Honda Motor Company has announced the formation of a new technical partnership with British company Zytek Automotive to develop Energy Recovery Systems (ERS) specifically for motor racing. The partnership brings together the vast experience of Honda in the development and manufacture of hybrid road cars with Zytek's innovative electronic solutions for motorsport.
Honda Motor Company is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of hybrid road cars, with over 800,000 such cars on the road in approximately 50 countries worldwide. Since the inception of Zytek, its mission has been to develop innovative electronics solutions for both race and road cars, from the first digital engine management systems and electronic gearshifts to hybrid and EV systems, including Formula One KERS technology.
The first racecars resulting from the new partnership were rolled out at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit on July 2 nd – 3rd 2012, where Team Mugen’s Honda CR-Z GT car made its track debut.
The car's 50kW hybrid system has been developed by Honda and Zytek to meet the challenges of one of the world’s most competitive sportscar series. Zytek's experience of the performance challenges of KERS in Formula One and endurance challenges of hybrid systems in Le Mans 2-hour racing have been combined to produce a formidable solution. Zytek's engineers have worked closely with their Honda counterparts to develop innovative ways in which the hybrid systems can be used to increase the performance of the car.
Both English and Japanese engineers from Zytek are on site to support their Honda colleagues. Design and development work on the next generation of systems is currently underway at Zytek's engineering facilities at Fradley and Repton, UK, and at Honda’s R&D HQ in Tochigi, Japan.
Following the announcement, Zytek Automotive Managing Director, Neil Heslington said “We are delighted and proud to have been recognised by Honda Motor Company as a world leader in hybrid race technology and the opportunity to work together with them in partnership allows us to continue to develop our innovative solutions, keeping our products ahead of the competition.”
Zytek Automotive has designed and integrated electric drive systems for a wide range of European and US vehicle manufacturers. The company is currently building high performance electric drivetrains from 25kW -120kW and has drives of 150kW and more in development to meet growing demand for zero emissions light commercial vehicles and high-performance passenger cars. Their UK facility can integrate up to 6,000 E drives a year in batches as low as 100, providing vehicle manufacturers with a highly flexible specialist production resource for their low carbon vehicle programmes.
