Corsa Motorsports, Zytek Pair To Create Le Mans Hybrid

Corsa Motorsports has paired with Zytek Group to develop a gasoline-electric hybrid to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2009. The joint venture is developing a prototype vehicle that will make its debut in the Petit Le Mans on October 4, 2008 in Atlanta, as well as a second race. If the vehicle performs as expected, it could become part of a two-car team entered in the 2009 Le Mans.

Corsa Motorsports and Zytek believe the car will reach top speeds of 200-mph. The race car uses a lithium-ion battery and a regenerative braking system that can provide a boost of about 50-hp. Neither Corsa Motorsports nor Zytek knows how often, if ever, the electric motor will be used during the race. An engineer at Zytek who has had the vehicle on the test track says that for ten seconds of braking the electric motor will return 8 seconds of electric power, but acknowledges that the vehicle brakes are not used much during the race. Zytek believes that the motor would be fully charged after about three laps.

This isn't the first hybrid prototype that Zytek has attempted to build for the grueling endurance race. It entered a vehicle in the 1998 American Le Mans Series (ALMS) but it was withdrawn due to the excessive weight of the vehicle's batteries. This prototype weighs 2,000-lbs and has a 280 cc engine. The rear brakes charge a 30-lb batter, which the driver can draw upon by pressing a button on the steering wheel. The engineers believe the battery boost will enable the car to travel .2 - .3 seconds faster per lap than it would without the hybrid system.

Zytek has developed hybrid electric power transmission for several years, and has worked with Chevrolet, Lotus, Smart, and Toyota on prominent hybrid vehicle programs, including the Silverado, the Elise, the SmartForTwo and the Toyota Prius. The company has also worked on non-hybrid powertrains for other vehicles. The powertrain under development for the Le Mans race is a version of the Kinetic Energy Recovery System built for Formula 1 racing.

The Corsa Motorsports vehicle will race under a special waiver signed by all other competing teams that enables it to race as a research and development vehicle. The vehicle is not eligible to earn point for the national championship.

Source: Corsa Motorsports, Detroit Free Press