KTM out first with KERS

According to Harald Bartol, who heads the KTM 125/250 GP racing team, the Austrian company was the first to use a new, high-tech system on Tommy Koyama's racebike last year. This system – Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) – was fitted to Koyama's bike during the 125cc GP in Valencia last year.

KTM used KERS on Tommy Koyama's 125cc GP racer, during the 2008 Valencian GP

KERS, a system that stores energy during braking and releases it under acceleration, is all set to make its debut in Formula 1 racing this year, but going by Bartol’s revelation, KTM have already beaten the F1 guys to the punch.

Koyama only managed to finish seventh in the 2008 Valencian 125cc GP and his top speed during the race was 219.6km/h, as compared with 226.3km/h for Stefan Bradl’s Aprilia, so it isn’t of course as if KERS is some magic formula for winning races. However, KTM are putting in more development work into this system and it may soon start providing a real competitive edge to KTM’s racing bikes.

Under hard braking, KERS charges some condensers/capacitors, which then release the energy during full-throttle application. For now, the system only provides an additional 3bhp, but could soon be providing more with additional development. We hope it soon starts providing an additional 10-15bhp, so KTM can fit KERS on the 2010 RC8 R