21-Aug-08: BMW Release Findings From KERS Incident

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Welcome to F1 Minute for the 21st August 2008.

Today BMW released the findings of their investigation into the incident that saw one of the mechanics receive an electric shock. At the Jerez test last month, the mechanic was thrown to the ground and later taken to hospital, although had no injuries. BMW have thoroughly looked into what happened, and said that although the shock was painful, none of the team were in any immediate danger.

If you can follow this, they say: “The mechanic suffered an electric shock after touching the sidepod and steering wheel of the car. There was a high frequency AC voltage between these contact points, the cause of which has been traced back to the KERS control unit and a sporadic capacitive coupling from the high-voltage network to the 12-volt network.”

The findings have been submitted to the FIA, and BMW will also make them available to the other teams, so that similar incidents, and some other problems picked up during the investigation, won’t happen again.

That’s it for today, please join me again tomorrow for another F1 Minute.