Warning lights, insulated gloves and colour-coding will help keep F1 marshals safe from the dangers of new KERS technology, Charlie Whiting told the media on Tuesday.

The dangers posed to drivers and team personnel by the high-voltage systems has been often discussed, but also at risk are the trackside marshals, whose mainly voluntary job it is to recover stricken or crashed cars.

"It's several hundred volts and the potential to be tens of amps, pretty lethal," said Renault Technical Director Bob Bell recently. "And it's DC, so if you hold it you cannot let go."

A KERS Safety Working Group has been chaired by BMW, the team whose mechanic was given a shock during early testing of the new energy re-use technology.

FIA delegate Whiting said a document prepared by the Group will shortly be circulated to all race hosts, in order to educate the marshals and other workers who will be exposed to KERS in 2009.


"There will be things like the KERS status warning light that will be on all cars," he said.

"If there's a risk, it should be clear to a marshal who walks up to the car. He should approach the vehicle, look at the KERS status light and, if it is in the wrong state, he shouldn't touch the car," said Whiting.

Another safety measure for marshals will be the colour-coding of potentially high-voltage parts, and the mandatory use of gloves "which are good for a thousand volts," Whiting explained.

Source: GMM
© CAPSIS International

 

Man, that guy looks like he's in pain. I wonder who KERS is connected to the car. This makes it sound like the whole car will be energized, but that can't be the case because then the drivers would be getting shocked the whole way around the track. If it's just a little black box kind of thing, there should be a button in the cockpit that allows the driver to de-energize the system in the event of a crash so there isn't any residual charge available to shock people.

 

I know you think they would've figured it out by now? I guess it's more complicated than it seems

 

+1


aaaaaaah i don’t think they did enough research to this technology, its a shame that they rush into it...serious injuries may doom it to fail big time.. Perhaps a shift away! With all the potential it has, they should really take their time


De La Rosa

Those are my concerns with this:

I don’t think learning on the race is a good idea

They can apply systems that show high voltage, right?

What is the solution?

whats the risk of electroic shocks that might effect the driver?
whats the effect of an accident on the system?

I guess am not volunteering as a marshal this year :P