Partnership With Bosch
Oaktec, the unique UK-based team that is developing Honda Hybrids for motorsport, has secured a support package from Van Doorne's Transmissie B.V., part of the Bosch group since 1995. Van Doorne’s Transmissie BV is an expert in the field of CVT push belt manufacturing and CVT concept development.
The Oaktec team has been competing with the petrol /electric hybrids since 2005 when they launched low- emissions Honda Insight onto the unsuspecting world of stage rallying, achieving an unexpected level of success by winning the Formula 1000 Class A championship in 2006. In the following year, Honda UK lent a Civic Hybrid to the project to compete in production class rallies. Both cars use Continuously Variable Transmission technology originally developed in Holland by Van Doorne’s Transmissie, hereafter called Bosch GS-CT.
The Bosch GS-CT deal, which includes event sponsorship and technical consultancy, comes following a period of discussion and co-operation between the parties that has culminated in a 3-year agreement.
Oaktec engineers discovered early in the project development that the Honda IMA hybrid package could deliver significantly improved performance in a rally application when allied to the Continuously Variable Transmission technology, which holds the hybrid unit at peak power and allows the rally driver to adapt his technique to gain maximum benefit from balancing the car using left foot braking techniques. The team validated this advantage at a test session where they compared a manual and a CVT Insight on a typical tarmac rally stage and found the CVT car to be nearly 20 seconds quicker over the 6km stage. Although the manual car did not have ideal gear ratios, the CVT transmission allowed the test driver to exploit maximum advantage from the 80 BHP Honda.
Oaktec team principal Paul Andrews explains, ‘Continuously Variable Transmission is the perfect complementary technology for a hybrid system in motorsport. It delivers on many levels and has relatively few downsides. It works well with the torque of the hybrid’s electric motor and enables us to extract all the power from the petrol engine. It also works very well in helping us capture maximum amounts of energy from regenerative braking, which of course is very beneficial to the efficiency of the cars. It is great fun to drive these cars. The driver can easily develop a smooth technique that uses the car’s energy with very little waste to deliver the maximum possible performance.’
Since 2007, the team has scored a number of class wins in rallies throughout the UK. But most recently, to demonstrate the efficiency of their cars, Oaktec entered both Honda hybrid rally cars in a fuel economy challenge scoring the best consumption figures of any car in the event at 81.4mpg.
Team co-driver and Oaktec partner Bill Meeson explains, ‘This project would lose relevance if we had destroyed the environmental credentials of the cars in order to make them competitive. The aim of our project has always been to gain performance by tuning the electric side of the hybrid system to capture more of the energy wasted under braking and using this to give the car more power. The upshot of this is that the car is significantly more fuel-efficient in normal driving conditions. It is a win-win situation. We entered the fuel economy rally to prove this point and both Honda rally cars gave exceptional results. We are still working on developments to get even more speed and efficiency from the hybrid/ CVT power train.’
Bosch GS-CT Marketing Manager Pieter van de Looveren says “we are very happy to see CVT technology being used in rally sports. This is for us the ultimate proof that the CVT combines sportiness, fun to drive and comfort without compromising on fuel efficiency and energy preservation. With today’s ever-increasing demand for “greener” products and solutions the CVT sets out to be a excellent solution. Our co-operation with Oaktec provides us with excellent opportunities to gain even more knowledge on the behaviour of our products under various driving conditions”.
The Bosch sponsored team has already scored two class victories in 2009 and is planning to compete in a variety of rallies throughout the UK over the coming months, the next event being the Lee Holland Stages at Anglesey in Wales on April 26th.
