn more and more to subsidiary devices incorporating energy recovery. By opening up this area now, Formula One can make a real difference to this important facet of future car technology," Purnell said.

While Mikulic would not comment specifically on how Mercedes would apply the technology to its conventional or hybrid road cars, he concurs with Purnell's assessment.

According to Mikulic, in the past the carry over of engine and combustion technologies had limited application to production cars. The development of energy recover systems will have a much more direct crossover, he says.

"The application of technologies like such [KERS] in motor racing, I'm sure will give new impacts and drive the development of these technologies in a much more intensive way that it was in the past."

"Here we're dealing with the same stuff [on the race and road cars], so motor racing will have quite some impact -- maybe following new routes in technology.

"We have already published that next year will be a very important year for us in launching two new products with hybrid powertrains. We hope that this [KERS technology, used with hybrid powertrains] is going to be a perfect match -- between motor racing and series production."

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