First test of new CFT transmission                                                          March 2011

The new Flybrid Clutched Flywheel Transmission (CFT) ran for the first time on Friday the 25th March 2011.

At the heart of the new Flybrid KERS for Le Mans 2011, the CFT transmission is a key component of this lightweight 100 kW kinetic energy recovery system. The system uses a series of small clutches to transmit the drive between the flywheel and the main vehicle gearbox and this functionality was tested on the Flybrid full load test rig.

A running in procedure was completed before attempting the first proper storage and recovery events. Everything went exactly as planned and storage up to 47 kW power was completed late on Friday night, just short of half the full power capability of the device.

Already a huge amount of data has been collected on the test rig data logger and whilst we can't share the technical details we can say that we are delighted with progress so far.

A short and intense programme of development is now underway for this system which is due to be delivered for the first car test in two weeks time. The workshop and development engineers are on 15 hour per day shifts for the next two weeks and with the build of system No. 2 well underway we remain confident of hitting our deadline.