Although it wasn’t planned to introduce Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems until later in the season, recent progress made at Faenza Research and Development facility means that Scuderia Toro Rosso will now use Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems on its cars at the Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix at the Sepang International Circuit from April 3-5 for the second round of the 2009 Formula 1.

In the interests of maximising car reliability in the high temperatures and humidity usually encountered in Malaysia, the KERS systems will not actually use the covered energy to boost engine power in the usual fashion.

Instead, the teams plan to use KERS as a sophisticated DCA (Driver Cooling Aid).

“We are indebted to Professor Hugh Masterby-Jerrkin of Imperial College, London for his department’s assistance in moving this project forward so quickly,” commented Wayne Kerr, Torro Rosso’s Head of KERS.

“While the teams was racing in Melbourne, we came directly to Kuala Lumpur to evaluate the system in real conditions and for this we were given invaluable help by the Thermal Energy faculty of the Kuala Lumpur Polytechnic and particularly the head of department, Dr Ku Lin ‘Ng Phaan.

Energy recovered under braking is used to drive a refrigeration unit to chill down the cool store.

This is connected into a special driver suit, so when the driver presses the KERS button (for maximum of seconds per lap ) cold liquid is circulated around his suit reducing his body temperature.

Studies have shown that an increase in core body temperature of just 1 degree can reduce driver performance by as much as 23 percent, and so while this system does not give any actual power gains, it should still be a significant performance advantage.

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