Le Mans style racing is the place where enviro-friendly ideas like biofuels and hybrids are put to the test. The successes of the Audi and Peugeot diesels at Le Mans are well known, and here in the states the American Le Mans Series has ushered in a series of initiatives to make racing greener.

The latest standard bearer is the Ginetta-Zytek hybrid racer from Corsa Motorsports.

The Corsa squad will be running the hybrid in anger for the first time this weekend at the ALMS race at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut, and although they could be considered a privateer effort in comparison to the likes of Audi and Peugeot, it's not like they haven't done their homework.

"The car is homolagated homologated – fully legal to race as a hybrid – and is no longer running as a conventional race car come Lime Rock," team crew chief Adrian Lindsey said in a statement. "This has been a long time coming. We are excited to show people what we've been working on all these months."

The Corsa GZ-09-SH Hybrid competes in the top tier LMP1 category of ALMS competition and features a kinetic-energy-recovery system similar to what Ferrari, McLaren and BMW are wrestling with in Formula 1 this year. The Ginetta-Zytek Hybrid system uses the kinetic energy otherwise dispelled as thermal energy through the brakes and converts it to DC voltage stored in a lithium-ion battery. The generator that accomplishes this also is geared to the input shaft of the gearbox. When the driver wants it, the energy stored in the battery is dumped into the drivetrain and onto the tarmac via the huge racing slicks out back.



The electric motor in the KERS system is an asynchronous design and is oil-cooled. Mounted in the bellhousing and geared to the input shaft of the gearbox, it cranks out 45 kilowatts (about 60 horsepower) of peak power at a maximum speed of 14,000 rpm. The inverter has a peak power of 45 kilowatts and has a peak three-phase current of a whopping 230 amps. The peak voltage is up to 400 volts DC. Most impressive is the battery – a liquid-cooled lithium-ion pack located to balance out the weight of driver and improve chassis performance. It weighs just 23 kilograms, a surprisingly low figure.

The proof is in the pudding, and the fat will be in the fire at Lime Rock to see if Corsa Motorsports and drivers Johnny Mowlem and Stefan Johansson can turn their idea into trophy gold.

Photos: Corsa Motorsports

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