This might belong in Motorsports but what better way to strike up a nice long due alternative engines convo.
It looks like a rally car, it goes like a rally car but by George, you ain’t seen anything like this before. This is Citroen’s C4 WRC HYbrid4 rally car, and Citroen believes it will revolutionise the world of top-tier rallying.
Testing of the C4 HYbrid4 commenced this week in Portugal on tarmac roads near the town of Faro, with Citroen Racing’s Dani Sordo behind the tiller. The Faro tests were the first real-world validation of the hybrid racer’s capabilities, and Sordo was impressed with initial performance.“On the stages, I would say that the overall behaviour of the car is slightly different to that of the C4 WRC, with more weight to the rear,” Sordo said.
“[But] the feeling is on the whole the same as the one I have with the standard rally car, and I love the way that the C4 goes on asphalt!”
The C4 WRC HYbrid4 marries the regular WRC car’s 223kW (300hp) petrol engine gearbox and AWD drivetrain with a 125kW/300Nm electric motor and 990*cell lithium-ion battery pack. Regenerative braking technology is also used to top up the batteries and improve braking performance.
The motor and battery pack add an extra 150kg to the car’s overall weight, but that’s more than offset by the substantial boost in power that the electric motor delivers to the rear wheels. Plus with four modes of operation, the hybrid system makes the C4 HYbrid4 a much more versatile machine. Citroen Racing’s Didier Clement explains:“In internal combustion mode, the Citroën C4 WRC HYbrid4 behaves exactly like one of the C4 WRC cars that compete on the World Rally Championship,” said Clement.
“In internal combustion mode with energy recovery switched on, braking endurance is improved and the batteries get charged.
“On road sections and in the service park, electric mode with energy recovery means that there is less nuisance, increased range and less wear on the conventional engine.
“Finally, boost mode – which employs both the internal combustion engine and the electric motor – gives an extra 300 Nm of torque when engaged.”
It’s the latter mode that has Dani Sordo most impressed, however.“The boost function means that we can choose when to benefit from extra torque under acceleration. When it comes in, the effect is very impressive!”
While the hybrid system is just a technological showcase for now, Citroen Racing says it proves that hybrids definitely have a place in the world of rallysport.“Citroën Racing wanted to show its ability to adapt this technology to motorsport,” said Didier Raso, an electrical and systems engineer with Citroen Racing.
“If at any point in the future the regulations permit the use of hybrid technology, we will be able to react straight away.”
^ IDK, its falls too out of class IMO. Too many things function differently than a normal motor that will almost taint the sport (Unless a full “hybrid class” was added.) Im interested as to how this car would be even regulated. Would they have to add a hp/torque restriction now?
They pretty much already have a horsepower restriction now. The 34mm restrictor plate limits them to ~300HP, so they tune and develop for massive torque.
I see no problem with this…in fact I really like it! Hopefully other manufacturers get into it…and maybe someday Subaru will finally release their hybrid system they’ve been showing at auto shows since 2006 and this can eventually trickle down into the more grassroots levels of the sport (especially since they’re out of WRC…).
Might as well add this here, even if it is a little older news. Peugeot is planning a diesel hybrid lmp1 car for lemans in 2011 rule depending.
Peugeot and Audi have gone blow-for-blow for diesel dominance of endurance racing, and the French automaker hopes to do the Germans one better in the alt-fuel game by bringing a diesel-electric hybrid to Le Mans in 2011.
Audi has held the upper hand when it comes to diesels, and Peugeot fell to the R-15 at last weekend’s Sebring 12-hour enduro. But whatever gauntlet the Germans might have thrown down with their TDI racers has been well and truly picked up by the French.
We told you about Peugeot’s experiments with a hybrid version of its 908 HDi diesel racerback in September. Racecar Engineeringnow confirms Peugeot Sport plans to bring a diesel-electric to the 2011 running of the classic 24 hour endurance race.
Work is well underway on LMP1 car, with the team’s engineers scrapping further development of the 908 hybrid so they can focus on the next car, dubbed the 909 HY. That makes sense, given that driver Sébastien Bourdais dubbed the 908 diesel “old technology” at Sebring. Peugeot plans on running the 908 at Le Mans this year in hope of securing a French victory against Audi and its very impressive R-15, which won its debut at Sebring.
“Right now our problem is what to do in 2010,” team technical director Bruno Famin told Racecar Engineering. “We will be back in 2011 with the new car and we are working hard on that already. The 908 HY was a demonstrator and because the regulations are not good at the moment, it sat in the garage and is not being used.”
If the upcoming 909 HY is anything like the 908 HY, it will be a technical marvel. The 908 featured a hybrid system with a 60 kilowatt (80 horsepower) gear-driven electric motor in place of a conventional starter motor, 600 lithium-ion battery cells and a power converter just behind the front left wing to control the flow of energy between the batteries and the electric motor.
The ability of an electric drive motor assisting the car, both exiting corners as well as leaving the pits, could substantially lower lap times. Adding hybrid efficiency to the already impressive race MPG numbers diesel affords and Peugeot could be looking at fewer pit stops. And that could give the French a crushingly effective car when the flag drops on a Saturday afternoon in Le Mans two years hence.
Well still, lag is also a huge issue as a result of the turbo restrictors and that isn’t a specifically predetermined “300 hp limit.” Its just all they can make right?
This car will be able to make as much as it wants without lag which will undoubtedly call for restrictions but how can you determine “whats fair.”
Well, kind of. Lag isn’t too big of an issue, as they all have anti-lag systems keeping the turbo spooled pretty much constantly. And you’re right; 300 hp isn’t necessarily a predetermined limit anymore, and that’s just all they can make with the restrictor.
I don’t think they can make as much power as they want with this system, or at least, they won’t be able to sustain it over a whole stage. I’m thinking this will end up looking like a KERS system from F1, where you get a “Boost button” on your wheel, basically. I’m pretty sure not too many of the teams want to get back to the Group B days of insane power and unbelievably light cars, as much fun as that was to watch. My thinking is they’ll run it in mode 1 or 2 for most of the stages, build up some charge for times when they’ll need a torque/power bump, and employ it when needed…They’ll go full on hybrid for the transits to save gas, letting them go out of service lighter…
Actually, the more I think about it, the more I like it. It brings a whole new team strategy into play, where and when they’ll build charge, how they’ll use it, etc.
No doubt though the regs will have to be adjusted if anyone ends up actually running one. Still, I think it’s a good thing for the sport. All those Euro hippies want everything green nowadays, and slapping “Hybrid” on the side of your race car isn’t a bad way to go
